12-08-2017, 06:40 PM
(12-08-2017, 04:47 PM)Erich Wrote: I have coil and battery, so this is not about Austin 7s. On another forum, selling a Matchless with a magneto, a poster has said that retarding the spark is not necessary and in fact that the magneto produces a weaker spark when retarded. I always retarded the spark on my motorcycles to avoid kick back. But more importantly, I don't see how retarding the spark would weaken it. Shouldn't the mag produce a consistent spark but retarding just causes the spark to occur at a different point in the engine's cycle?
Erich
You're quite right Erich. The spark should not be affected by ignition advance. My AJS would throw you off if you tried to start without retarding and needed the decompressor to get past TDC before kicking over.