Contact Breaker Assembly .

For Neanderthals and followers of Joe Lucas . A tirade on the CORRECT ( contribute as you consider ) manner of getting the ponts assembly to work right .

New points ( contact Breakers ) little Nylon heeled thingo's . Lubricateing .

We pull the silly things of the post , if theyre not rivited , glare at it all.See its clean . No Burrs .Lubricate.

To attempt to save repeating myself, a bit like GLUEING . IF both Surfaces have been FULLY COATED , theres no Dry Spots .
So, we do this . Then blow, use a tissue ( paper napkin better ), lint free cloth TO REMOVE EXCESS .Without entirely DRYING the bas er thing .

The Points Cam requires the same approach . i.e. the ENTIRE SURFACE . cleaned so just residue remaining.No dry spots .

Then , the little HEEL on the point , wipe grease across & into contact suface ( Not the points . Idio er um . )

THIS gets it so it will Lube and Surface Harden , on run in . We Hope .We leace a slighjt smear upsteam. to feed under . say 1/2 mm square. 20 though even. A iota or two, maybe three .

Then . the swine will settle in nicely, maybe only close a few thou and leave just a flashing down the far edge. Maybe.This we remove.Almost.
so it doesnt break of and get in the points .

Speaking of which .

The faces should Mate DEAD SQUARE . if they dont , we see that they do. Twisting with long nose plyers or whatever necessary.

A cigarette paper ( rice Paper ) is fairly usefull for checking this ( a 1/4 in. strip of it ) and for checking opening / closeing point . And insulateing
if you break it off in there .

a oil stone & dressing ' on the bench ' is better than farting round with a points file . unless its a nice good expensive one . Not some cheap nail file trash .
This way YOU GET IT SQUARE . spot on . Nothing less ( will do )

Set correct, ignition on , C'shaft at the timeing mark . Cover Off. a ( wee ) spanner , or even the fingertips , bringing the Auto Advance To The Stop , should get the nice fat ' Crack ' ( electric ) as it fires.On The STOP. NOT Before . or anywhere else . For those running 31 Deg , we can see this is relevant . So its NOT more. At All .

Then we have the ADVANCE UNIT . Id recomend Ea 10.000 miles REMOVEING IT .

Clean by dumping in a can of petrol or whatever . Disasemble . Lint Free Cloth .
Clear out the bore of the points cam, and the shaft . Really fancy blokes could polish till it shines .No burrs or daggs tolerated . or forign matter
Really , if theres more than a few thou ( TWO to you ) the blankety shafts looose , or the clearance is wrong . OR NOT RIGHT .
The wobble will effect contact breaker gap. This we will not accept . so somethinglll have to be done.Probly rip some bits out of a old Lucas Distributor .
For a Twin Cylinder .
SO , if its all nice fitting . The Lube, probly litium stuff , Goes ALL OVER the mateing surfaces . Though just a iota or three is LEFT , to get all over things. Which is as much as anything why we pull it down & wash it every 10.000 minimum. Some people dont like dust & water getting in there .
The Points cam watsit or shaft , has a relief. In the middle .Between the mateing surfaces .THIS is where we leave a bit of grease.To feed the thing.& work its way out and get on other bits. So not a awfull lot.

One can see bushing ( Alumn Bronze ) O ringing and further uprates and blueprinting beyond Lucas's knock em out & bash em up Cost Related ( TIME / $ )
could lead us to have a masterpiece of a ignition advance mechanism . If we had the time & inclination.

FURTHER

The Little Advance Springs .

The SOFTER one should sit with Zero 1000 and or 2000 gaps checked again . Essentially this proceedure should get the heel wear to sfa and hold the setting nicely . Setting Closeing advances spark.Resetting to correct ( .015 or .016 One or the other ) gets the correct Dwell & OPENING POINT for the Contact Breaker : SPARK .

So its the olde cleanliness is next to godliness bit again . Zen of the points. if its worth doing its worth doing well .

Keep the dust & filth out.
A mereist smear of sealant on the Alloy Points cover , and a breather tube from the vent to the air box , and we'll be setting new parameters in particularity .

IF it pits one side of the contact breaker , its usually a mismatch of the condensor / capacitor to the coil . A Electronically Matched Coil / Condensor the spark , L.T. will be pretty much neutral ionically and the POINTS WERA MINIMAL , from electric causes .

So theres no excuses left. Apart from the coils.

See ' Cycle ' Mags great Coil Test from the 70s , Joe Lucas came in a definate last place . particularly the six volt . One neede a Lucas SPORTS Coil , preferably under 10 years old , to get the 1/2 in blue / yellow 11.000 Deg. SPARK pretty much essential for impressing the neigbours with first kick starts and no
missfireing / uneven running , at all .In fact near a standard set by a good Magneto .

Bendix points referance ( for 73 Triumph ) = contact set only : Part No CD 481 .= Bendix Contact Set ( Complete with backing plate ) part no. CD 450. this is TRIUMPH No's ONLY, but should serve as a guide .

http://www.billymegawatt.com/uploads/6/ ... racing.pdf = source .

I do wonder how the human race survived with old fashioned points when these old bikes were used much more than they are today. When they were some peoples only transport, commuting for hundreds of miles at a time quite often.
Just imagine it, no mobile phone if you break down, no forums to visit if you are stuck.
As for Lucas, what else was there? Miller or Wipac maybe?
No good slating what was, because there was nothing else.

My Indian Enfield still runs on points. The only time I've had a problem was when I checked them and they were pitted, so I thought I'd replace them. The first replacement set was bent and wouldn't close. The second set, the contacts wouldn't align properly. So I took a grit wheel to the originals, cleaned them up and put them back in. They've now done 14,000 miles without a hiccup. The guy in the local shop tells me he's had Redditch Bullets in with the original points still working, 50+ years on. I don't talk to him about electronic ignition

I used the points on mine for a long time, wore them out in about 10K miles, but the thing still started up with them last year. Trouble is the cam wears out on the inside among other things and it's nearly impossible to set the points gap now, so it was time for the Pazon. There was a fella on the forum that bushed his and is still using it, he even changed the cam profile. He maybe even hardened the notches for the advance pin stops. Nothing wrong with that. If I had unlimited money I might too, I kept my 12V coils in case I ever want to go back.



Dave
69S

While the judge is out on RMA timing chain adjusters....on ...the cam chain snatch accelerations of the weights on AA units (causing quick wear outs)...A loose chain is the main defect as to longevity on mechanical AA units. I will be installing a NOS early 90's RMA adjuster on my next project bike probably MKIII . The 920 Drouin already has another RMA tensioner early version.

Smooth operating/serviced AA units ought to last a long long ime.

There are involved ways to recover AAU"s, so send me your cast offs. In the olden days which I was part of, points were a constant worry and first place to look in on and curse and clean and hope. This applied to boats and everything but parts were available to recover, not so today. When right, points are fine till they ain't again. Many Harley's still run on points but again they got spares forever more.