Stuart Turner magnetos

I've got a Stuart Turner P5xc which refuses to start and I believe the magneto to be the problem.
It came with a non-original Lucas SR1 on it which has some dodgy split pinned/tapered shaft extension on it.
What I want to know is, what magneto did these engines originally have? I have heard they did have SR1's and possibly some came with Wico series A's on them. How true is this? Does anyone have a Stuart Turner they can comment on?
Also, did they have an impulse starter on them? Mine hasn't but this has got me wondering whether that is what the awful lash up on the magneto driveshaft is ???

I'm torn between getting a new coil for my mag or looking for a decent replacement mag (possibly with an impulse starter on it ???), maybe a Wico as they seem more reliable.

Any help would be very much appreciated but bear in mind, money is tight at the moment.
Cheers.
Ian


P.S. Apologies if you've already read this on another forum.

IAN...if you find out which mag you need let us know as ive got a few wico mags here...
mike....

I've got the SR1 over here, it's on the bench, in bits, again!. Maybe I'll get some pics of that lash up with the split pin. It's basically a shaft extension, just not a very good one.

someone on here will be able to tell you what the rite on is....
pics would help i guess....
mike......

I'll lash it back onto the engine tomorrow & get some pics,
whilst Ian put's my mum's new rose bush in!

sounds like a good deal to me...lol...lol
mike....

Sounds like an excellent plan to me, I absolutely hate gardening!

Mind you, it's ten past ten & he's not here, I'm not exactly ready to face the world either Not only am I supposed to be fixing his engine, I'm supposed to be fixing his caravan fridge as well!

OK, we'll get some pictures today, I'll get some of that motor as well.
I really want this engine to work as I got it for my kids to sit behind at the rallies. We are hoping to make a generator set out of it this winter.

Right, I've taken some pics & some measurements, so here goes with a little description of what's going on.....

Here's the dodgy shaft extension, with split pin almost removed...



Here's where the mag sits on the engine (I will give measurements of it later).....



Mag installed....




But there's rather a large gap left here....



& it looks like previous split pins have scraped away at the paintwork....



I've measured the platform.....



The PCD between the holes is about 1 & 3/4" by 2 & 1/4" & the distance between the chain case & the nearest set of holes (the front mounting holes) is about 1 & 1/2"

My assistant agrees with this.....



But my new apprentice was no help whatsoever!.....

I have recently found out that this model of Stuart Turner was fitted with many different magnetos. Lucas N1, Lucas SR1, Wico A and a BTH of some sort.

They were not fitted with an impulse start. Basically, any magneto with a taper shaft should work.

I've been looking at pictures and I think my one would have had a BTH or Lucas N1 on it.

If anyone has any BTH, Lucas N1 or even a Wico A which bolts onto a plate (as in the pictures, not a flange fitting), which has a taper shaft on it. I would like to hear from you.
I can raise some cash but unfortunately not the £200 odd quid I have been quoted for a re-con unit


Cheers
Ian

Don't forget it needs to be anticlockwise rotation.

I don't think many 2 strokes were fitted with impulse start mags, as the mags run at engine speed, whereas a 4 stroke mag usually runs at half engine speed.

OK, I have a decision to make. Do I spend £75 on a new coil from a local source or do you think I could get a working Wico A (or something else) for less than that?
I can get the money but not enough money for a brand new spanking N1 unfortunately.

Any thoughts?

That's a big problem, myself I think I'd try and save for the correct mag. I know what it's like when things are tight but would you be happy with the gap and that split pin? You could maybe make a tin shield to wrap around the shaft but don't think I'd trust the split pin.

Stu.

Oh well, looks like my prayers were answered, I spotted a fellow stationary engine owner with a load of old plugs, petrol taps etc in front of his engine and lo and behold, a Lucas N1 magneto sitting there. It is anti clockwise and seems to be sparking pretty well, I just hope it sparks on the engine!

I managed to get that, a pretty rare looking brass petrol tap with a brass sediment trap on it, two more normal petrol taps, two nice looking, Lodge splittable spark plugs and two old style HT lead connectors all for £80 which I think was very fair and the wife didn't seem to mind, apparently we've come into a little money, not a lot but enough for me to treat myself. I'll put some pictures up of my purchases soon. Thanks for your help everybody

best bloke to contact would be dave schofield.01793771699.

Diddy wrote:best bloke to contact would be dave schofield.01793771699.

Thanks for that, I think he's the bloke I've been emailing about a new head gasket. He never did email me back but I made my own on the end, if that fails (which it probably will ) I'll be getting back in touch with him

Agree Dave's a top guy and what he dont know about Stuarts aint worth knowing, supplied all my bits for my P5, though its easier ringing him as he dont spend alot of time on his computer

Ianhw77k wrote:

Diddy wrote:best bloke to contact would be dave schofield.01793771699.

Thanks for that, I think he's the bloke I've been emailing about a new head gasket. He never did email me back but I made my own on the end, if that fails (which it probably will ) I'll be getting back in touch with him

Put the magneto on it today and managed to get it running. I only started it for a few seconds as it had no water. Then I added water and tried to run it for a bit longer. She ran for a minute or two but decided to stop after that. I think it was either the plug or my dodgy head gasket was letting water in to the combustion chamber.
Anyway, she refused to start after that so I emptied the water and just before I covered her up I decided to see if she would run again, and she did
So, I have a Stuart Turner engine that doesn't like water , I'll have a fiddle about with it soon but for now at least the magneto works, so that was £60 well spent

Don't forget we changed the plug just before that last run-up, it could just of easily been that.

I dunno weather it's worth disturbing the head joint, but as I've come to a bit of a standstill with the Homelite I could have a bash at it tomorrow.

Looks like I'm away on Saturday though, looking after darling Sister's lovely dogs (little sh*ts) for a few days (I'm going through her shed while I'm there though, looking for long lost engine parts, got a feeling you've got an old tyre compressor in there somewhere???)
I will be back here some days, so could start dismantling the Stuart for you. You order a proper gasket & some plumbing bits, we'll have her running properly in no time.

Right, we had this running again today. This time we put water in before we started it, as I can't stand to see a water cooled engine started without any water in it, even for a second, gotta think about hot spots (always remember what Michael Barrymore said "What is a hot spot not? Not a good spot!")

But, before we did any of that I had the carb off, completely dismantled it & cleaned it out. We also decided to do something about the water connection to the barrel, we had some leakage there before as it had a screw-in elbow into the block. I think this was due to the old magneto being too big. Trouble is, to do this I had to take the mag off again!, which meant re-timing the engine, again! but it's not such a hardship with this mag.

So, we put it all together & chucked a bucket of water in the tank. Switched the petroil on & swung it over (I let Ian do the swinging, I don't like handle start engines, especially ones with dodgy, home-made starting handles. Give me a rope start any day). She fired up first swing!

We ran her for a while, fiddling with throttle & choke settings. She got hot surprisingly quickly & was pushing water back out the top hose connection within a few minutes (just goes to show how quick these engines heat up, & this wasn't under any load).

Eventually we stopped her, only to find the big nut on the crank shaft, which holds the clutch on, was loose again (it's done this before). We gave that a dose of Loctite whilst checking plugs etc.

We had a little trouble getting her to fire again, after that. We had to use a different plug, even though we'd had that plug out & cleaned it up. Then we stopped her again, as she was backfiring through the carb a lot. We couldn't get her to start again after that.

Anyway, here's some pics of the new carb & better water connection (banjo union straight into block, without elbow), now water tight....



So, to sum up; we've had her running, for quite a while. We can't seem to get the speed right, but we think that's all to do with the governor spring being too strong.
It looks like we've got those usual 2 stroke problems of not wanting to start when warm. I reckon it could be a lot to do with spark plugs.

I actually quite like 2 strokes, but they can be very fussy engines. Having said that, the Tarpen has always been very reliable, never usually takes more than 1 or 2 pulls to get that one started, but that's all set up, this one's a bit different, it's still relatively new to us. I'm sure we'll sort it soon, I just wish it had a rope-start pulley on it, it's taken a chunk out of my brother's hand & took a chunk out of one of my knuckles a while back as well!

Anything you wanna add Ian???

Oh yeah, & it looks like Ian's "dodgy" home-made head gasket works well. I knew there was no need to disturb that joint, good job I left it alone, eh?

nutgone wrote:
Anything you wanna add Ian???

Yeah, I wanna add a rope start pulley, or at least a decent starting handle and new starting dogs!

This engine is proving to be a bit temperamental so if anyone knows the 'trick' to getting Stuart Turner engines to start reliably then I would love to know. Getting quite tempted to sell it now

Great decision to put the correct mag on it looks the job now. I've never had anything to do with Stuarts and there starting problems so can't help. We do have a few Stuart owners that might be able to assist, it a shame we did have someone that was reasonably knowledgeable on Stuarts be he's no longer a member but maybe someone could give you his email address and he might be able to help, he's known as Skankin_Giant, I think that's the way he spelt it.

Stu.

stationary stu wrote:Great decision to put the correct mag on it looks the job now. I've never had anything to do with Stuarts and there starting problems so can't help. We do have a few Stuart owners that might be able to assist, it a shame we did have someone that was reasonably knowledgeable on Stuarts be he's no longer a member but maybe someone could give you his email address and he might be able to help, he's known as Skankin_Giant, I think that's the way he spelt it.

Stu.

If that's "2strokeSteve" then he's already aware. I'm guessing it's the same bloke.

nutgone wrote:

If that's "2strokeSteve" then he's already aware. I'm guessing it's the same bloke.

it is

Yes, I've got him replying to a very similar thread on another forum and he is a very helpful chap, I was snooping on here some time ago (when I first joined) and noticed there was a bit of a disagreement between him and some others, hence why I started a thread on two different forums.
I never did find out what the unrest was about or who was to blame, not really any of my business

If any Stuart owners on this site ever do feel the need to butt in with some advice, I am always willing to listen , thanks for the comments on the mag, I think it looks a lot better now but this engine is pretty high revving, it seems impossible to slow it down smoothly and the only way I can see to do it is to put a heavier flywheel on it, which seems strange to me. I am also a bit worried about the clutch bolt working loose, I really did tighten it well but it still started coming undone , anyway, a bit more tinkering is needed still. Thanks for the replies