Forum

[Sal]

Good day gentlemen
I am having trouble with setting the timing on a 1995 500 RE Boyer
Electronic Ignition and P/box ,set at TDC and Marked the stator
and 28 degrees left I marked the rotor all with TDC on compression
tried to strobe but I ran out of movement on the coil plate to achieve
proper alignment of the mentioned marks.I had noticed about 2mm end
float on the distributor spindle .I would appreciate your valued
assistance please.Sal

[Paul M H]

In the technical notes on left of board there is instructions for this in easy to follow form giving all the details Ive put link at bottom just cut & paste.


http://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/pi ... -08-17.pdf

[Sal]

Paul between your advice through the tech notes from our hosts and the
information set up sheet from the Boyer community,I am unfortunately at my
wits end,no offence to your better judgement.
It is a Boyer Mk3 it starts OK but it has not been strobed .The respective
timing marks at TDC compression to the best of my understanding are placed
on the stator and rotor, battery 12.9V (it is full DC system).What prompted
me was the discolouration of the exhaust head area turning blue.
Kick start fantastic idle great timing light on marks, noticed marks
not aligned commenced to move the coil plate of the boyer that is the pick up
coils in the distributor as you know it has limited movement, great as I
turned the plate the marks were closer to alignment, unfortunately I had reached the limit of the coil pick up plate,without attaining the correct
timing mark alignment.As an extended thought Paul feel free to correct me may it be
possible that the timing/distributor pinion is placed incorrectly by previous
owner .Thank you for your response.The invitation to contribute and my
gratitude is open to all. Cheers .

[Exile]

Just a thought.. If you can't rotate the pick up plate, can you not rotate the plate that is fixed to the spindle in the opposite direction? I can't remember exactly how I set mine up, but if memory serves, that plate was simply set up with a retaining bolt. If the previous owner hadn't been too fussy about fitting it, it may well be out of alignment.

Here's what I did. Read it through. It may be of some help.

[Exile]

Sal,
Here's the important bit.(I think..)


"The points and auto advance mechanism has to be removed from the distributor and then you have to find top dead centre. I have a tool to help me with this.

Once found (TDC), the metal plate with the magnets gets mounted on the distributor spindle. Insert the bolt but don't tighten it fully yet, according to the instructions. Then mount the plastic plate and set it up turned as far anticlockwise as it can be. Then you line up the magnets on the metal plate with the coils on the plastic plate so they all form a direct line across the plates. Tighten the metal plate and then rotate the plastic plate clockwise to midways between advance and retard. Tighten everything. That's it."


It worked for me.

[Sal]

Exile I have followed your advice as well as Pauls earlier help.May I say I haven't been totally honest with you.I am somewhat of a novice with this
procedure of timing/marks.Your combined steps to fit the boyer had and has
been repeatedly followed.May I trespass on your patience, perhaps the forum
community and your own experiences may pick up on my failures for correction.
Timing marks: On an old disused CD, I think it may have been an Indian production, the title may have been,"How to make your RE to Indian standards in ten easy steps."Funny about that it only ran for a few minutes.In any case on the CD I marked a line from the centre straight up 0 deg to the CD's periphery this I called TDC then 28 deg left of the TDC line I marked a line from the CD centre to its periphery this I called BTDC.Protractor was used degrees are spot on.I then drilled a hole in each of these lines to enable future marks to be painted on the stator(TDC) and the rotor(BTDC)Then I carefully enlarged the bore of the CD 2-3 mm more to enable a tight fit on the rotor nut, concentric bore maintained.TDC on the compression stroke using the Fred Flinstone method that is a piece of fencing wire,4th gear turn back wheel wire up and down in the spark plug hole straight up and down till without a doubt TDC of the engine found.Stay with me now people.Marked CD placed on rotor nut,TDC line White permanent marker through
the hole to mark the stator .The BTDC line hole, marked the rotor.TDC engine
maintained ,Boyer set up as per your efforts all good.Spark plug reinstated
gear neutral,ignition, starts, timing light on alternator marks,rev, marks are misaligned,turn Boyer stator coil plate,marks move towards alignment not
enough however.The plate has reached its limit of movement Feel free to
educate me. Exile I appreciate your efforts through your example of expressing joy by raising your hands high and running around your shed as you had mentioned.Alas I have not reached that standard,currently I am approaching the pulling my hair out,that is singular as opposed to hairs plural. All the best people....Cheers.

[Exile]

Sal, if you call yourself a novice, how do you think I feel? You've gone well beyond what I did. I never bothered with timing marks and still don't have them... I just listened to the engine running... I still think you might be able to save the day by moving the metal plate slightly instead of the plastic pick up plate. If you can't move the one further , then move the other. Sometimes, the simple answer is the right one..

I'm certainly not going to belittle your efforts and I understand both your frustration and enthusiasm, but might I lift a finger and suggest that you may be 'overthinking' it? I remember the guy at Hitchcocks giving me advice, he said "You can do this by ear, you don't need a strobe or any other tackle". He was right.

It's a Royal Enfield. No two are the same and all are individual. Try forgetting the marks and set it up as I did. What have you got to lose? Apart from more hair. As Einstein said, if we knew what we were doing it wouldn't be called 'research'. In other words, if the science isn't working, then do something else...

Good luck with it, I'm sure you'll get it right in the end. Let us know how you got it to work.

[ric]

Who needs an ear when you can put it on a dyno. You can see the power output change in real time on the computer screen as the plate gets rotated.
You just button it all down at maximum power

[Exile]

That's right Ric. We've all got one of those in the shed...

[vince]

Hi Sal, you answered it correctly, you need to reset the pinion to get the extra movement.You get the same problem with the points set up. However I dont know how the System you have is fitted but I assume that some part of it replaces the bob weights and cam on the points system. If so it will possibly be fitted into the cross shaft by a taper allowing adjustment there and leaving the pinion alone.