norton wiring

Hello everyone. I am helping a friend wire up a 71 750. I am going to campaign for negative ground and usually use the diagrams that Old Britts has graciously put on their site. The last time I did this though the 2mc cap (blue thingy) terminal got a little crowded! Others in our club have not even used it. Is it really needed? We are using a micro-digital Boyer and a Podtronics unit. Is the start cap really needed?
Mike
:?:

From what I know you do not need really need the capacitor. When I still had points (have Rita now), it was helpfull though as I could get the bike going kickstarting and run it without battery. Did not check this with the Rita (needs fair bit of amps (about 4?) in itself), doubt it. Do not think it is specifically a "start" cap.

There's no need to keep the capacitor, it was only there to aid starting with a flat battery, I haven't had one on my 850 for the past 25 years! (early Boyer ignition and Podtronics or similar regulator/rectifier)
Dave.

Is there a particular reason why you want to change to negative ground? I can see the advantage if you have plans to use some polarity specific LED's, but otherwise I don't see the need.

Whatever you do, either keep the color codes the same (at least red for positive and white or black for negative) or include a clear copy of the wiring diagram so someone other than yourself can follow your logic. I would also suggest a clear label on the battery box that the bike has been converted to negative ground.

Maybe it's 30+ years with British bikes, but when I look at a component on one I expect it to be positive ground and a red wire should be a ground. I don't like to be surprised!

As for the capacitor, I generally eliminate them when an EI is present. If they are in good shape it will start with a low or no battery, but they are often 40 years old and leak. Then they serve no purpose at all.