Powerplus or Bust, Eh?

[Shaky Jake]

It's Official; I'm in

I had to share this link:
http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com/...?sid=55&site=7
It's official, I'm in, #97. I feel like that guy in the movie "The Jerk" when the telephone books came out.



Kevin - CB '16 #97


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[BoschZEV]

I had to share this link:

Kevin, That link didn't work for me so I followed a different path to your page on the Cannonball site and its URL is:

http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com/...97-Kevin-Naser

[Shaky Jake]

Kevin, That link didn't work for me so I followed a different path to your page on the Cannonball site and its URL is:

http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com/...97-Kevin-Naser

I went back and fixed my link. Thanks for posting the link directly to my video, that works even better.


Kevin

[Shaky Jake]

Mag 1

It seems like a lot of people are using Bosch ZEV magnetos for the 2016 Cannonball. They have a reputation for being more reliable than the Dixie mags, and they are correspondingly more difficult to find, and more expensive. My bike came with a Dixie magneto, and at this point I plan on sticking with those because I can't find a Bosch that I can afford. I've managed to accumulate two more 42 degree Dixie Magnetos, in addition to the one that I got with my bike. I figure I need to have at least two of them in good condition for the Cannonball, and one for parts. The one on the left I'll call Dixie #1, it's the one that came with my bike. The one in the middle, Dixie #2, is missing the advance lever, and an incorrect lever was supplied with it. It was set up for a single cylinder bike, but I believe it can be converted for a twin. The one on the right, Dixie #3, appears to be fairly complete, other than the missing gear:







The bases are a known problem on the Dixie mags, they tend to corrode badly around the bolt holes. I managed to find three Dixie mags with good bases:





Here they are with the tins off. The top tin on #2 had been glued to the slip ring cover with some epoxy or something. I never did get it off:






Dixie #2 had an oil hole in one of the tins, and a tube to direct the oil to one of the bearings:








The other two had the oil hole blanked off, apparently from the factory:








Here they are with the slip ring covers taken off. You can see that the insulating part of the slip ring on #1 has a large chunk broken out of it, and the one on #3 has a small piece broken out of it:







Both gears came off fairly easily. The threads on the end of the #2 rotor are fairly well boogered up. Someone had made a half-assed attempted to rethread it for a smaller nut, but the threads came out sort of tapered:




More to come...


Kevin
CBall 2K16 #97


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[BoschZEV]

It seems like a lot of people are using Bosch ZEV magnetos for the 2016 Cannonball...
My bike came with a Dixie magneto, and at this point I plan on sticking with those because I can't find a Bosch that I can afford...

Kevin,

There certainly has been a lot of interest (which is increasing as C-day approaches) in ZEVs and in the following threads as a result of the Cannonball:

http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/bbo...ch-ZEV-magneto

and

http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbth...46733#Post4467

Even though the specifics of what I wrote in those threads (the latter under the screen name 'Magnetoman') are for a Bosch ZEV essentially everything applies to your Dixie as well.

[rwm]

mag number 2 looks smaller.

[Shaky Jake]

Kevin,

There certainly has been a lot of interest (which is increasing as C-day approaches) in ZEVs and in the following threads as a result of the Cannonball:

http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/bbo...ch-ZEV-magneto

and

http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbth...46733#Post4467

Even though the specifics of what I wrote in those threads (the latter under the screen name 'Magnetoman') are for a Bosch ZEV essentially everything applies to your Dixie as well.

Thanks. I already had those bookmarked.


Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

mag number 2 looks smaller.

An illusion of the lens.


Kevin

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[panthersteve]

mag number 2 looks smaller.

I actually thought the same thing !!

[BigLakeBob]

Great thread Kevin, are you going to patina the gas tank?

[Shaky Jake]

Great thread Kevin, are you going to patina the gas tank?

I thought about it, Bob, but it seems like it would be a lot more effort than just painting it, and for no real benefit. I've done some painting, but I don't know if I really have the talent to do a believable faux patina. Some of the bikes I've seen that have been done that way look pretty fake, once you get up close. I suppose I could bury it in the yard for a while. I don't know, what do you think I should do?

You going to St. Paul?


Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

Mags 2

Turning the mags around to work on the other end, the breaker boxes come off as a unit. The flat square things with the lettering on them in the second picture are the condensers. Some folks have used automotive condensers as a replacement, others use modern capacitors:








I pulled the slip ring from Dixie #1 first, since it was already badly damaged. There is supposed to be a wire clip holding it on, but that was missing and it was just being held on by the press fit. The slip rings are made of an old Bakelite type material, and being a century old they're pretty fragile. I applied some Kroil to the interface between the shaft and the slip ring, and let it soak for a day. Then I held the slip ring in my hand and gently tapped on the end of the shaft with a small soft mallet. As you can see, some more of the Bakelite portion of the slip ring broke off:






On Dixie #2 I spent a little more time with it, since it had a good slip ring and I wanted to save it. I removed the wire clip and did the Kroil soak. Then I applied some heat with a heat gun. When the slip ring was warm I could slide it back and forth on the shaft a little bit by hand, but it wouldn't come all the way off. It appears that a century of putting gears on and off of the taper, mushroomed the shaft a little bit behind the taper. I spent an hour or so working that area down with a small file and abrasive cloth, and then the slip ring came off easily with a little heat (it didn't take very much). The keyway in the slip ring is a little worn, but otherwise you can see that it came off intact:






Using the technique I'd learned on Dixie #2, the slip ring came off of Dixie #3 fairly easily, with only the pre-existing nick in the Bakelite:






Here is a close-up of the damaged threads on Dixie #2; I may try to repair this by drilling out the end of the shaft and threading in a stud, unless a good rotor comes up on eBay or at a swap meet:







I have found a source for repop slip rings, and other parts. I've sent the windings from Dixie #1 and Dixie #3 out to be rewound.



Kevin

CBall 2K16 #97


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[BoschZEV]

Thanks. I already had those bookmarked.

Ah, but have you read the material or only bookmarked the threads? To save you time and, I hope, anguish when on the road next year, following are links to some specific information directly relevant to your most recent posts:

Some folks have used automotive condensers as a replacement, others use modern capacitors:

Inappropriate replacement capacitors probably have been responsible for more breakdowns of rebuilt magnetos than any other single cause. The capacitor that I recommend after having conducted extensive tests is:

http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbth...762#Post508762

I have found a source for repop slip rings,

If it were me, I'd either repair and reuse one of the existing slip rings, or make a new one from Garolite XX because of the uncertainty of the quality of aftermarket slip rings, as described at:

http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbth...338#Post507338

I've sent the windings from Dixie #1 and Dixie #3 out to be rewound.

After inappropriate replacement capacitors, badly rewound armatures are probably second on the list of causes of breakdowns. I wind my own because of the issues discussed halfway down in the following post, under the heading "Armature Winders":

http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbth...907#Post464907

As a note, if you rebuild two magnetos in the same way using the same aftermarket components and armature rewinder, you won't have one good magneto and one spare. You will have two magnetos that either will both function correctly, or that will fail from the same cause.

On the upcoming Cannonball different bikes will fail from seized valves, seized pistons, broken connecting rods, etc. However, based on lots of observational data I've collected over the past 15 years, the cause of failure that will be most common will be the magneto. If a magneto isn't rebuilt properly, tears will be shed.

[BoschZEV]

p.s. if you send me a PM with your mailing address and dimensions of the cavity that holds the condenser, I'll send you capacitors for all three of your magnetos as partial payment for the enjoyment I get reading your posts. Depending on the size of the cavity it will hold either a 0.018 uF or a pair of 0.008 uF capacitors (that you will solder together to form 0.016 uF, as described in my magneto restoration thread).

[Shaky Jake]

Ah, but have you read the material or only bookmarked the threads?

Busted... trust me, I will read them. Thanks for the Cliffs Notes though...


Kevin

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