Phelon flywheel

[foot_doctor]

Service Manual bases Performance on a point gap of twice what I suggested. Just sayin’. Most of our old KE, KF, KG crank case tops were created to be precisely 3 inches in diameter. The Bendix/Scintilla equipped engines suffered from excess wear of the top mag. mounting flange. The wear is a result of the two friction plugs that pressed on the flange O.D. They kept the mag. in place but eventually contributed to the failure of at least one cylinder’ s ignition. Later 2 cylinder crank cases had the benefit of anodizing to the mag. mounting flange. Darned near as tough as ceramic. So, Phelon magnetos are easier to live with, but if set up properly, Bendix/scintilla magnetos produce slightly higher voltage at the plug, and will operate at substantially higher RPM. R.T.

[rickinfarmington]

I will get back to you once I have received the phelon flywheel.

[billw]

RT, thanks for posting about the .009″ point gap. I can’t wait to try that. Now, I have something to add. Nobody is going to believe this, but whatever. I recently was flogging a KE7, which has the Bendix mag. I had new coils, new condensers, very clean points, new plug wires, etc. Still, it had misfire. Tried closing the plug gap to .015″ which has worked for me in the past. Still, fouling plugs and misfire. I inspected the mag again. I noted the small amount of insulating compound that remained on the rubber coil mounting pads. I stuck a digital ohm meter across the stuff and it had some continuity! Meg ohms, but continuity. I scraped and cleaned this crud off with some solvent a couple of times, until I got no more continuity. I checked spark with an open gap tester and noted that it now jumped further than it had. I ran the engine again, with everything else being exactly the same as it was, except resetting the plugs back to .025.” It ran as flawlessly as an OMC. I have never seen a Bendix run that well.

Long live American manufacturing!

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by billw.

[foot_doctor]

I will have to admit that it’s been some time since I employed a Bendix/Scintilla mag on one of my racing “A” engines. But I do recall that none sported the “Bedding Compound”. It was a Damned nuisance to remove from the high tension lead connection area. I admit that I was concerned with water entering the area below the coils when I inevitably tipped over during a race, but I never found one drop of water in that area after I ran and dried out the engines. Just lucky I guess. The last two MK15H racing engines I built for our collection have Bendix/Scintilla mags, as I am convinced that the light weight, flat racing flywheels support faster acceleration. (Doesn’t matter as they are simply used for pleasure these days). R.T.

[The Boat House]

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by The Boat House.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by The Boat House.

[joesnuffy]

Tubs,
I find this thread very interesting. I have never have seen the bendix magneto set-up that is on those motors. Looking at the bendix magneto you rebuilt I am guessing the magnets are spinning right under the points but I don’t understand how the magnets are spinning and how the magneto rotates. Do you happen have any more pics of the magnet that spins and the inside of the flywheel I am guessing it does not have magnets? Pardon my ignorance on this matter but any pics you have that show the assembly I would appreciate seeing. I am also interested on how it pivots when you vary the speed and what wears out causing the wobble.

I am guessing that the wobble is what causes the air gap to be to large between the coil shoe heal and the spinning magnet and the point gap is also affected thus that is why you set the points to .009 to help compensate. I am guessing you can’t run the red atom modules to help compensate for this wear in these for some reason or if your racing the motor it has to be stock points?

Thanks,
Joe

[joesnuffy]

I found this on-line and it is very helpful seeing how it is put together. It still doesn’t really show how it is pivoting and on what. I am guessing that is what really wears out.

https://oldcroak.com/bendix-flywheel-magnetos/

Joe

[The Boat House]

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by The Boat House.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by The Boat House.

[opposedtwin]

Excellent pictures Tubs! Thanks!

Since it’s part of the equation here, can you also tell us where you got that nice looking rotor removal tool?

Scott

[opposedtwin]

foot_doctor wrote:

Service Manual bases Performance on a point gap of twice what I suggested. Just sayin’. Most of our old KE, KF, KG crank case tops were created to be precisely 3 inches in diameter. The Bendix/Scintilla equipped engines suffered from excess wear of the top mag. mounting flange. The wear is a result of the two friction plugs that pressed on the flange O.D. They kept the mag. in place but eventually contributed to the failure of at least one cylinder’ s ignition. Later 2 cylinder crank cases had the benefit of anodizing to the mag. mounting flange. Darned near as tough as ceramic. So, Phelon magnetos are easier to live with, but if set up properly, Bendix/scintilla magnetos produce slightly higher voltage at the plug, and will operate at substantially higher RPM. R.T.

Ron, do you have any info as to which serial number range would have the anyodized mounting flanges? Or possibly which years would be included? Would love to know!
Thanks!
Scott

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by opposedtwin.

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