TALES FROM THE SHED

The excitement of an afternoon in The Shed is almost beyond description. I hardly know where to start this month’s magnificent octopus, things have been so entertaining. Do I continue with the increasingly illuminating headlamp saga, whereby I can almost find the almost correct bits and almost fit them? Or do I dive straight into the gritty nitty and dazzle you with the sparkling brilliance of my magneto refitting skills? Not an easy call, I’m sure you’ll agree.

You may recall reading Jacqueline PUB’s excellent piece last time about how she received the CSR’s magneto, gave it a serious dose of technical looking-at and decided that only a complete chimp would be unable to produce fine fat sparks from it with almost no effort at all. I read her words with minor gloom, as you’d surely expect. I have never successfully rebuilt a magneto. Or anything else, it sometimes feels like. I did build a gearbox once. It would select first and third or second and fourth. Life can be a challenge.

That said, fitting one of Mr Joe Lucas’s K2F magnetos is hardly difficult. Three fastenings and the timing pinion. Did someone mention timing? Ignition timing? I’ll get back to that.

First things first. Once this remarkable device is back in its rightful place, I will never ever want to remove it again. I know this. I also know that you will not want to read about my removing it again, so it is important to we Noted Experts that we fit the thing properly the first time. Although practice almost certainly makes perfect, I have no