Progress report on my Joe Hunt maggie

Well its been over 4 years now running my Norton with the Joe Hunt maggie, I don't want to start a debate about it sticking out from the side of my motor and looking ugly, I just want to tell everyone about my experance with this set up and I had a early Joe Hunt on my Triumph that I never had any problem in 9 years it was on it.
When I first brought the new Joe Hunt the first thing I replaced was the soft hex key that was supplied in the kit, I just cut a allen key the same size and have 2 spare keys if needed, I set my motor on the nomal timing marks 28 degress, set the part on the cam where the old advance sits but didn't tighten it till I sat the maggie on to make sure the point timing was set in the middle for ajustment so the the point was just opening, same with any points setting.
After setting it in the right place I pull the maggie off and tighten it all up as well while I had it off I marked all my timing marks inside of the old points area as well the maggie mounting plate so that if i ever had to do any maitenance on the Joe Hunt I just put the motor on the timing marks and remove the maggie to do the work on the bench and when I put the maggie back on all the timing is still set without resetting it.
My Norton has Jims PWK cabbies and with the Joe Hunt these two set ups work so well together, first start for the day the first kick get the fuel sucking and then the second kick will always be a full swing on the kicker and it always fire up straight away, sometimes even on the first kick, but once started for the day it fires up first kick every time.
I have done just over 25,000 miles since the Joe Hunt has been on and is still running great, so far I have done nothing with the points, not even clean them, I pull the maggie cover off every 6 months or so just to put a few drops of oil on the cam felt and while there I check the point to see if it needs cleaning, but so far all is good with it, a lot of poeple make the mistake by filing the point to clean it but all that does is take the harding of it and after a while it will stuff the point, they will only need a clean with some metho on a rage, my old Triumph maggie still had the same point in it for 9 years and with over 200,000ks on it.
I like it sitting out from the motor as it get cool air flow around it, it gives out one of the best sparks I have ever seen on my Norton and the more revs the motor goes the stronger the spark gets, it doesn't need to have a advance on it to fire up or run, I have a hot motor and this maggie works so well through all the rev range and has never missed a beat and I have never put a timing light on it yet, I just advance it till I get a bit of kick back and ajust it till no kickback.
This is one of the best ignition system that I have run on my Norton and no need for a battery, yes they do cost a bit to buy but worth ever cent and will pay for itself over its life time by never ever needing to replace batteries or being stuck with a flat battery.

Ashley

Its not a wart then but a beauty mark to the beholder.

Ditto! Maggies are badass.

my case on missing out on ballsy hung out in the breeze battery-less feature implying a flyfling finger of facing fates.

Steve my Norton is for onroad use so would never be on roadless trails, but I have been on a lot of dirt roads in my time, my style of riding is to stay upright at all times and if I went off road it would be on my CRF450X, having the right bike for the right places, my Norton isn't a dirt bike..

Ashley

Ashely you must be doing something right with all you are getting away with and hope it continues but I moved to wrong place to live and cycle instead of just visit its paved hwy paradise. Engine vitals hanging out are an ancient accepted practice and proof of onwers faith in the future.

Chucking a mag mounted bike down the road, i would be more intersted in tank damage, head light,exzorst, levers, bars, seat etc replacing a mag,compared to a tank/repaint?

I have been twice down the road when I first put it back on the road just over 4 years ago with the maggie on, my oginal front brakes had let me down and spat me off and only damaged the front cover but I had a spare one in my shed from the old Joe Hunt from my Triumph, but spare parts are easy to get from Joe Hunt themselfs.

Its like when you do go down the road hard you are going to do damage to anything on your bike, but I have completely replaced my front brakes with a Grimica set up and now have decent brakes and have no plans to go down again.

Ashley

I think mags are great. I was converted at a young age, whilst idly turning the shaft of a mag i was holding and CRACK i got a Powerful belt off the thing! They give a great starting speed spark, and an even stronger one as revs rise. Plus they are super reliable and totally independent of the rest of the electrical system.

For me though, there's no denying the vulnerability aspect, its not just the mag, a good tumble could see it take out the end of the cam as well, full rebuild time!

The irony for me is that the Norton engine lends itself to a mag system (apart from mkIIIs) there is a huge space behind the cylinders and even a timing chest purposely designed for a drive system to that location!

Doesn't anyone make a kit to put the mag where it belongs??

I have wondered as well, why no one puts the mag back to the original location!, would it not be a fairly straight forward conversion?, I do like the idea of a magneto, and yes, they do bite when held in the hand and turned over!!........

Ashley, thats some impressive mileage on original points!, and the performance sounds great, not so sure on the mag sticking out the side mind, but there again, I did ride a flat twin for a few years!, with the cylinders stuck out on both sides!.

I wonder if some form of crash bars would be worthwhile?, but then a fall would likely damage the frame?, a debate with the old BMW's, let the cylinders hit the tarmac, or chance the frame twisting with crash bars,

John

Its a lot of work that is needed to mount behind the motor, I am happy where it sits as well I have installed soft mounting bolts so if I did hit the road hard the bolts should break and the maggie should slide away from the bike, these are very strong units and will take a good bashing, the top cover is breakalite and are cheap to replace if they get damaged, in the 9 years I had one on my old Triumph I never had any problems with it sitting off the end of the motor.

I alway try to stay up right and have no intenstion of sliding down the road and I know there will be more damage to the bike than just the maggie, so I don't let it worry me, I have heard a few stories about old maggies behind the motor and leaking fuel from carbies, spark and fuel not a good combination.

Ashley

GEEs . Where were you guys brought up . :lol:







THOUGH ADMITADLY , its a bit of work . though theres methods , such as the early cases . :twisted:

2nd column .

ron-wood-norton-flat-track-tuneing-t11637.html?hilit=jorgenson#p159333

Though Unit Triumphs are stuck with it stuck out , thoughve been modified to pre Unit timing cover & mag. Mount .

The Mag. Chain is the inner on Dommies , so it not entirely easy , spacer for front tensioner & sprockets , rear tensioner , etc etc . such as drilling tapping ( and rewelding ? ) for Mag .
Course theres Rear Mount Hunt Mags . As BSA's did PRE UNITS too . Before the Cost Cutting cheaper harsher less leaky :lol: units . :twisted:

Once they're set, they just plain WORK.

First kick every time (as long as you remember to tickle the carbs)



Notice my hair and beard were all very dark brown, now they are all very much gray.

The Hunt mag will STILL fire first kick, and it's NEVER BEEN TOUCHED since the first time I set it.

By the way, this mag was obtained as a scrap lump of aluminum. I sent it to Hunt and I thought they sent me a new replacement till I recognized a small gouge on the base. It was otherwise every bit as new.

grandpaul said:

Once they're set, they just plain WORK.

First kick every time (as long as you remember to tickle the carbs)

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With the TM40 I just twist the throttle 3 time and kick once (accelerator pump). No choke, no enrichener.

Here is my ignition switch/shutoff. I maintained the key switch with all battery power, stator, Pods unit etc., dedicated to lights, horn and the like. Two systems! Nothing like a little redundancy to get you home.

I know they work but don' t understand why.
Other ignition systems, including other magnetos, all require some sort of manual or auto advance/ retard timing control in order to both start without backfire and run with full power at revs. The Joe Hunt mag no advance/retard control, it is always on the equivalent of full advance, yet owners say starting is easy.

Should we thro out the advance retard on the other systems and just lock them at full advance?

Glen

worntorn said:

I know they work but don' t understand why.
Other ignition systems, including other magnetos, all require some sort of manual or auto advance/ retard timing control in order to both start without backfire and run with full power at revs. The Joe Hunt mag no advance/retard control, it is always on the equivalent of full advance, yet owners say starting is easy.

Should we thro out the advance retard on the other systems and just lock them at full advance?

Glen

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Hmmm, I too would have thought that there'd be a risk of kick back on start up if there's no retard facility.

Interestingly though, with these old bikes, I've spent time on the Dyno changing advance curves before and, frankly, could hardly see any effect at all on power!

However, on a big bore triple I once saw a 5bhp increase just from changing from Boyer with 4 volt coils and wasted spark to a Tri-spark and Dyna coils!

My conclusion is that these old motors definitely benefit from a big fat spark, but advance curves and even the finite accuracy of the timing don't seem to effect power anywhere near as much as we'd think.

Of course, on a Dyno, I wasn't looking at tickover, pick up off idle, fuel consumption etc. so I've no experience there.

These maggies don't need advancing, they work perfect the way they are, my old Triumph had the two rare earth magenets and had a great spark but the new Joe Hunts have 4 rare earth magenets and have even stronger spark than the old ones, I hate even think about getting a zapp off this maggie, I only give a full kick when my bike is started for the first time in the day but after it has run it will start first time every time with just a half kick, a lazy kick, I sit on the seat on my bike and just give it a kick without even jumping on it and it will start.

I was coming home one day and my motor started to misfire, when I looked down at the maggie one lead had dropped out of the cover and the spark was jumping 2" or more and the motor was still firing on both cylinders with just a bit of misfire, I was amazed to see that, of course I stopped the motor to put the lead back in, it was clear as anything to see that spark jump in day light and you could hear it cracking as the spark jumped.

Ashley

Today i had to pull the spark plugs out to turn the crank to get the keyway to the top to put my primary chain back on, the plugs were new when I put the Joe Hunt on so over 4 years and 25,000 miles on them, to my surprise they were the same as when I put them in running a nice colour and the electrob was nice and clean with no wear at all on them, I am running the standard Champion N7Ys, this tells me my timing and PWKs are set perfect, not bad as I have never put a timing light on this maggie yet as well the spark plug gaps are set at 18thu as the Joe Hunt instuctions.

My old triumph with the Joe Hunt on it, it was very rere that I replace the spark plugs on it in 9 years running with the Hunt maggie.

Ashley

ashman said:

Today i had to pull the spark plugs out to turn the crank to get the keyway to the top to put my primary chain back on, the plugs were new when I put the Joe Hunt on so over 4 years and 25,000 miles on them, to my surprise they were the same as when I put them in running a nice colour and the electrob was nice and clean with no wear at all on them, I am running the standard Champion N7Ys, this tells me my timing and PWKs are set perfect, not bad as I have never put a timing light on this maggie yet as well the spark plug gaps are set at 18thu as the Joe Hunt instuctions.

My old triumph with the Joe Hunt on it, it was very rere that I replace the spark plugs on it in 9 years running with the Hunt maggie.

Ashley

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Ashley, you certainly do a good job of 'selling' these mags mate, hope you get good commission :wink:

Seriously, they do sound like good bits of kit, for me though, they're just a little too unconventional looking to be my first choice.

I've gone the Tri Spark route, primarily because I've had such good results with them before on triples. But if it goes up in smoke, that'll be adequate excuse to go for a mag!