Great News, Great NEWS !!!
No, not the Second Coming, but nearly as good. I have been wielding the spanners as best I can, and have finally confirmed what I think we knew all along. Apart from taking the covers off ( and destroying my lovely oil-tight gasket work again .... ) to check timing marks, which were spot on, I removed the magneto, taking the auto advance retard unit off the end of the armature shaft. I removed the armature from the mag, and replaced the A/R unit on the shaft without the nut, and gave it a couple of sharp taps with a hide mallet to seat it on the taper. I turned the armature upside down in my hand, and what do you think happened.....? Yes, you guessed it, the A/R unit just dropped off the shaft.
. Top marks to all of you who saw that one coming!!!
I tried it again to make sure, this time giving it several clouts with the ubiquitous mallet to seat it properly, and the same thing happened
. Well, well, well, I thought. Obviously there was enough initial grab with the nut tightened up to stay in the correct position until the engine fired up, but then centrifugal force took over and moved the pinion on the shaft, altering the timing drastically.
So, it appears that although the A/R unit seemed to be secure when I tightened up the sleeve nut, it wasn't seating on the taper at all. I have attempted to lap them together with fine grinding paste, but to no avail. I have now junked the A/R unit, which was a
'Fleabay' special anyway, and will install a refurbed manual unit after the festivities.
Shabashow, was my ploy to get out of hanging flashing icicles from the roof that easy to see through, then ???? Always worked in the past. Thanks for your advice. I use the ' back wheel, gearbox in 4th ' method to rotate the engine by small amounts as you suggest, and I knew about seeing the brass contact on the slip ring through the pickup hole from the pages of this Forum, but I think we may be almost there now. Never thought about the kebab stick, though, brilliant idea.
Wilko, I guess you must have been lucky to have a mag last that long, and it was my fault for buying untried goods on Evilbay, the ' Bay of Fools ', as my local Brit bike shop proprietor calls it. In fairness, my mag did have a failed condenser, which would have caused me problems anyway, had it not been discovered, so paying out to have it put right was worthwhile in the long run.
Now, if only I can work out how to post pictures, I 'll put my pride and joy on for you all to see (....this thread has been running so long, some of you think I don't own a bike at all......!!! ), and maybe post a link to YouTube for the first successful firing up when it happens
.
My thanks to all involved in this long-running saga ( ...been running longer than ' Home and Away' by now. )
Regards
Norman