Non thumper- Triton

[andy230]

Hello all,

My mates ex-sprinter triton is in my garage, we're putting it back on the road.

Ex-methanol burning motor, with BTH competition mag.  Its a pig to start!  but when it does the motor sounds very sweet.

We've put smaller jets in the carbs (advised on 240s), and retarded the ignition to 38 degrees (also as per road, petrol motor).

But it wont start reliably.  Is this due to the competition mag being crap at "kickstart" engine speeds?  Or maybe his mag is knackered.  To this end, does anyone have a known good Lucas K2F mag we could borrow, just to check?

We would be most appreciative!  And maybe he'd buy you a beer (but dont bank on it, we're BOTH scottish)

This was just on the offchance.  I'm not too hot on mags, and have no experience of competition ones.  Ta!

andy

[bullet350]

check that the advance retard is not stuck in position, or sticking intermittently. i'm assuming it has an advance retard as i don't know about competition mags. check the cable if it has one- or check if it should have one if there isn't one.

also worth checking the carbon brushes. these little black cylinders connect the ht leads to the windings inside the mag. unscrew the black plastic collars at the mag end of the ht lead. push a cotton bud in the hole on the mag and clean out any carbon dust.

when a mag is good its very good, but when they're bad they're and absolute pig.

after all, if its good enough for a spitfire (supermarine, not bsa) its good enough for your bike!

bullet350

[peterj]

My only experience with mags was as a youth with an ancient Petter stationary engine used to power a threshing mill once a year. The only way to get that to spark was to warm the mag (pretty sure it was a BTH, but definitely not a competition one!!) in the oven for a while. I'm guessing that dried out the windings a bit. Might be worth a try, although I'd stick to a pretty low heat.

[mav617]

My only experience with mags was as a youth ....

Likewise, I seem to recall "Razzle" was particularly good.....

I'll get me coat

[andy230]

check that the advance retard is not stuck in position, or sticking intermittently. i'm assuming it has an advance retard as i don't know about competition mags. check the cable if it has one- or check if it should have one if there isn't one.

Yep...  I dont know about advance and retard on this either!  Certainly no cable (as is on my ES2), and not had the timing cover off to see for "auto" advance-retard.  (Generally "auto" can be replaced with "intermittant, eh?!)

also worth checking the carbon brushes. these little black cylinders connect the ht leads to the windings inside the mag. unscrew the black plastic collars at the mag end of the ht lead. push a cotton bud in the hole on the mag and clean out any carbon dust.

A-ha!  Good point!  Haven't done this!  Will check it out, and let you know.

Cheers folks.  this is a very slow project, but I hope to be able to report back soon!

a

[guest27]

A spring Triton slow.... never

R