[Adrian II]

.025" is usual for points or TCI, .020" was for magneto ignition and might be appropriate for CDI models.

A.

[cyrusb]

Well Seipgam, how did everything shake out?

[Seipgam]

Well certainly needed the new battery, still a bit hit and miss though.  Fitted an RN4C plug yesterday and it took a couple of kicks. Had been gapping my plugs at .020 so will try it at .025 and see what happens for the next few days on cold starts (hot is easy).

Interestingly I came across an old forum from 2009 last night where Pete Snidal was involved in the discussion on the same subject, they spoke .028 plug gaps and a BR8EIX (iridium I think) plug which gave immediately better starting with electronic ignition.
So there's another path to take if I'm still not satisfied.

Geoff.

[Bilgemaster]

Plugs tend to be much overthought, I'd say. Except to say that I've never had much luck with the longevity of NGK plugs in any of my British bikes. Sure, that might just have been a string of bad luck, but I'll still steer clear of them now. Some lasted a couple-few weeks, but the last NGK I tried was wacky and stupendously defective right out of the box, with sparks shooting from the threaded part. Never seen that before.

Instead of fussing about with this or that plug or plug type, once that new Champion's in place, why not try experimenting with the throttle a bit on those cold starts? Mine likes just a whisper of throttle after she's been dozing. If it's pretty chilly outside, I'll use the choke too. Yours may like a bit more than a whisper and maybe choke on with every cold start or maybe no choke at all. Neither of my Nortons even had their Amals' chokes installed. Try varying how much fuel you're giving her. Try a bit of priming first (kicking it through without the ignition on) and then maybe none. Try priming with the decompressor engaged. Experiment. That's the ticket for getting her to divulge that "knack."

Lots of times in Britain back in the day I heard guys say, "If you can start it, you can ride it." Such was the power of the idiosyncracies and weird little rituals that each bike had. Yours is no different. You'll get it. Soon it'll just be second nature. It'll also distinguish you from the mass of today's riders, most of whom have never kickstarted ANY bike, let alone a big fussy single.

[Seipgam]

So with the Mikcarb set up pretty good and a new battery it seems my biggest problem was plug gap. 
I was gapping at .018"-.020" as per Snidal's manual but Ace says he always gaps at .025", and an old forum I came across suggests with electronic ignition in these you can gap at .025"-.030".

So I've set mine at .028" and with no throttle or choke it has started first kick for the last 1/2 dozen cold starts.
Fitted the Champion RN4C but didn't seem to make a difference until I changed the gap.

Geoff.

[cyrusb]

Interesting, glad to hear you found the solution. I had no idea the electronic ignition had such a demanding plug gap tolerance. Does the Boyer come with its own ignition coil or does it trigger the stock coil? I ask this out of ignorence as I am still in the "Untainted by Technology" mode and my stock coil triggered by stock points does not care about gap at all.

[Bilgemaster]

Whether or not it may actually be the case, or perhaps just be the case with multi-cylindered vehicles, with their increased load on the coil, I've been led to understand in the Amphicar maintenance realm (which use a Triumph 4-cylinder 1147cc engine) that replacing the coil when upgrading to an electronic ignition is a good idea, since the original Lucas coils are said to often fail very soon after such conversions.

[Seipgam]

Looks like an original coil to me cyrusb.
PO had the Boyer fitted but he gave me the instructions, no mention of changing coils there (and no mention of different plug gaps either).

Geoff.

[ace.cafe]

Bosch Blue Coil works well.
4 or 5 ohm.

[Bilgemaster]

Just to clarify my earlier posting, I'm not saying that everyone fitting an electronic ignition instead of the old points deal in their Enfield should run out and get a fresh coil. It just happens to be the "best practices" case with Amphicar (Triumph) engines. In retrospect, I should also have mentioned that in many cases the ignition swap in Amphicars often takes place at the same time as a swap from the original positive earth (or ground) to a negative one, so that may play some part in those coil failures too.