Misc: Ignition Coil ignition for my C series Egli twin

Trev Birkbeck

Forum User
VOC Member
Welcome back Trevor.

I met you at the first Cadwell VOC I attended in the 90s with my Egli.
I well remember your bike especially the 8 leading shoe front brake.
Glad to hear it is coming back to life.
Cheers Bill
Hi Bill
Yep, the CMA brake is still part of the kit. A guy created a special using a Goldie engine in a Featherbed (article in Classic Bike) and reckoned his CMA 8 leader cost £2500!
When I first used it on the Egli, I was impressed by the improvement over the Slater supplied 4 leader. Then I had a look inside and found that only 7 of the shoes had ever touched the drum! It was complicated to set up all 8 shoes so I fitted balance arms to each pair of shoes, making the set up easy. Took it to Classic Brake Services in Whaley Bridge and had it re-lined with racing lining, turned to suit and then it was amazing.
Very controllable but with one finger you could make the front tyre squeal as it came close to locking!
Cheers
Trev Birkbeck
 

Trev Birkbeck

Forum User
VOC Member
Hi Bill
Yep, the CMA brake is still part of the kit. A guy created a special using a Goldie engine in a Featherbed (article in Classic Bike) and reckoned his CMA 8 leader cost £2500!
When I first used it on the Egli, I was impressed by the improvement over the Slater supplied 4 leader. Then I had a look inside and found that only 7 of the shoes had ever touched the drum! It was complicated to set up all 8 shoes so I fitted balance arms to each pair of shoes, making the set up easy. Took it to Classic Brake Services in Whaley Bridge and had it re-lined with racing lining, turned to suit and then it was amazing.
Very controllable but with one finger you could make the front tyre squeal as it came close to locking!
Cheers
Trev Birkbeck
Hi guys
Thanks for all the useful suggestions re coil ignition for my Egli. At the mo, I'm going along with what Bill Thomas says "Stick with what you know works".
The distributor cap is a little damaged but I'm off to Newark this Saturday so I'll take it with me to see if I can find another. I guess Roger Slater knew what he was doing!
Cheers
Trev
 

Bill Thomas

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Andy D is on ebay, under " vincentparts ", Have a look in his shop !, He has Vin' Caps and base plates etc, Good Bloke. Cheers Bill.
 

b'knighted

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I use a modified Ford distributor (probably 60s) and managed to get an unused cap for it when I was setting it up about 40 years ago. I removed two of the ht contacts and blanked the holes in the cap with plastic number plate bolts then replaced the brass plate on the top of the rotor arm to extend its tip ensuring that the sparks wouldn’t have to jump excessive distances with the asymmetric firing. I removed the two sets of points that had been fitted and made up a clip on rotor to be carried by the cam to break the optical sensor of a Lumenition Optronic system that I'd bought years earlier for a car. A second breaker blade is fitted onto the first so that the timing can be individually adjusted for each cylinder. Before it was fitted to the engine I took it to a section meeting where, with the addition of a 9v pp3 battery, I was able to show its slow rotation sparking. The insulation sprouting from some of the potting is now failing but the system has given has given great reliability on both car and bike since the early seventies. The only improvement I would now like to the system would be a vernier adjustment like the Lucas vacuum advance BMC distributors had.
 

Bill Thomas

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Just had a thought, about 18 months ago I tried a twin ended coil with my "D" type distributor, On my Special,
It only has one set of points and it now fires a wasted spark !, So it doesn't matter what HT lead is where !,
Most strange !, But it works and it doesn't need a CAP, I use a BSA blanking cover.
Thanks to Len Mathews for the idea, But the coil has to be for use with points NOT electronic ign'.
 

Dave61

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Any photos Dave, And how much ?. Cheers Bill.
This all I could find Bill.
Cost 600 Euros with a coil.
Cheers
Dave

IMG_20190526_161117.jpg
IMG_20190427_144830.jpg
 

Bill Thomas

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Very nice Dave, But too much money for me, I think I will stick with a Standard "D" Distributor
I have a Lucas Rita on one of my Bikes, But I worry about it all the time.
 
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