magneto woes... anyone have an answer?

I've been trying to put my '40 H back to its original magneto ignition. It has a perfectly fine, functional coil and distributor on it, but, I really like magnetos better. No good reason, just preference.
I've disassembled my H4 mag and cleaned all components. The tractor has run on that mag, but it seemed hard to start, so I thought a thorough cleaning was a good start before I started replacing parts. Its all nice and clean, the coil, although old, appears to be in fairly decent shape, as did the points and condensor.
It will throw a spark across an air gap of .066, but no more. The spark is "thready" and sometimes has a small tint of yellow. Its not a nice fat blue spark like I'd like, but I've been told that if it will cross that large of a gap, it ought to run fine.
The tractor is hard to start on the mag, but once started, seems to run fine, even after warming up. The timing is set per the IT manual, points just sparking on #1 TDC, and the plugs and wires are all in good shape. (both new, and properly gapped.) The engine is topnotch, w/ new valves, guides, seats, pistons, sleeves, rings etc. It has excellent compression, and, as I said, starts easily and runs great on the dist/coil setup.
I'm guessing a new condensor is in order, hence the occassional yellowish spark. New points can't hurt. I may even cough up enough for a new coil. If I replace all of those, should that cure my problem? How about the magnetic rotor? No one around here seems to have the stuff to "recharge" it, and that is pretty much the ONLY thing that would be left to do. It doesn't drag in the fields anywhere, (did a prussian blue test to ck)
Any advice is welcomed....

Weak magnets could cause hard starting. Anyone in your area have a magnet re-charger?

Starting with points and condensor would be the easiest... In my experience when a coil goes bad, it just quits... or quits as soon as it gets hot.

Sarge,
Find a physics teacher you trust, and a compass, and a battery charger, light bulb and copper wire and iron bar. Find north on your poles with the compass, make an electromagnet with the rest and go to recharging yourself,

I do magneto repair. I would start with points & cond.Make sure the contact area of your new points are perfectly shining do not touch contact area with your bare finger. Gap to .014 with a clean feeler. Rotate & close points ,drag a clean 1 dollar bill through the closed point. Check your spark now. Then post back or email me. Earl

Is the impulse working on that mag? You should hear it click as the starter turns the engine over. If that is bad it would cause it to start hard and then run fine. Dave

Glad to hear someone going back to the mag.
I prefer them myself.(thereis a reason all piston airplane engines have mags, not distributors)

I had problems starting my H, then had the mag rebuilt and never had a prob again. It had a slow turning 6v and always started.

You can touch those magnets with a flatblade screwdriver to see if they have strong magnetism.
Your coil could be weak too. Hal

impulse is good... cleaned and lubricated... and it makes a nice click... spark just confuses me a bit... I've always heard that if it would jump .040 or better, it would start and run fine... it does that, but the spark just looks thready instead of nice and fat... I'll try new points and condensor first. IF that doesn't fix it, I'll get a new coil. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to figure out how to build a magnet recharger.

I'd say put in new points, condenser and coil and see if that helps. If not, it may be your magnets need re-charging.

Are you checking the spark out of the coil tower or the distributer tower? If you have a strong spark out of the coil tower and not the distributer tower then check and see if the rotor timing gears are properly timed.

Kelly,
If you go to ,http://nebraskacowman.com/talk/index.php, get a hold of Nebraskakirk or Magman, either can help with mag problems. Kirk built a magnet charger and might be able to help you build one also.
Jim

I would say your coil weak. If your condenser was bad, you would have no spark at all. You can replace the points and condenser if you want, they are cheap enough. The magnetic rotor should be fine, it is a permanent magnet and does not have to be recharged.

Chuck has a good point there. Also I should have mentioned, a good mag should throw a spark across at least a 1/4 inch air gap, if your mag only throws a spark across a .066 gap, checked from the coil tower, then you need a new coil.

Gary, it is somewhat more complex than that. Since the H4 mag has a permanant magnet, you need a very powerful magnet charger to charge them. But, since the H4 does have a permanant magnet, you really don't have to recharge them, that is, unless you accidently leave it on the stove

Any chance you are using resistor plugs or wire. Copper works better I believe. And resistor plug would slow things down, too.

Kirk, you are more of an expert than I. This is the method we used on numerous hit and miss mags whose horseshoe magnets were weak.