New Sparker In Town

James,
Thankyou for the helpful information. I did some checking yesterday and still have very poor ign. I even tried a jumper from the battery right to the white on the box. I'll get it. Will a Harley ignition fit on my Norton? Heaven forbid!LOLOL

ChuckB,

I am not sure why you went back to my earlier comment on this topic rather than the recent one where I discovered my faulty coil.

Let me clear something up here though.

I do not disagree that the "old" points system is Ok.

I have also found the Boyer electronic system to be Ok also.

Others that I know run the Rita electronic system find it Ok also.

Occassionally all types of ignition systems will give you problems because of some "weak" link. It all boils down to personal choice in the end. In most cases where we have ignition problems, you usually find it is something simple but difficult to find.

There was a comment made some time back on this forum that anyone that uses Electronic Ignition probably can't set points. What an idiotic statement.
That comment was the reason for my "fuel the fire" comment.

Electronic ignitions are proven to be better than points, that is one reason electronic ignition is used everywhere these days.

Check your ignition circuit again, preferably when not tired, if you have the electronic background you claim, you should locate the problem.
I only have common sense but manage to maintain my vehicles, whether they be the old points system or the electronic type.

I wish you the best of luck finding it soon. I hate my norton being off the road for any reason & I'll bet most on this forum are the same.

Nortonfan,
Thanks for the reply. The only reason i went back to a previous post of yours was because I have been absent from this forum for a long time and was catching up on my reading and could not resist the comment. Granted electronic ignition is better, when it works, and maintaince free. But try and fix the "box" when it breaks 200 miles from home. I will probably stick with the Boyer and fix it shortly. But winter is beginning to set in here so I hope I get it soon. Back to square one and check everything. Thanks.

Ignition problem solved!

I got it! I got it!
It started on the first kick. It runs like crap at low speed because the carbs and timing have not been adjusted but at a higher RPM, it sounds like a wonderful British bike. I went through the ignition system every way I could. I finally concluded that if there was a problem with the Boyer transisterized device, it probably would be totally non functional and not work at all. When I bought this bike it was very sad looking and ran awful. The restoration is almost complete and up until yesterday, I had it running only once. It missed, backfired and ran on one cylinder most the time. So yesterday I noticed something. If I took the plugs out and just laid them on top the head, only one would fire most the time, and that one did not fire all the time. And it was not on the same side of the bike it was on last time. The plugs appeared new when I took the bike apart so I decided to use them. Then yesterday I noticed one was a champion and the other was an NGK. Who buys only one plug? But then who does a restoration and is to cheap to put in new plugs? I bought new plugs, put them in, problem solved. Bike works great. What a feeling. I have never in my life had a spark plug go bad. So what happened? I cleaned the plugs on a wire wheel mounted on a bench grinder and the ceramic insulator picked up metal off the wire wheel causing the insulator to effectively not insulate anymore and be shorted out. $3.00 and problem solved. What an idiot. I want to thank everyone who offered help with this problem. Have a great day.

new sparker intown

ChuckB,
Great news!!, isn't it just the case, it comes down to the simplest of solutions,our bikes can tease us, but what satisfaction when they run well.
Ride the wheels off that Norton before the Winter shuts us down!!.
I use Champion N3C plugs in my 850, a recommendation from Mick Hemmings, it sure idles more smoothly than with N7. Let us know how she goes when the timing and carbs are set up. Good luck, ride safely. James.

My experience with Boyer is fit, set up according to instructions ie 31 degree at 4000 plus revs on a strobe and it runs great no problem I was horrified at the connections to stator plate & soldered everything out, packed cover with foam rubber to stop vibration fatigue of wiring, ran hot epoxy over pickup coils to make some mechanical strength as these are purely soldered on board & dry joints must surely happen, & put extra solder on all printed circuit joints to beef them up.