Merry Christmas!

I wish all of you the happiest of Christmases,

Safe riding in 2020! 

Until next time......

Joseph Lucas and the Temple of the lost spark

As mentioned in my previous post,  my mixed-bag '58 suffers from something of an identity crisis.
A 350cc with a 500cc barrel and piston and a half-finished magneto conversion.

After much dithering and back and forth, I ultimately decided to return the bike to stock ignition.

This decision was made due to not having the correct timing covers (mine are AJS branded) and not having the correct magneto.  I do have a Fairbanks Morse FM that gives off spark, however it will need some work to adapt.  Further to this, the FM lacks an advance and retard control.


Finding the correct magneto in decent shape is also a challenge.  They usually range anywhere from $100-300 (and up) and buying one is a something of a gamble.  These units are fifty to seventy years old at this point and inevitably worn out.  A rebuild means several hundred more;  Money well spent for certain, but certainly money I don't have to spare at the moment.   Points and condensers are cheap and plentiful.  I have several NOS Lucas sets sitting in my parts bin ready for use.

I managed to find the correct inlet cam and timing covers on Ebay;  The wiring harness came from feked.com.

As an aside, this will be my last order with Feked;  The company and products are fine, however shipping is horrendous and I am always hit with exorbitant customs fees.  


The missing piece is the Auto Advance unit and plate, known as unit  CA1A in the Lucas catalog.

I figured that being a Lucas unit, it would be easily attainable and very likely used on many different makes/models.  I was incorrect!

If you do a google search or eBay search, almost nothing will come up.  Even the individual components yield no result.   I was able to find out that the CA1A was used on three separate bikes;  The BSA C12, Royal Enfield Clipper and the Matchless/AJS single(s).

I spent countless hours scouring articles and forums, looking for answers or substitute units that could be utilized.   Nothing.

Fortunately for me,  I found a photo reference on Hitchcock's website.  They are the leading provider of all things RE in the world.  I received a prompt reply stating that there are no substitute units that can be used, however they would search for a used set for me.

Considering that the coil ignition singles were on the market for eight years, it's a little surprising there aren't more of these about.   I can only hope that means that many of these bikes live on and are seldom broken up for parts.  That would be a ray of sunshine reaching through a cloud of unobtanium.

Until next time.......