Re: 1962 BSA DBD34 Gold Star restoration (Speedometer is restored)
Davidc, sorry for the lengthly delay in my response but the short answer is to hit up the Britbike.com forum for they know more about earlier Goldies than I do.
I want to finish this bike more than anything, the days are getting longer and spring will be here in a few months. Once I file my tax return and get my refund I shall have the money to complete this bike.
Hmmmmmm.... I spent the morning reading Britbike.com forum member Magnetoman's lengthy discourse on magnetos and did my own research on what my options are for rebuild, electronic ignition and/or new replacement. The afternoon was spent working on the Goldie's magdyno and a Lucas K2FC magneto for my Triton when I go to a pre-unit motor. The good news is both magnetos are functionally normally. This frozen hunk of anodized alloy, 40 year old dried grease and insect infected magdyno is now working.
It was vapor blasted, cleaned, hardware cadmium plated, inspected and re-assembled and both the magneto and dynamo portions work properly. But for how long? It produces a nice even and consistent spark. The weakness in these devices is the condenser /capacitor which tends to fail once the unit heats up. I rigged up a qualitative bench test and ran the magdyno for 20 minutes. The spark remained consistent the through the entire test.
This is where the hmmmm... comes in. The cheap and impatient portion of my mind which wants to ride this bike ASAP says put it in and start riding (and save $400-500 on a rebuild). The rational and logical side of my mind says it will fail and I need to at minimum have it professional tested and preferably rebuilt with a new condenser. If I don't replace the condenser there is strong chance it will fail after riding it for awhile and then my bike will be down for several weeks right at the beginning of riding season (false economy). The challenge is finding the right person to restore it correctly to factory specifications. To start, there is small motor shop in town with a motorcycle friendly old timer working there. I will ask him if he has test equipment and at minimum remagnetize my magnetos. There are many old magneto tractor and tractor collectors in my area so if he cannot do it, he will know someone who can.
My neighbor and machinist Skip is an old motorcycle mechanic and all around great guy lent me a Lucas NC1 single competition magneto. It appears to be the same girl as my magdyno's magneto but in a different dress and different ignition plate. He stopped in tonight to pick up my Honda CB750 cylinder head he is machining for me and laughed. "You want to spend how much to rebuild a working magneto? Ride it!" Thanks Skip.
Hmmmmm.. more variables to consider. I can now get my bike running but still need a chain guard, side stand, horn, battery and fuel line ($700 +). Seeing spark tonight means there is light at the end of this long, long dark tunnel. My local pub has a firken of fresh hopped pale ale on cask tonight. Gonna walk down, grab a pint and suss this out. Stay tuned...
