Purchase

I had been thinking of installing the Boyer Electronic Ignition to my 1974 Triumph Bonneville T140V for quite a while, and I just happened to stumble across one such item for sale on Ebay. “Never been used, still in original, unopened box”, said the blurb. The current highest bid was well under half the normal price and there was only about 2 hours left for bidding on the item. I put in my highest bid and waited and watched. Only one more bid was made – still below my highest price, the Boyer was mine. After doing the bank deposit transfer it was a matter of waiting for the package to arrive.

Package & Contents

About a week later the package arrived. It was still in shrink wrapped plastic and upon opening, the contents was complete. A quick scan of the comprehensive instructions revealed I needed a timing light, so off to a local auto shop to buy one. Boy did I get a surprise at the cost some of these can be – I decided (hoped) a cheap one should do the job.

Timing

Before I started to follow the instructions, (& remove the points) I thought I should check to see if the timing light was suitable for the job. Also as the bike was running OK, it would give me a ‘reference point’.

The workshop manual says the ignition timing is correct at 38 degrees B.T.D.C. when the mark on the rotor aligns with the pointer on the primary chaincase, with the engine running at 2000 RPM or greater (with both cylinders). However there was no mark visible on the rotor to check the timing. What to do now? The timing can be checked mechanically by using a static timing tool – but of course I did not have one. Then I remembered that the Club General Meeting was in 3 days time – I would ask the experts there. Well as luck would have it, Phil Pilgrim was at the meeting so I approached him about my missing timing mark. Phil knew what had happened straight away – someone has installed the rotor back to front & I had two choices :-

1.Drain the oil from the primary chaincase, remove the chaincase, remove & reverse the stator, etc etc.

2.Scribe a mark directly on the rotor in line with the flat on the rotor shaft with a marker pen & use this as the timing mark.

It was a "no-brainer" option 2 was the way to go, so I connected the timing light, fired up Bonny & lo & behold the mark lined up with the pointer at 3000rpm.

Satisfied that the timing light worked & that I now had a timing mark, I could now proceed with the installation.

Fitting

Working thru the instructions my next challenge was to remove the auto advance unit of the contact breaker mechanism. The workshop manual says to use special tool 123456. My solution was to remove one of the bolts (UNF thread & right length) from the handlebar mounts, put a couple of washers on the bolt to give about ½” of purchase on each side & with 2 strips of wood about 1/2” square & 10” long lever the unit out.

From then on it was just a matter of carefully following the comprehensive instructions until it was all done. I then double checked what I had done – everything seemed to be correct. I was now ready to see if it worked.

Testing

Bonny started 2nd kick – what a relief. After warming up for a few minutes I checked the timing – a little adjustment of the stator plate was needed to get it spot on. I then secured the transistor box, tidied up the wiring & went for a test ride – all went well. No more points, condensers, points gap etc to worry about.

Before & after photos

Conclusion

I would recommend fitting of the Boyer Bransden electronic ignition system to anyone with a suitable bike. The installation is relatively straight forward - & little or no experience is required. Hey, if I can do it anyone can. Also the original look of your classic is not affected in any way. Of course the reason for fitting the Boyer is increased reliability - one less thing to worry about.

Addendum

I have since fitted 6v coils (in lieu of the original 12v) as recommended by Phil Pilgrim & the Boyer literature.

Graham Boulter