Re: 1940 Johnson HD-15 Magneto testing

[Buccaneer]

Joe, I was just out in the garage, and thinking about "hi-potting" the
flywheel. I wonder if doing so would de-magnetize or damage
the flywheel magnets? I forgot to put the keeper on last night
as it was 🙁 . I do have a magnet charger though, so maybe
not a big deal?

BTW, The cam does have "two" lobes.

Regarding your last idea, the flaw might be that in order to
get the coil to fire on the Stevens tester, or otherwise,
one side of the secondary must be grounded, therefore
I don’t see how you’d tell if both plugs fired at any given time.
Am I thinking wrong here?
Thanks, Bucc

UPDATE – Retested the coil itself on the Stevens using the
correct polarity this time, and the coil does fire nicely
at a lower amperage, between 1.5 to 1.7 amps, well
within specs.

I tried Joe’s idea (brilliant, btw) of hi-potting the
flywheel and checking for carbon tracking in the
bakelite plate, by hooking up the Stevens to an OMC coil,
and putting the flywheel in the
secondary circuit. I found no carbon tracking, but it
drew a nice arc while probing if you got too close to
the flywheel or brass contact in the bakelite plate.
Amazed myself by not getting shocked 🙂
The flywheel magnets did not appear to be affected.

Just had a thought now about the .20 uf cap I installed.
It has not been testing using the Stevens, for leakage, etc.
I was thinking about a Kawasaki motorcycle my Uncle was
working on back in 1975. It was running very irratic, much
like my HD-15. Said Uncle replaced the condenser and it
ran great.
Could my problem be as simple as a condenser?
Keep the thoughts coming, I’m almost having fun playing
mad scientist! Unfortunately, I have to knock off
for the day and go to a picnic.
Thanks.

Prepare to be boarded!