I took out the magneto out of my 23 Touring today. I am looking for information on cleaning it. There is a cloth like material on roughly 2/3rds of the wraps. Does this need to be replaced? My car has a distributor, which leads me to believe the mag stopped working. I want to get it back to the coil system. What information do I need to know before getting into this? I tried to do a search on my questions but kept getting an error message.
Replace the field coil. Sounds like some of the wrapping tape is missing. This is one item that on a rebuild is so deep inside that it just needs to be replaced. Have the magnets recharged, which is best done by removing them from the flywheel. Easy to clean up as it is all apart now.
Other things to check: Broken or cracked magnets, making sure you get the proper air gap. Also look for end play on the crankshaft. Get a copy of the Transmission repair book from the Club, lots of good stuff here.
Mike Bender
Brian,
It's been a while since I did this but drawing on my electric motor repair experience, I've cleaned the field coil with mineral spirits (using a motor washer and a soft bristle brush) and then finished the cleaning with lacquer thinner (a quick dip in a pan of it). Lacquer thinner is supposed to get the oil out. When I was done with the cleaning, I let it air dry for a while. Once it was dry, I brushed on red Glyptal insulating varnish. I have a couple of these in service at present. The ultimate is to have a newly wound field coil and dip & bake or vpi (vacuum pressure impregnated). My wife won't let me near the oven in the kitchen to "bake" it on. Fortuneatly, the air dry seems to work fine.
Verne Shirk
Wichita, KS