1949 Norton ES2

Search for this: "Dummy Battery Case T. Shape"

on this page:

http://www.cornucopia-enterprises.de/spares_lucas.html

.. would be an Altette which are quite pricy these days. They come up on ebay occasionally, but the source of all knowledge is Taff the Horn http://taffthehorns.com/

But please ditch all those horrible pre-insulated connectors!

What exactly is the issue with preinsulated terminals? The usual Google searches don't come up(for me) with horror stories for them, any more than other terminal types. 

A crime against Nature!  The road to ruin!  What next?

Nowadays most of them are of inferior quality. Spade and round types will loose tension after a while so they happily disengage. The crimp usually holds the wire well. Even difficult to find a source of decent ones. The solder type needs some soldering skill. Don't let the tin creep into the wire.Vibrations will cause the wire to break. The original connectors was no good either, but it didn't matter as long as you have magneto ignition and good night vision.

Just finished rewiring a BSA unit single, mostly used crimped ring connectors. On a few places round and spade types. Wrapped them with electrical tape to keep them mated and dry. Then tyraps on both sides to make sure they don't come apart. As usual, an inch extra length on cables, if ever need to replace a connector.

To seal the connectors (against moisture) we use hot silicone bars (gun to melt silicone bars). 5 years passed, and so far I had no problem.

Greetings Gerardo

Look up Vehicle wiring Products. 

They have all sorts of goodies. I got a complete kit for the Lucas bullet original type of connectors with the proper crimping tool. Not only do they work brilliantly, bur they look much more authentic. I have rewired loads if bikes with this kit, it is vastly better than buying an after market loom. 

 If you use those s%#*@y pre insulated pieces of junk, you deserve to break down.

 I have even known people to spend a thousand quid on a paint job and I have rescued them at the roadside just because they were too tight to get a decent wiring kit.  It WILL be money well spent. 

… but what about those wires? If you just want to get rolling a.s.a.p., whatever does the job for now is fine.

But if period correctness is your thing, those plastic-coated, colour-coded wires have to go!

As said previously, they are often made of inferior materials nowadays. But their reputation  probably became enhanced by the bodge it boys of the 70’s. when vehicle wiring could be adapted quickly for  tow bars driving lamps, air horns,CB radios and all manner of audio enhancements with little regard for wire size, fuse capacity or even your charging device.  And those same street side lads were not keen on reading instruction or checking their use of the crimping tool.  Alas the electrical joint was invisible to the user.... one strand connected, over crimped and shearing of wire started, wrong wire use and hey presto the blame falls on the joint.

For modern machines (Commando’s) they sit well enough for coil connection etc. but where you are keen to improve on the original connectors for reliability check out military/aircraft specs for wiring standards and product choice. Overkill for most, but ultra reliable for the avid tourist.   Me I’m old school with bullets and rubber sleeping, crimped not soldered (vibration has a habit of cracking the strands that have been held together), and fixed the loom with rubber ties not plastic “zip ties”.

PS: Bantam John had “T” type battery boxes.  cheers

jon

Hi Graham,

   I have just had a look at your photo and it looks like you have the wrong magneto fitted. It will still work O.K. but the advance will be tight wire as the slack wire type cable comes out the opposite side nearest the engine. Not a big deal as long as you keep the ignition lever adjusted fairly tight to stop it loosening back to the retard position.