There was a 7 part article in Cycle Rider magazine spanning seven issues from spring 1973 through spring 1974 called "Project: 750 Honda"
One section that I though was interesting was in part 4 regarding their experimenting with the ARD magneto. One of the often stated drawbacks of the ARD magneto surrounds the kickback tendency as a result of the full time advanced timing. I'd be interested to know if those who currently run ARD magnetos would be interested in giving the following starting procedure a try.
Cycle Rider, November 1973. Bottom of page 72:
"Riding on the street with the mag meant the bike was a little harder to start. The magneto does not offer an automatic advance that the stock ignition does. As a result, the ignition is at full advance all the time. The engine tends to kick back somewhat when starting hot or cold.
We found a good starting sequence was to chock the engine twice with the switch off, then with the switch off, kick it over twice more. Generally, flicking the switch on for the fifth kick would fire the engine the "first" time. It very seldom took more than two kicks. Any deviation from this system would create problems.
Once the engine was warm we eliminated the chocking procedure and kicked the engine twice with the switch off before kicking it thought for real."
For reference, the bike was running a 1000cc motor built by RC Engineering, assembled by Byron Hines.
reworked and balanced stock weight crank
heat treated factory rods with HD bolts
Ported head
RC 315 or 327 cam(it didn't say
), springs, retainers, etc
71mm 10.5:1 RC forged pistons
HD output shaft bearing
factory round top carbs, 130 main jets
ARD magneto
etc
FWIW, the bike ran 11.40s @ 122 on factory stock wheels/tires on an otherwise factory stock(500lb+) bike other than the Kerker 4 into 1 exhaust. NOT BAD!
George
