Slick Magneto wire length

Following an engine overhaul, my engine was returned to me with the Slick Mag on the left hand side. I went to connect this magneto and found wire lengths that made no sense. Top left on the magneto should go to cylinder 4, this the shortest distance yet it is the longest wire. Lower left and lower right on the back of the magneto should reach cylinders 1 and 3 yet these would be very tight. It appears to me that they gave me a harness that belongs on the right side of the engine. Are there any other explanations?

Are you sure that you are correctly identifying the #1 wire? A slick harness usually has a "1" stamped on the cover to identify the #1 lead. The mags are universal in the caps screw hole configuration, so the left and right mags will have the #1 lead in different cardinal locations, due to their different installed orientations. #1 is upper right on the right mag and lower left on the left mag, assuming the mags are installed in a horizontal plane and in opposite orientation, with the bodies facing out.

Once you have confirmed that you have the correct orientation of leads on the cap, you can possibly make your harness work if you want to.

If the 1&3 wires should be used on 2&4 and vice versa due to length, just swap them. swap 2 for 1 and 4 for 3. In this case, you would have the #2 cylinder at TDC on the compression stroke when you install and time the mag, instead of #1. This configuration still has the same firing order, you just have a modified procedure for installing and timing. Probably not a good idea if you expect others to maintain the engine, as it is non-standard and nobody would think to look at the wiring configuration when working on it. They would have some issues if they timed it on #1.

Larry