Just picked up a 1953 DC. Was turning it over to check spark before I flushed tank and opened carb and it has little to no spark. With screwdriver in wire the screwdriver had to touch metal then soon as it starts to come off it will spark. Not far enough away to measure. Definetly not enough to jump a plug. I cleaned points with no luck. This has a case magneto on it. Cap and rotor look kinda cruddy but not terrible. Just wondering if it sounds like magneto will need a rebuild. Don't know a lot about magnetos. Looks like an orange coil on there. Looks brand new
I would unhook the kill switch at the mag cap untill you get it fixed. Week spark is usually caused by poor point contact/gap, corrosion on electrical connections or a bad condenser, take and clean all the electrical connections inside the mag and it will probably get good spark. The rotor will come off if you loosen the set screw behind it. There are beveled teeth to keep it timed. Inspect them for reassembly when removing. You can test the mag by connecting a wire with alligator clips to the output wire of the coil and hold close to ground and crank the motor over to check spark. It saves putting the cap back on each time. It's normal to loose a little spark when the cap is put back on.
RandyCaseSC
New User
What I did on the SC is get the flywheel timing mark in the right place then mark the mags body location on the engine mounting flange.
Before removing pull the cap, take a picture then mark the rotor so that when you reinstall you can put it back like it was. This assumes it was timed right to start with.
Before removing pull the cap, take a picture then mark the rotor so that when you reinstall you can put it back like it was. This assumes it was timed right to start with.
tractorguy2
Well-known Member
What brand is the magneto? Having an orange coil. Sounds like a Fairbanks Morse to me.
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