Norton dual points

[Monkeypants]

Ron, the coils are Lucas 6 volt from a Norton Commando. They are mounted under the mag cowl.The condensors are the Lucas items for the Commando ignition as well and they are also mounted under the mag cowl. The bike has a 12 volt electrical system, but the ignition feed has a ballast resistor inline to give 6 volts to the points. The Ballast resistor is also from a Norton Commando. The Commandos ran a 12 volt electrical system for everything except the ignition. I have read that the ignition was fed with 6 volts rather than 12 to increase points life(less arcing)
The points do seem to last a long,long time as long as you use NOS Lucas rather than the Japanese Daichi replacements which many shops sell.
I have only replaced the Lucas points once in 55,000 miles and the points in the bike still look as new.

Glen

 

[Oldhaven]

Perfect! All those pieces ares available NOS on Ebay at a lot less cost than the modern equivalents as old bike shops close up. I already have some spare Lucas points in addition to the ones on the 10CA points plate now, so I should be good for my last third of a century. I think I read that the coils for 6 volts need to be 2.5 ohms rather than the 5+ ohms best for 12 volt points systems.

Ron

 

[Monkeypants]

Yes, it's all inexpensive stuff. For a few dollars you can buy a second set of everything and carry a complete spare ignition with you. In a small ziplock bag, I carry spares points, condensors and one coil (can't imagine both coils going bad at once) but have never used any of the items when on the road. As mentioned earlier, the only problem encountered with the ignition was when I installed some Daichi points rather than Lucas. The Daichi point heels wore very quickly so that the point gap closed up in a few hundred miles. When the points gap on this system gets less than .020" the rear cylinder loses it's spark. With the points at .025" gap it works very well. I check the points gaps about every ten thousand miles, so it's not much of a maintenance item.

Glen

 

[Bill Thomas]

Ron, Those small coils, Don't like to be held too tight, I think the proper Norton ones are in a rubber sleve, Always carry a spare, Good luck, Bill.

 

[Oldhaven]

I found this website while investigating Lucas points systems. Under the British section on the page they offer a magneto replacement housing that would be a good basis for a homemade dual points system, though it looks like the drive end gear, shaft and bearings might have to be made as well. Probably better to source a Norton Neptune points housing, since it has a nice shaft that accepts the Lucas cam and auto advance, needle rollers for it to run in, and nice o-ring seal.

http://www.c5ignitions.com/motorcycle-ignitions.html

 

[vibrac]

This is really re-inventing the old Dolphin twin points system that was developed by the late Bob Stafford and used Lucas Contact breakers (6CA) and Lucas capacitor pack 2CP must be 20 or 30 years ago

 

[Bill Thomas]

I had that set up for a while, And found I was forever adjusting it, The advance cable bit was always sticking, 2 of everything was a pain, The D distributor was much better, They still come up on E/bay a lot, Cheers Bill.

 

[Oldhaven]

This is really re-inventing the old Dolphin twin points system that was developed by the late Bob Stafford and used Lucas Contact breakers (6CA) and Lucas capacitor pack 2CP must be 20 or 30 years ago

I think the Dolphin system mounted the points on the outside of the timing cover of the engine and the position of the magneto was replaced by a manual advance and rev counter plug in. It seems that was some trouble to Bill... It used the opposite rotation to the one I am working on and mine has an automatic advance unit. It will have two of everything, but should allow very accurate individual point timing settings, since, as Glen mentioned, it almost amounts to a separate ignition system for each cylinder. (Man, have I found out a lot about Lucas ignitions in the past couple of months.) In any case, I just got my magneto back today, so this system will be a spare if all goes as it should. (see my magneto trouble thread in the next couple of days for results). Wish me luck.

Ron

 

[Bill Thomas]

Owning a Vin' is never easy !!, but it will be worth it, Luck, Bill.

 

[Garth Robinson]

I had that set up for a while, And found I was forever adjusting it, The advance cable bit was always sticking, 2 of everything was a pain, The D distributor was much better, They still come up on E/bay a lot, Cheers Bill.

I have been using a Dolphin setup on my B for the last 25 years,I have found it to be almost trouble free.I did break the advance/retard cable once though.The coils etc all fit under the mag cowl ,out of sight.Perhaps I don't worry enough!
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