Greetings,

I am a new owner of a '28 Police Special short frame.  15 years ago it went through a mostly cosmetic restoration.  I suspect the people who did the work never meant to ride anywhere on it, quite the opposite of me.  While it looks great and does run, and the engine sounds mechanically sound, it suffers from ignition failure after a few minutes of kind of rough running.  I have tried another condenser but still get the same results.  When it dies, the points are not making and I suspect they are my problem, despite cleaning, resurfacing, gapping and aligning the contacts carefully.  The points are old and somewhat knackered.  Almost anything I do to them makes them work again, but not for long.

Who can supply a new set of points for the Splitdorf S2 magneto?  If worse comes to worse, who is the go-to person to rebuild it?

Wanting to ride my Scout,

Dick Tuttle,  Santa Clara, California

Yes, do replace the coil first, many times moisture has entered the coil and oxidised the soldered wire connections within. But before you take it apart, be certain you know where to go to have the magnet remagnetized afterward, that is essential for a strong reliable spark from a magnet. Best is a new rewound coil that is vaacum impregnated, but if you got nothing to loose you could carefully remove the cloth cover, check the resistance and isolation of the 2 windings, and if they are good, resolder the connections and then replace the cover with thin cotton ribbon lightly wetted with epoxy resin.  A very in depth description of a rotating armature mag restauration can be found here, but he doesn't go deep in the tech of rewinding a coil.

http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=446733#Post446733

Splitdorfs used on the Indians have rotating magnetos and the coils are somewhat easier to demount and mend.

Points an issue, coils available on exchange (thru George at a pinch, call him) think they are up around $ 180ish. bearings also available. caps and rotors not so, Hecker in Europe has repros, altho in black. Randy has some in correct colour coming next year, hopefully.