Alternator/Stator
Actually, in spite of all the jokes, the Lucas stuff wasn't really all that bad. It was as good as anything else available in the day. Add a few decades of neglect and corrosion in the connections and you will have problems with anything. I notice a lot of discussion on this list about fixing electrical problems on the(superior) japanese electrical components on 40 year old Honda motorcycles. I've got three Triumph twins(and a Norton)parked here amongst the Hondas, two of them will completely original electrical components(a'68 TR6 and a '69 Bonneville) you can add gas and crank them up anytime. The other Triumph(a '69 T100) has a repro wire harness, Boyer ignition and a Honda coil, it's the only one of the three I actually had to work on to get it to run. '65 YG1
'65 CB160 '66 CL160 '66 CL77 '78 XS650 '79 GL1000 '69 T100R '68 TR6 '69 T120 '72 750 Commando my company car is a Kenworth Alternators output AC volts. It is possible to measure this. This is a typical test I do on all motorcycles to determine the condition of the alternator. Measure the AC voltage between the three wires from the alternator with it disconnected from the rectifier/regulator. You typically see somewhere around 45-70 VAC at varying RPMs. So I am looking for the AC output of the Dream alternator.
Early British bikes - Having worked on a variety of early British vehicles including motorcycles, Jaguar, Austin Healey, Triumph, etc. I can tell you their electrical systems leave something to be desired. Usually the first change was to a simple GM alternator. My 1976 Jaguar had simple barrel fuses mounted adjacent to the radiator that would randomly fail and turn off the headlights. This car eventually got a GM 350 motor and transmission. It took 9 wires to each power window switch to operate the windows and the list goes on.
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