Hi Andrew...You can't accurately assess the performance of the bike, or more particularly the accuracy of the timing, by 'feel' so personally I wouldn't make any recommendation along the lines you suggest.....
Under normal circumstances if the ignition was accurately set you would be using full advance when running virtually 100% of the time (I won't go into the possible exceptions here)...
It is imperative that you check and if necessary reset the timing settings before you do too many miles as running 'retarded' can damage the engine and there is no benefit to running 'advanced'...Ian
Are you positive you have a "tight wire advance mag"?
My mag is not standard as I have a "loose wire advance" mag i.e. I push the lever away from the handle bars to advance the ignition which slackens the wire.
Well just to confirm that. If you have the correct 'Tight Wire' mag on an M20 the adv/rtd cable will be at the back of the mag....nearest the battery. Cable coming from the front 'Slack Wire' will work just as well. Ron
Yes guys cable goes into rear of mag batt/rear light side.I do need a mag recon I have the hot start problem and I do have a 8mm insulator between .i have triumph that's been off the road for 18 monthes so I'm just trying to have one bike on the road unless I get another but it's all getting out of hand 😀😀😀😀😀it deffo feels like it accelerates if I retard a tad .I guess timing check which I need to start doing for myself .I just don't want to damage her riding slightly retarded
Once my puller arrives I will give it a go and report back .Thanks for taking time to help any more ideas welcomed 👍👍
Yes guys cable goes into rear of mag batt/rear light side.I do need a mag recon I have the hot start problem and I do have a 8mm insulator between .i have triumph that's been off the road for 18 monthes so I'm just trying to have one bike on the road unless I get another but it's all getting out of hand 😀😀😀😀😀it deffo feels like it accelerates if I retard a tad .I guess timing check which I need to start doing for myself .I just don't want to damage her riding slightly retarded
Once my puller arrives I will give it a go and report back .Thanks for taking time to help any more ideas welcomed 👍👍
Andrew, you don't need the puller to check the timing:- Check your points gap are around 12 thou at about the 12 o'clock position. Stick a drinking straw or something in the 1/4" timing inspection hole on the head and mark it with the piston at TDC. Then set the lever at full advance, turn the engine over until the points just break (around 10 o'clock) Use a fag paper or one thou feeler to determine when they just break. Then mark the drinking straw again......If the difference between the 2 marks is anything other than 7/16".......Then you need the puller, at which point I would remove the mag and get it overhauled before wasting time on re-timing it.
