V-Tronic ignition system support needed

Hi,

I am looking for support on the V-Tronic ignition system, I believe username "Samsup" is tech support for the manufacturer and have posted on the forum.
Please advise on the below question.

I am installing a V-Tronic ignition on a Knuckle and when setting timing 35 degrees BTDC on front cylinder I get 40 degrees on rear cylinder.
Checked with degree wheel.

I can only see that this is due to a faulty rotor, or can this be corrected by adjustments in any way?

Please comment.

[Dusty-Dave]

Samsup hasn't posted anything since 2017. I sent an email to the address the board has.
It sounds to me like you have two choices either replace the rotor or split the difference. One 2 1/2 degrees fast and one 2 1/2 degrees slow isn't ideal but will run. I have a scout that the electronic ignition spread is off about 3 degrees and it seems to run fine.
Dusty

Hello Dusty,

thanks for replying on this, I didn't notice Samsups reply was that old, this was the only place where I found any sort of discussion regarding the V-tronic.
Should you get a reply via the mailadress you tried I hope he can reply here on the board or maybe you can direct him directly to my mailadress.

5 degrees off is not acceptable and even if it will run OK I expect far better from an electronic ignition. I don't know how the signal is triggered on this system but if it is magnets (think I read it was a Hall effect system so there should be magnets involved) it should be possible to relocate one to the correct position, or make a new rotor with correct positions for the magnets.

Still would like to talk to the manufacturer, if this is a known faulty batch of rotors there might be correct ones available.

Anyway, thanks for your efforts Dusty, much appreciated.

HK

H-D has always had the problem of one cylinder more advanced than the other . If they were actually a 45 degree engine this wouldn't be a problem. They tried to cure this in the early sixties with their dual point/dual coil ignition.

Hi Chris,

what would the reason be for one cylinder off in timing? Except for worn ignition cam lobes which occurr nowadays, after a lot of miles, I believe the tolerances of the cam lobe where pretty good when new?
And what do you mean by "if they were actually a 45 degree engine", I think they are?
Except for tolerances here as well but that shouldn't be more than fractions of a degree.

Checked the rotor and no magnets found, instead it appears that the "voids" milled into the rotor sets the trigger points.

H-D engines are 42 degree v twins unlike Indian that was 45 degrees. Being 42 degrees there is no way to get the timing on both cylinders the same.

Chris Haynes wrote:

H-D engines are 42 degree v twins unlike Indian that was 45 degrees. Being 42 degrees there is no way to get the timing on both cylinders the same.

Except for using the dual-points timer, of course, Chris!

Silly how they forgot to mark the flywheels for much too long.

....Cotten
PS: Somebody told me they were forty-three degrees, and I'm pissed.

[Dusty-Dave]

Chris Haynes wrote:

H-D engines are 42 degree v twins unlike Indian that was 45 degrees. Being 42 degrees there is no way to get the timing on both cylinders the same.

Chris,
You swapped the numbers Indians were 42 degree cylinder separation and Hardlys are 45 degree cylinder separation.
HK
Think about a half degree error in the cylinder base projected up the height of the cylinder then then how far the flywheels would have to rotate to align a perfectly perpendicular line. Add in a slightly sloppy bore job. The machining errors in rod length or piston height affect where TDC is also. It was common to see points lobes that has been filed and stoned on old racers
Dusty

[Dusty-Dave]

I know for sure that this Indian is almost 43 degrees cylinder separation.

I compensated with a offset key on the front cam and adjustable ignition pickups.
Dusty

Update:

I got in contact with the supplier and got excellent help, very helpful and concerning about their product.
I was sent two more rotors to test and one of them gave a better result, approximately 2 degrees off between front and rear cylinders, instead of 5 degrees as with the original rotor.
But it was not consistent, mostly I got 2 degrees off, then it could be spot on, both cylinders timed perfect, next time off again. So obviously some "dynamics" in the testing.
This makes me believe that my set up is not sufficiently good. I had the engine on the bench, rotating the motor by hand and this is probably not enough to build a strong enough magnetic field. I guess I need to start the motor and check the timing with a strobe light.

So, probably a lot of messing around unnecessarily, the ignition system is probably OK.
Unfortunately it will take some time before the engine is in the frame and ready to start but we'll check it then.

HK