I'm not sure what I'm seein' here... This is for all you 6V magneto geeks... The bike starts well. After a little warmup she settles into a decent idle. 700 -1000 rpm. The generator light shows full red and I get 2? volts on the meter. (The regulator is cut out) Increasing the rpm to "midrange" (no tach), the light fades out and I'm reading 6 -7V on the meter. Perfect. (The regulator cuts in and I'm sending voltage to the battery) Increasing the rpms to "hi range" and the light reappears and I get almost 8+ volts showing on the meter...( The regulator cuts "back out" ? at the higher voltage?) The question being, does the regulator cut back out at higher voltage as it does on lower voltage?
This is just a semi-educated guess...but if you are seeing 7-8v at full rpm, you are surely charging, so the regulator is not "cutting out", but it isn't really regulating either. The role of the regulator is to feed current to the generator field, causing it to charge as much as possible, at the lowest revs possible. But conversely, it should be tapering off the current feed at higher rpms....which it sounds as though it may not be doing. The potential problem might be in riding long periods of time at high charging rates, and over-charging the battery. Old liquid batteries would boil off the liquid (water) and would then need to be topped off. Newer AGM batteries are more resistant to that abuse, but not immune. I say ride it, and monitor battery... VR could be faulty, could fix itself with some additional use (it's a simple mechanical relay inside), or...??
[/IMG] As you can see, the regulator could very well be 60 years old. As is the coil, points setup, condenser. The battery is brand new. I checked the brushes and they've got plenty of meat and they're sliding nicely. Commutator is shiny and not excessively worn. In NY it's the LAW to ride with your lights on, so I'm loading it all up. It just seemed strange that the indicator would reappear at high rpms. My previous experience was that the gen lite would remain constant on if the Regulator was bad. This one appears to only be "half" bad, thus my confusedness...I went so far as to gently refresh the points to see that they were making good contact but it didn't seem to make a difference. Due to the rare antiquity of the thing, I foresee a new electronic VR in my future..as well as a Pentacom points plate, anew condenser and I've got a fresh coil stashed just for this occasion.
So while I'm pokin' at the regulator I can't help but notice the coil and some other stuff... That is the brownest cloth coil I've ever seen. That condenser looks ancient...wire soldered to the top, and the hot wire to the coil sure looks fuzzy...the spark leads on the coil haven't moved since Sputnik and what the Hell is going on with the outside posts??? Since I can't get to the hold down screw on the port side of the coil it seems logical to pull the whole ignition block. It's only two bolts and I have access to the whole artifact. Best move all day... There were several heirolglyphs from previous alignments but I did reset the magneto alignment marks to TDC earlier. I decided to add a daub of white paint to the housing and rescribe the mark for reassembly. Et Voila! I has ze sparker in my hand for some much needed TLC. I can reach all those connections and teeny screws without jamming my head between the fender and frame and crouching on my knees for the next 2 hours! Comparing the Emerald City replacement with the OEM? unit . I ended up having to clamp the whole unit in the vise and laying into the hold down screw to get it to pop. It would have been misery trying to do this on the bike The condenser was stamped on the bottom... "Made In W Germany" All the parts fit nicely. The new coil has the extra ground wire, and that's a brand new condenser from a 1973 Ford Torino. I cleaned and regreased the felt pad. Now refit the whole unit back over the magneto, align the timing mark and hook up the two sparkers and the ground. Reinstall the advance mechanism. Before placing the Advance I shmear the nose with cam grease. It provides a small but important cushion for the advance mechanism to "even out" all the rotational forces that happen. It's an prime tool to reduce "differential" timing. A Little Dab'l Do Ya. I have a lifetime supply! So I'm still wrestling with the fact that I'm now compromising the originality of these pieces, just to make the damn thing run! I mean, what could be wrong with this?
That brown is just the patina of 60 year old varnish. But that emerald coil will make a HUGE difference. Especially after a 2 or 3 hour ride when the weather gets hot.
My first toodle on the thing wasn't all roses and cute fuzzy things. After stopping at the cemetery for some glam shots, it wouldn't start. I had to pop it. A sure sign of wonky coil. After replacing the aforementioned parts, she fired RIGHT up, with a robust puff of smoke!:huh I'm guessing the plug(s) are finally firing as they should, and blew some crap out of the combustion chamber. It sounded strong. <iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="640" height="480" src="https://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/3164777684_8LtmSrj?width=640&height=480&albumId=35224340&albumKey=pN2nBC"></iframe>
I too wrestle with every little piece I swap out on old machines to make them more reliable - but then that feeling goes away when I go for a ride (or watch that clip you posted ) - at least until the next upgrade.
Ahh.. nice. Old electrical stuff is interesting to look at and to admire, but..... Seeing your pics of your regulator: that looks like the kind that simply uses voltage to pull down a contact. Meaning that the regulator is either ON or OFF, and once it senses a pretty-well-charged system, it starts to cycle. THAT may be your problem with the idiot-light-at-high-rpm: it is buzzing on/off so fast that it cannot charge. You can play with it by mechanically holding that relay either open or shut, and see what you "learn"..... Love that bike, man, that's gonna be a load of fun (and experiences!)
Gee-whizz. If I had the time to spend and learn to capture the sound of that one minute vid, danedg, it'd be my ring tone. Doggone. I'd have to learn how to unlock my phone too. grrr
Not to interrupt , but had the girls out today for the first time. Both started right up and ran beautifully ( never know what to expect with that Metralla ) [/URL]
Tried to post one, got the dreaded blue ? will try again soon. Trying to make smug mug to work for me .Ill post some soon. It actually looks close enough to yours it caught me off guard a bit. I have a Mize terminal at the battery, that was the only diff I could spot. I haven't got to ride it much, but it scoots along pretty good I bought it from a guy in Michigan last year, he and his friend did a really nice job on it. I met him in Vegas at the Mid Am Auction. I was there trying to buy a 53 ..it was pretty cobbled up. Glad he came along. Yours looks very nice .I still like the 500's they just purr along so smooth..
jfc, when you have your Bultaco apart in the garage, does your wife tell everyone that your garage is full of Bul?
