Hunt Magneto arrived.

http://[URL=http://s43.photobucket.com/user/TJUG/media/IMG_0318_zpsvhtxpgi0.jpg.html][ATTACH=full]69969[/ATTACH] A belated Christmas present to myself arrived today.
Thanks Jim (J S Motorsport) everything arrived in a safe and timely manner.
Gives me a little incentive to get the old girl back together. :)
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JUG

Good one once set up you will love it when I put mine on I maked my timing marks on the inside of the points housing on the timing case so when need to do any maintenance on the JH I set the maggie on the timing marks unbolt the maggie and do the work on the bench when finised I put the maggie on the marks I set up in the timing case that I marked and the maggie is set in the right place without retiming it, saves a bit of time but in 7 years with the JH on haven't pulled it off yet and never file the points in the maggie to clean them as it takes the harding off the points and they will wear out very quickly if you use a points file, I just clean them with a bit of metho or white sprit, the only thing I do is take the front cover off sometimes and put a few drops of STP on the felt to lube the points arm and cam.
Another thing I did was put angled plug caps on the leads that go into the maggie housing, find they sit better and look better and put a bridge across the 2 plug leads near the maggie cover will stop the leads dropping out when riding, had one drop out not far from home but the spark was jumping about 2" or more but it still kept running on both cylinders with a bit a miss fire and don't get zapped by the lead when running, it will give you a good boot.

Ashley

Good advice mate. Always ready to listen .
jug

Another thing as well the hex key that came with the JH is very soft metal and wears quick so I found a allen key the same size and cut it down for the size of the one supplied, the allen key is harden and won't wear but can get 3 hex keys out of one allen key so a few spares if needed, I also used soft bolts for the mounting, if you go down hard on the JH side I perferr the maggie to break the bolts and slide away from the bike, but the thing is to stay up right, the JHs are built tuff but the front cover is its weakest point but cheap to replace, I get all my parts from JH direct and tune up kits are also cheap comes with new points, condenser, and plug leads.
Set your plugs at 18 thu and not 25 thu like normal but I say you will have all that info from Jim, he is a good bloke to deal with and always helpful with any problems, but you won't have any problems at all with a JH, I have run them on a few bikes now with trouble free running and lots of miles on them, I clocked up 250,000ks on my old Triumph with a 2 rare earth JH and it stated frist kick every time and my Norton is the same.

Ashley

What advantage does a magneto have over a standard ignition on a gasoline-powered engine (car or bike)? I don't see any plusses at all to a magneto nowadays; what am I missing?

Shame that there is no way to fit these magneto's behind the cylinder like the earlier Norton twins.
To fit these magnetos at the outside of the timing cover makes them stick out like a sore thumb, and looks awfull, no matter how well they perform.
(just my two cents worth of course)

MexicoMike said:

What advantage does a magneto have over a standard ignition on a gasoline-powered engine (car or bike)? I don't see any plusses at all to a magneto nowadays; what am I missing?

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The big plus is easy starting. Many EIectronic ignitions such as Boyer usually require two revolutions to create spark - the 1st revolution being dead - so you have to kick like hell. But todays mags use powerful Neodymium magnets and my bike starts 1/2 way through the kick. Also - it eliminates the need for a battery (you can use a battery eliminator for lights). Another thing - you can repair a mag. Hardly anyone repairs an electronic ignition. I like Electronic ignitions but I don't like batteries. But I like the mags the best.

The ability to run without a battery can be a great thing.
The half kick vs full kick starting, maybe not so much.
It really doesn't matter to me if the engine starts near the top of the swing , halfway down or at bottom.
My foot is going to the bottom swiftly regardless, that is decided the second you start the kick. Its the only way to kickstart a motorcycle, not these tentative jabs I sometimes see people doing.
For any oldtimer who has grown up with kickstart bikes, this sort of stuff drives you crazy-



At the Vincent Rallies, another Canuck and I are default kick starters for a number of riders. The standing joke at the Minnesota Rally was " how do you always kickstart your Vincent with one kick?
Carry a Canadian on the back"

With my two early Boyer equipped Norton's, it's almost always one kick cold or hot. Hard to improve on that.
The BSA with reconditioned Lucas mag is generally 3 kicks cold, one kick warm or hot. I could see that the Joe Hunt might improve that, although the three kicks cold probably is more to do with pulling fuel in than anything ( choke missing)
Does this Joe Hunt have an advance/retard feature?

Glen

MexicoMike said:

What advantage does a magneto have over a standard ignition on a gasoline-powered engine (car or bike)? I don't see any plusses at all to a magneto nowadays; what am I missing?

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Dont have to push bike 5 miles after EI packs it in or battery voltage drops, also frying EI. Been there done that.

Peter R said:

Shame that there is no way to fit these magneto's behind the cylinder like the earlier Norton twins.
To fit these magnetos at the outside of the timing cover makes them stick out like a sore thumb, and looks awfull, no matter how well they perform.
(just my two cents worth of course)

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My 69 had a hunt mounted behind the cylinder, never let me down. I love the mag.
I think it looks great, hanging out in the wind.

Well some might think they stick out like a sore thumb but myself like it sticking out in the nice cool air showing it off proudly, it also balance the right hand side of the bike and the best thing is when someone ask what it is, some of the BS stories you can tell them and if you catch someone in your yard who shouldn't be there just connect the leads to their balls and give it a good kick, man I got a devious mind.
But of course I will wait for it the usual thing, man it don't have a auto advance fitted, but of course only people who have never had a JH maggie before will say that, they work so well from low rpms to very high rpms.
I gave up on EI a long time ago and not having a big battery to carry all that extra weight, there are more ++++ to a JH than ---- in my book.

Ashley

Just went to the Joe Hunt web site and saw under "Norton" something about an advance unit you could buy for easier starting. But I might have been mistaken. Maybe it was third party or did not apply to Norton not sure. Maybe one of you guys could clear that up.

you may be thinking of the morris magneto retarding cap?

https://shop.morrismagneto.com/products/mra-r

the joe hunt and morris magnetos are modern versions of the old fairbanks-morse single or dual fire magnetos used on agricultural and stationary engines in the past. and on harleys. the advance is fixed, which can be a problem if you're starting a high-compression engine. the morris cap accessory has a toggle that you can flip to retard the spark for starting, and then flip to full advance once the motor is running. expensive.

i run an ARD with a fixed advance fairbanks-morse magneto on a 650 triumph at 11.75 to 1, and it starts okay. i thought about trying the morris cap, but i've never needed it.

My 850 has a hi compression motor and the JH fires it up on 1/2 swing on the kick starter, no need to retard it at all, its always a one kick every time, everyone makes a big thing about retarding them to start up, never needed to and I have run JHs on 2 Triumph and the Norton with very high miles and they all fired up on one kick every time and I can kick my Norton to life sitting on the seat, people who have never had a JH before are the ones that seem to make a big deal about not having auto advance unit.

Ashley

Wait...when you say "fixed advance" are you saying these magnetos do not increase the ignition advance as the RPM rises above "start"/idle engine RPM?

MexicoMike said:

Wait...when you say "fixed advance" are you saying these magnetos do not increase the ignition advance as the RPM rises above "start"/idle engine RPM?

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Yes. You set them at full advance (28° or thereabouts), and that's where it stays at all rpm.

Ken

The Commando timing side hang out in the breeze set up is full advance. The Atlas behind the cylinders type has a mechanical advance on the sprocket (my setup). The Morris mag has a retard lever and it could probably be adapted to the Joe Hunt. The mag starts easier because it has a hotter spark it can span inches - way more than an EI.

speedrattle said:

...used on agricultural and stationary engines in the past. and on harleys.

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Isn't that pretty much the same thing?

lcrken said:

Yes. You set them at full advance (28° or thereabouts), and that's where it stays at all rpm.

Ken

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Interesting! My first reaction would have been that starting would be nearly impossible! Despite the more powerful spark, I would have thought that the spark occurring at the "wrong" time -very early for "kick start" RPM - would launch the kicker into the next county but obviously that is not the case.

I have never used a timing light on my JH I set it staticly on 28d and if any hint of kick back I just retard it ever so slightly till no kick back, in 7 years on the bike it has only kicked back once when it had a belly full of fuel and took more than a 1/2 swing on the kicker, these new JH with the 4 rare earth magnets put out such a big spark would hate to get zapped by one been zapped a few times with the older JH with 2 rare earth magnets and I can tell you it wasn't nice, I remember once on my old Triumph while riding one lead dropped out of the maggie cover and touched my leg, the shock went right up my leg, my mate that was following was wondering what was happening as there was a big commotion in front of him, I have seen the spark jump a few inches when the lead has come out of the cover, but since putting a bridge between the 2 plug leads near the maggie cove I have not had a lead come out since.

Ashley