How to stop engine

[briand2]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and having just bought a 1963 A10 Gold flash I find there is no way to cut the engine. I have to apply the front brake and stall it. There is a red button on the tricon switch by the clutch lever but doesn't work. Any ideas please.

[AWJDThumper]

The end cap on the magneto has a brass terminal which needs to be shorted to ground to stop the engine - normally done by the cut-out switch.

[JulianS]

The red button needs to be connected to the central terminal of the mag end cover and the central terminal needs a brush inside to bear on the points retaining screw.

[AWJDThumper]

In terms of doing some tests, I would short out the end terminal on the magneto first and make sure that this stops the engine. If you have a multimeter, I would then disconnect the wire to the magneto and measured the resistance to the handlebar and see whether this goes to zero when you press the cut-out button. If it doesn't, either the wiring to the switch has a fault or the switch has a problem which could be the contact under the button not making good contact with the handlebar. If you do get zero resistance when you press the cut-out button, the problem might be that the handlebar does not have a good earth return path to the engine.  Temporarily connecting a wire from the handlebar to the metal of the engine will then show whether this is the problem.

[Dean Southall]

Waiting to turn right at traffic lights in heavy city traffic is pretty effective in my experience 

[briand2]

Thank you for the information guys, I'm not too clued up on electrics but at least I know where to look now