I just picked this up this morning, thanks to a friend who found it on Craigslist for me, and also went and bought it and picked it up for me. It ended up being 2 miles from his house. Its a number's matching '66 650. I think its a model 88, but maybe someone can confirm it for me? Motor is free and has good compression. Light work when I hooked a battery up, but no spark. I checked the mag point out, they are freshly cleaned, gapped to spec and still now spark. Is there any tricks to working on a Magneto? It's my first one.
My new Norton Atlas
- Thread starter 72westie
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Re: My new Norton. Model 88?
You probably should post the model number here to confirm.
You probably should post the model number here to confirm.
Re: My new Norton. Model 88?
The engine number will tell the story of what it is - and also the number of fins on the cylinder.
Looks like it may be an Atlas, 750cc, engine prefix code 20 !
A Model 88 is a 500cc dommie, engine code 122, and a 650 is code 18.
There was also a 600cc Model 99, code 14. Looks Atlas though..
The magneto is now at least 40 years old, and Lucas recommended they be serviced every year.
Fail to spark could be a number of causes, damp or corroded wiring being one of them.
Give it to an expert and have it completely overhauled, takes all the problems away - trouble free motoring for a few more decades, at least...
Nice looking find, if a trifle rusty, should come up well.
Try stainless steel wool and phosphoric acid on the rusty bits first, to take away the rusty look - be gentle ! Especially on the rims, which often will clean up like new again.
Are you going to do it as a rider, or use the snowball effect and do everything like new again ?
Have fun...
The engine number will tell the story of what it is - and also the number of fins on the cylinder.
Looks like it may be an Atlas, 750cc, engine prefix code 20 !
A Model 88 is a 500cc dommie, engine code 122, and a 650 is code 18.
There was also a 600cc Model 99, code 14. Looks Atlas though..
The magneto is now at least 40 years old, and Lucas recommended they be serviced every year.
Fail to spark could be a number of causes, damp or corroded wiring being one of them.
Give it to an expert and have it completely overhauled, takes all the problems away - trouble free motoring for a few more decades, at least...
Nice looking find, if a trifle rusty, should come up well.
Try stainless steel wool and phosphoric acid on the rusty bits first, to take away the rusty look - be gentle ! Especially on the rims, which often will clean up like new again.
Are you going to do it as a rider, or use the snowball effect and do everything like new again ?
Have fun...
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- 1,607
Re: My new Norton. Model 88?
Atlas, built in Plumstead
That means its a 750, and that serial number is right on the '65-'66 break, so it could be either one
Supposedly '66 started with engine number 115870, but that doesn't mean much. If its titled as a '66, then its a '66.
caught me middle of my post, Rohan!
Atlas, built in Plumstead
That means its a 750, and that serial number is right on the '65-'66 break, so it could be either one
Supposedly '66 started with engine number 115870, but that doesn't mean much. If its titled as a '66, then its a '66.
caught me middle of my post, Rohan!
Re: My new Norton. Model 88?
Sweet! It was advertised as a Atlas. I have the seat too, it was laying in my car. I am unsure of my plans. I would love to get it running, which most likely means getting the mag rebuilt, I am going to call SRM on Monday and see what the expected turn around time is. I haven't had a chance to fiddle with mono pics before, so ill probably have some dumb questions about those.
My friend has his grandfathers Atlas, when he died it became his fathers, his dad is the one who got me into nortons in the first place. I am going to try and talk him into getting has mag rebuilt with mine. It would be great if we were able to ride them together next year
Sweet! It was advertised as a Atlas. I have the seat too, it was laying in my car. I am unsure of my plans. I would love to get it running, which most likely means getting the mag rebuilt, I am going to call SRM on Monday and see what the expected turn around time is. I haven't had a chance to fiddle with mono pics before, so ill probably have some dumb questions about those.
My friend has his grandfathers Atlas, when he died it became his fathers, his dad is the one who got me into nortons in the first place. I am going to try and talk him into getting has mag rebuilt with mine. It would be great if we were able to ride them together next year
Haven't used him - seen other folks say good things though.
Calls himself wheelpower, in Ohio, retired but still going.
May be out touring though ?
P.S. You need someone to put new wire in it to begin with.
Cleaning around the wire with adding other new bits just isn't good enough.
Calls himself wheelpower, in Ohio, retired but still going.
May be out touring though ?
P.S. You need someone to put new wire in it to begin with.
Cleaning around the wire with adding other new bits just isn't good enough.
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- Oct 19, 2005
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- 18,978
There is a fella that shows up at some INOA rallys on an Altas with untouched decades of decayed patina, fully rusted the length of the exhaust system, corrosion covered mud gards and layers of old oil grime every where else but runs like a top so a double taker to hear and see on hardest of all finishes to obtain and maintain. I'm not man enough to pull that wonder off though.
Re: My new Norton. Model 88?
Re; “Try stainless steel wool and phosphoric acid on the rusty bits first, to take away the rusty look - be gentle ! Especially on the rims, which often will clean up like new again.”
DON’T use steel wool on CHROME :!:
Use a brass brush.
Rohan said:
Re; “Try stainless steel wool and phosphoric acid on the rusty bits first, to take away the rusty look - be gentle ! Especially on the rims, which often will clean up like new again.”
DON’T use steel wool on CHROME :!:
Use a brass brush.
Re: My new Norton. Model 88?
Some Norton featherbed twins of this era have an "M" stamped instead of a "P", so unless someone knows what all the letters on AMC twins stands for, we should not assume we know what any of them mean just because they happen to be the first letter of a word related to the bikes.
Lucas magnetos are unpredictable machines. There are some that are half a century old that have never been apart that still do their job, and there are many others that are not for either simple or involved reasons.
In the recent past I was given a Lucas magneto of a Matchless trials bike to sort out and the only reason it was not sparking was because someone had left an insulating washer out of it when the points were replaced. A few weeks ago I took the magneto for my 1962 650ss and completely dismantled it, cleaned it very well, put a small amount of wheel bearing grease into it's main bearings and put it back together using all old original parts, it has a very nice spark now.
This does not mean that these old magnetos will run the bike well once they are up to operating temperature though, as heat will bring out deficiencies in the windings, capacitor or magnet.
But it is not hard to take apart a Lucas Magneto into it's major components, clean it, grease it and put it back together, so it is well worth doing. When you are done it will either run the bike or it will not, if not then you can wade into the world of rewound armatures and replacement capacitors.
There is a nice fellow on Ebay U.K. offering complete rewound armatures for popular Lucas magnetos for a very reasonable sum. Check old garages in your area for one that still has their old equipment to re-magnetize them, a repair shop local to me that is about a century old still has theirs and will do the job for $20 if the magneto is stripped when handed to them, and a local motor rewinding shop is looking into rewinding an armature for me.
Also the Bright-Spark company in the U.K. sells new capacitors for a few tens of dollars and has complete installation instructions for them on their website.
So a decent DIY mechanic can get most Lucas magnetos into very useable condition for very little money. It is not black magic or anything mysterious, just takes some patients and care. A bonus is the self-education and knowing exactly what you have on your hands.
Having work done by others on Lucas magnetos is often going to be either expensive or of unknown quality, which doing the work yourself solves handily. With a bit of searching with Google on the internet, all the Lucas manuals and specs for servicing Lucas Magnetos can be found.
Good luck
Rohan said:
Some Norton featherbed twins of this era have an "M" stamped instead of a "P", so unless someone knows what all the letters on AMC twins stands for, we should not assume we know what any of them mean just because they happen to be the first letter of a word related to the bikes.
Lucas magnetos are unpredictable machines. There are some that are half a century old that have never been apart that still do their job, and there are many others that are not for either simple or involved reasons.
In the recent past I was given a Lucas magneto of a Matchless trials bike to sort out and the only reason it was not sparking was because someone had left an insulating washer out of it when the points were replaced. A few weeks ago I took the magneto for my 1962 650ss and completely dismantled it, cleaned it very well, put a small amount of wheel bearing grease into it's main bearings and put it back together using all old original parts, it has a very nice spark now.
This does not mean that these old magnetos will run the bike well once they are up to operating temperature though, as heat will bring out deficiencies in the windings, capacitor or magnet.
But it is not hard to take apart a Lucas Magneto into it's major components, clean it, grease it and put it back together, so it is well worth doing. When you are done it will either run the bike or it will not, if not then you can wade into the world of rewound armatures and replacement capacitors.
There is a nice fellow on Ebay U.K. offering complete rewound armatures for popular Lucas magnetos for a very reasonable sum. Check old garages in your area for one that still has their old equipment to re-magnetize them, a repair shop local to me that is about a century old still has theirs and will do the job for $20 if the magneto is stripped when handed to them, and a local motor rewinding shop is looking into rewinding an armature for me.
Also the Bright-Spark company in the U.K. sells new capacitors for a few tens of dollars and has complete installation instructions for them on their website.
So a decent DIY mechanic can get most Lucas magnetos into very useable condition for very little money. It is not black magic or anything mysterious, just takes some patients and care. A bonus is the self-education and knowing exactly what you have on your hands.
Having work done by others on Lucas magnetos is often going to be either expensive or of unknown quality, which doing the work yourself solves handily. With a bit of searching with Google on the internet, all the Lucas manuals and specs for servicing Lucas Magnetos can be found.
Good luck
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- Nov 5, 2006
- Messages
- 1,152
If you need the maggie rebuilt Doug wood IS the guy here in the US, impeccable work
dougwood@netzero.net
dougwood@netzero.net
Thanks for the heads up Mike, I sent off an email asking about Doug's prices. I plan on spending some time on the old beast tomorrow. I am going to get the carbs off and apart and soak/clean them. I will look up the Lucas magneto stuff online and try to take it apart and see what's going on, if I can't figure out how to put it back together again, I can always send it out that way to get rebuilt. 
Is there a parts book with the picture breakdowns along with the parts numbers? The online one on Big D's site only gave numbers and a description, no pictures or diagrams showing part orientation.
Is there a parts book with the picture breakdowns along with the parts numbers? The online one on Big D's site only gave numbers and a description, no pictures or diagrams showing part orientation.
Well, I pulled the carbs off today and have them soaking. The left carb body is warped I think, it took a lot of effort to get the slide out. I pulled the magneto points plate and cam off, cleaned them up real good, reinstalled and checked the gap. Kicked it over and it now has spark on both cylinders! Woohoo!
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