Motorbike igniton test.

S

Saabsonettguy

Guest
It still isn't perfected but I started building the ignition system for my motorbike today. It consists of a 6v dry cell battery configuration hooked up to a buzz coil. I'm sure the contacts could use more cleaning and adjusting but it sparks pretty decent for an antique, especially considering that it's been sitting unused since at least the 1940's. It should turn out to be a pretty authentic setup for an early style motorbike. Here it is in action. http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y3...uff/?action=view&current=Mbikeignitontest.flv
Anyone else running anything like this?
 
I just watched your movie. I wonder if the condenser is not working very well. The arching at the coil points shouldn't be so great. The coils usually have a condensor(actually a capacitor) made from glass,foil and sealed with tar inside the wooden box.
 
They did seem to be arcing a lot, I'm just not sure whats acceptable for a coil like this. I guess I'll clean the contacts, melt out the tar and replace the condenser in one shot. Hopefully that will help considerably. Thanks for the tip.

Grey
 
If that's an old original Ford coil, they supposedly have platinium contacts, and filing doesn't shorten the contact life. Modern automotive points have a hardened surface which is lost when the points are filed. Some of the old farm engines used a form of ingiitor( a set of points which arced in the prescence of fuel/air mix) instead of a sparkplug. I read an article where a man used a cheap readily available propane barbeque sparker as a substitute for ingniter in his engine. If you modified one of these, no external spark coil would be needed. The trick would timing it correctly, that may be in issue using the spark coil as well.
 
Ford trembler coil

Th Ford trembler coil used to run on AC voltage genereted from the flywheel generator.... If you run these coils from a battery DC 6 volts is all that is required, by using more than 6 volts you increase the primary current in the coil and increase the sparking at the trembler points. If my memory is correct a weel adjusted coil should on pull abt 2 amps on a 6 volt battery...

Regards Al
 
Its an original ford model T coil. I do have a modern ignition coil that I can use if needed, its just not as interesting. The nice thing about the motor I'm using is that the ignition cam is pressed onto the crankshaft, not fixed or keyed. The timing can be adjusted however much is needed.
 
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