Lets see a  mag fires twice per rev
   on a 4 cyl AC engine which is the same as rotary.
   So the 2700 RPM mag must run 7500 RPM on
   a rotary. I am not sure it would be up for
   that. You would be better off with a 4 cylinder
   mag from a high RPM motor cycle engine if there
   were such a thing.

   Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

Paul,
In the seventies at Bonneville several motorcycle guys tried aircraft
mags on their engines. Above about 7k they just didn't work. They ended
going back to points! The old Kawasaki Z1s would run fine on a points
system to 13,000 by doubling the points springs to prevent bounce. Wore
out fast but lasted long enough. The magnetos had a problem with coil
reluctance if I recall correctly. On the 2-cycles they got around this
problem by using 2 windings and 2 magnets. The first coil was a fine
wire that worked at low RPMs and the high speed coil was a looser
winding that didn't start working until the mag was spinning around 1800
RPM. The low speed coils obviously got hot, but didn't fail too often.
If sombody could push start his bike and run it at speed OK but no idle
or mid we would just pull the flywheel and replace the low speed coil.
Bill Jepson


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