royal enfield G-series (1956) no spark?

[gordy2169]

hi all
i have a 1956 royal enfield G-series its been stored for about 6 years and i have no spark I've checked the points and there's no spark there! i don't have much exp with bikes this old any help/ idea's or advise will be great

thanks
    gordy

[johnr]

magneto ignition? if it is, the contact brushes on the magneto might be either worn or perhaps the slip ring is corroded. clean up with a piece of softwood held against them whiolst you kick the motor over.

[gordy2169]

yes sry it's a magneto ive cleaned the points but i'll try the wood trick thx
 

[johnr]

on the side is a fitting that the ht lead fixes to, inside the unit behind this is the metal slip ring that spins and is energised by the magneto, the ring is copper and so can get clogged with crud, the back of the ht lead fitting should also have a carbon brush on it that touches the ring and transmits the spark, on the other end of the mag, will be another ring, but this will be behind a grub screw or something similar, inside here will be another slip ring and another carbon brush. try the softwood (a lolly stick soaked in alchohol will do it) mags are pretty basic, if it was runninmg when it went away, it should run now.

[gordy2169]

thx john this is exactly the reply i was hoping for (plain english)   
im going to get on it now let you know how it go's
thx again

[johnr]

how does the engine stop in normal operation? some mags had an engine stop which essentially was just an earth to the ht lead, some even had a little metal tab that was bolted to the head next to the spark plug and you pushed against the top of the plug to earth it and kill the motor. might be worth just looking and seeing how it was originally intended to be stopped(my old bsa was stopped by the decompressor) and then seeing if that was causing the problem. a sort of archaic 'have you left the killswitch off' !!

[gordy2169]

lol yep that was my first thought before i posted (the times ive knocked the kill-switch and thought now whats wrong? on modern bikes) but i cant seem to see any thing on this! the only thing coming off the mag is the ht lead?. ive been working on my bandit as im selling it (to pay for this one) but im going to give it another look tonight

[johnr]

where in the uk are you?

[gordy2169]

im in sudbury suffolk ! there's no "kill switch as such as i said before i can see no other wires from the mag other than the ht although there is a wire i cant trace with a spade on it that comes from the (for want of a better word) the loom and could go to the mag (it would reach ?!?! ...see thing is this bike used to be my dads about 20 years ago i saw it on ebay and had to get it.. so although ive been a biker since me old man built one for me out of a lawnmower and scaffolding polls ages 6 years  and only ever had bikes till now (32)  im out of my comfort zone and this one may be a bit different as my dad was a bit of a bodgit and scarper type!!

[SteveC#222]

Not sure which Mag the G series uses, but this is the maintainance sheets for the Constellation & Super Meteor which might help with general problems.

http://www.berkeleyclub.co.uk/Manual/RoyalEnfieldMaintManual.pdf

[johnr]

im assuming its got a dynamo on top of the mag?

[gordy2169]

yes it has a dynamo on top. i still cant  suss what this spare wire is im thinking this may be the key to the prob although it looked like it sould go on the batt, its brown and green (not that means anything lol) and come's from the loom will reach the mag but i cant see any where it would go it has a 2 prong spade??? im foxed???
p.s. thx for the link steve

[johnr]

dynamo on my beesa has 2 wires going in to it and another which seems to be an earth, which fstens to the screw on the metal endcap of the dynamo. some pics would be handy. also get a multimeter and trace wheher the wire goes to earth, should be easy using the continuity tester on any multimeter

[gordy2169]

im going to try and sort some pic this week but this pc dont like my phone and thats the only camra i have on the phone think im going to bite the bullet (no pun intended) and strip it down this week !!

[johnr]

dont strip the mag, theyre a bit specialised, and can be easily broken if you dont know what youre doing with them. just out of interest, is the mag spinning when you kick the engine over? ive had one come loose on its taper and when i kicked the bike over the gear spub but the mag didnt!!