Dragonfly coil and distributer cap

[Blingrims]

Hi there, I have read the various posts on electronic ignition, but this is too involved for me as a starter. Are there any "bolt on" alternatives for the coil that I can get off the shelf? and I cannot find a replacement Miller distributer cap could someone advise me where to look.

On another topic I am finding it difficult to get time on the bike for restoration. I am on the south coast at Chichester, can anyone recommend any reasonably local specilaists that I can take it to, alternatively any members that want to earn some money! My main problem at the moment is getting the bike to idle AND run at speed, at the moment I get one or the other and I want to try and ride it this summer so an expert who could get her running nicely would be great.

[Red]

Hi

I am sure other owners will have various and possibly better solutions, but I had the same problem with my Dragonfly and frankly converting to electronic ignition was in my view too expensive. As far as I know you can't find any replacement Miller distributor caps, so to get over the problem I obtained a 6 volt coil from a 1970's Honda CD 200 (about £35) which has a twin HT output. Wire this in place of the existing ignition coil and feed the HT leads through the top cover to each cylinder. Doesn't matter which lead goes to which cylinder as they both fire at the same time. This does away with the distributor cap and rotor arm, but make sure you still leave these in place. The ignition points are still need to switch the coil, so these need to be clean and adjusted correctly. I did mine about 5 years ago and I have not had a problem since! Prior to that the bike was barely rideable due to constant misfires. Obviously wear in the distributor shaft and bushes will affect ignition timing and this won't resolve that, but with a bit a careful adjustment I find my Dragonfly performs very well. See Web site:  http://www.wemoto.com/

Roy

[Blingrims]

Sounds like a good idea. Just ordered the parts many thanks for the advice. Does the coil fit under the cover?

[Red]

No the coil fits under the petrol tank in place of the original coil using the original clamp. I wound some rubber inner tube round the new coil to make sure it was a snug fit in the clamp. The HT leads that came with the coil I ordered were long enough to pass down through the hole in the top cover plate then out through the holes to each cylinder - just screw on your own plug caps. With the cover plate in place the only difference you can see is that two HT leads enter the top hole, but apart from that externally it all looks original. One other change worth making on advice from Eddie Turner is to move the condenser from where is is mounted on the distributor to under the petrol tank along with the coil. This puts the condenser in a cool air flow, whereas under the top cover it must get pretty hot and could cause it to break down. Just connect the condenser direct to the CB + side of the coil. Get rid of all your old HT leads, but replace the rotor arm and distributor cap to control the end float on the distributor shaft. Hope this helps.

Roy 

[Red]

Attached picture may help. You can just see the coil and condenser under the petrol tank.

[Blingrims]

Hugely useful, that does look tidy. Where did you get your rotor arm from? I can't find one anywhere. Also what is that below your distributer? Looks like a purple coloured seal, mine is leaking a treat from behind the distributer

[Red]

Again rotor arms are like gold dust, but using a double output coil the rotor arm is redundant so the only reason I have it fitted is to control the end float on the distributor shaft. From what you have said in previous posts I assume you have an an old distributor cap and rotor arm, so just leave these in place. They will no longer be part of the HT circuit as the HT will go direct from the coil to the spark plugs, rather down the king lead, then through the distributor cap and rotor arm, then back through the distributor cap and out to the relevant spark plug. As for what you can see under the distributor, no sadly that's just a bit of rag to soak up any oil leakage, which is only very slight. By the way attached is a picture of my Dragonfly which I have owned for the past 43 years. Not 100% original, but is used for riding not for display.

 

[charlie weeks]

Dragonfly distributor caps and rotor arms ARE available. A few years ago i some made by the Kip Motor Company in Dallas, Texas. The current price of the cap is a hefty $154 BUT there is a substantial discount for quite modest numbers. I think the club spares scheme should get a few in stock (perhaps in conjuction with the Scott Owners Club who were the only other marque to use the distributor,) See http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=kipmotor&category=Distributor+Cap+by+Part+Number for details. An email to them can also get a price for the rotor arms.

They are both a superb copy of the original using a modern heavier polymer that is less brittle than bakerlite/

Charlie   

[Blingrims]

Thanks charlie, I would be in for a group buy if one takes off