Scintilla Magneto

[samotorsport]

Hey guys, I still own two Scintilla Magnetos from stationary Fire Brigade Water pumps .
Sooner or later they are supposed to be used for drag racing in very oldschool setups.
Can anybdy please let me know what and how needs to be modified to be suitable for drag racing purposes.
I have a well equipped machine shop to work the parts myself . Lathe and milling , TIG welding and so on .....
Just need some advise on what to do and where to get some of the parts needed. If possible in Europe.
Thanks in advance
Best regards
Sam

[K-Roc]

Hi, most of these old Magnetos need a full rebuild due to age. Vertex can Service them as well as Don Zig.  ( both are in California )

If you want to dig into it Speedway Motors sell a copied version of the original service manual

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Vertex-V-1040-Magneto-Service-Manual,2737.html

and  Taylor Vertex have parts.

https://www.taylorvertex.com/Vertex/

Cheers.

[samotorsport]

Thanks a lot ! I guess i need to order one of the manuals . If i see this correct , this manual covers not only the overhaul but also the mods.
I think at least on of my magnetos should be in a good shape , i pulled it of a pump which ran only 132 hours since new .
I will give it a try


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[PPRMicke]

It is another ignition curve on an industrial magnet If you want it in a car you have to rebuild it for such an ignition curve
 If not then you burn holes in the piston
(don't ask why I know it will be so )
/// M

[samotorsport]

I an not even sure you can call this a curve at all 😂


I hope this is covered in the book as well ?

I know that i get better more constant results with the MSD , and my Bug remains on that for sure .
But i have this long therm project in head , where in case it becomes reality i wanna do everything oldschool to the bone !



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[jay c]

I got my advance mechanism kit from Joe Hunt and it gives 20 degrees of advance at the crankshaft.

[samotorsport]

Good to know , i thought they just overhaull them . Never knew they also sell the parts .
Anything else then the advance to be changed on those ?


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[jay c]

They do lots of parts. In one of my mags I just fitted the advance but my other mag also needed a new coil which I also got from Joe Hunt. See if you can find someone who can check you coil because if you do need one then it’s best to change it while you’ve got it stripped down to do the advance. If yours hasn’t had much use then your coil might be ok

[samotorsport]

Before I start ordering parts i will make sure that I got a list of all items together first.

I still dont get what the original "curve" means :
400-0° 1750- 12 1/2 ° /1950 ?

On the other hand , I ve seen plenty of guys with locked out magnetos on pure racing application.
As i said, I am not in a hurry, those things are for a project without rush .
I am still interested in building a very oldschool rail dragster with real oldschool engine in it.
I am collecting parts for this for quiet a while already .
Just hope that by then we are still allowed to drag race here in Europe 

[K-Roc]

I got my advance mechanism kit from Joe Hunt and it gives 20 degrees of advance at the crankshaft.

Hi Jay, I had my Mag gone through by Don Zig, it has about 18 crank  degrees in it, but I find it starts advancing too soon ( 900 rpm )
and too quick to reach full advance so my current combo will ping under some load conditions, ( short shifting second to third at low RPM )

I have never peeked inside a mag so thought to ask you, is it possible to easily slow the curve?  or is this even possible? any insight appreciated. thanks.

Darren.

[jay c]

Hi Darren. I didn’t install the kit myself but my mag builder said fine tuning the advance curve is possible but it requires shaving small amounts off of the weights and rebuilding and dismantling many times until you get the curve you want. This takes a lot of time and therefore can cost a lot depending how many times it’s stripped and rebuilt. I knew how much advance was on the kit I bought and that works for me. I set max advance to 32 all in so it’s 12 at idle which makes starting easier. Especially as it was locked out previously. [ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[samotorsport]

Do you use it for street and race ?
I wonder if for racing only locking it out would be the easiest.
Good starter and good fuel would be the minimum I would say

[jay c]

It’s mostly a street car. Would start most times ok but occasionally struggled if the battery was a little low. Especially as the compression is 10.5:1.   Fitting the advance just made it a little easier. If you’re just racing then I would lock it out

[K-Roc]

Thanks Jay!