Cannonball or Bust: Replacement Carburetor and Magneto Arrive

Monday, March 19, 2012

Replacement Carburetor and Magneto Arrive

In addition to the newly fitted petrol and oil tank, last week also saw the arrival of a brand new Amal 276 Carburetor and BTH magneto. With such a long mileage trip ahead, the thought is to address any possible failure points long before a disaster happens. That being said, enter the updated components throughout the motor, gearbox, and etc. Now my Cannonball partner will have a brand new fuel and ignition. Both the original brass carburetor and re-wound magneto will be utilized for spares.

A little information on both new pieces- the Amal 276 has been custom built by Burlen Fuel Systems in the UK and includes additional components to fine tune the carburetor for the changing altitudes we will encounter along the way. These additional pieces include a weaker slide and two smaller main jets. Original control levers on the handlebar will be utilized- an interesting bit mostly found on veteran Brit bikes. Where the vintage Harley Davidsons, Indians, Excelsiors, and the like have twist grip throttles, my BSA has twin levers for mixing air and fuel.

The BTH magneto is a completely brand new, sealed unit. An interesting note- this unit features CDI (condenser discharge ignition) and auto-advance technology. From Ken and Phil- "We set this up at max advance and the unit retards itself electronically according to rpm. The spark is a fine, hot profile and is generated from the relatively high low tension magneto output of circa 300 volts by a self energising high-tension output coil."