Many thanks for all suggestions to date . Came to the conclusion after reading through back entries on the Forum , that if all boxes were apparentally ticked that the continued none running would require the checking of the timing . From the beginning I have always felt the points were opening too early but now armed with the setting , 23.5 degrees before tdc it was soon realized that although the baseplate was secure the setting was miles out . I decided that as I had not as yet removed the baseplate I would now do this as a matter of familiarization . After plenty of heat and a good fitting screwdriver the bolt yielded . To my surprize the dimple in the crankcase matched the position of the baseplate as it was and so one assumes that it had run in this position , putting the HT lead at about 7-8 oclock position . I reassembled the engine established tdc which I pencilled onto the fuel tank and flywheel , I then marked up 23.5 before tdc on the flywheel and positioned this against the tdc mark on the tank . Next with the cover plate off I gently rotated the baseplate until the points were just visually opening and locked it with the screw in position , this now put the HT lead at 8-9 oclock . After several encouraging pulls the engine leapt into life !
Unfortuneatly the 40 was not in water so I could not let it run for long . I tried to restart it again but to no joy . It was to run again a couple of times but followed the same abstaining pattern after each short run .
I am now returning my attention to carb set up , but that will have to wait until next weekend .
Question :- I have what appears to be a good spark at the plug , in fact I got quite a belt when I held the HT lead in the wrong place
, so I hit on the idea to wire up a small test light to find the correct point when the points were opening as we used to when in younger days cars had non electronic Lucas type distributors
. I attached the + and - wires to each side of the points and expected the light to go out at the moment the points opened , it didn't but stayed on . Electrics have always baffled me by defying logic , is this method of timing possible with a magneto and if so to where do I apply the wires ?
