Points spring

[LJ.]

Dont pannick! The A10 is *still* running reliably, its just needing some fine adjustments.

Take a look at the photo... (note the red insulation tape)

When I bought the A10 the large spring holding the points cam in place had insulation tape wrapped round. The problem is that the spring is touching the magneto case and when hot the tape goes gooey and fouls up like in the photo, the bike then runs lumpy as it then shorts out on the Mag body. So it seems that the spring should be insulated, or should it?? Because of the nature of the springs metal, I cant really drill a hole further down to prevent the spring touching the sides.

Anyone got any ideas? Or can anyone tell me how this should be. Should there be a proper insulating sleeve? This is about the third time I have had to clean up and replace the insulation tape. Surely this cant be right.

[fido]

The spring should have an elongated hole so you can adjust how much spare length pokes out. You may find that this elongated hole is at the points plate end if you take off the square washer.

[Caretaker]

Yes, fido is right, one can adjust the spring position, but on your system the moving part of the contact points looks like when open it may touch the spring if the spring is adjusted inwards. So the reason for the spring to be touching the mag body may be to avoid it touching the moving points part. Look at the pic2, there is ample clearance, and the spring is not "leaving" the points plate outer circle when points are open or closed. So I'd think the problem is something with your particular brand of points, maybe a (near) pattern that ain't quite right. Pic2 has an original lucas, I have had to throw away pattern points due to all kinds of mismatching (including touching the spring!). At least something to investigate, hope it helps.

Regards
Erling

[LJ.]

Thanks for your replies gents! I have now got it sorted out. I eventually had to carefully file the elongated hole longer so the spring is further away from the magnetos body. Also cleaned up all the gunge in there and rechecked the plugs and points. Remarkably there is quite a noticeable difference when running! I also posted the same question on another forum but this forum is good for includeing photos. Thanks again... might be worth while leaving these messages here for others to refere to.

Here's what the points look like now!