Saving Old Seagulls

hi all
finished putting the motor back together. tried to start it. won't start. got the drill out and ran it for about 5 minutes. removed the spark plug and shorted it to the engine. spun it with the drill and have a good spark looks purple. cleaned the points checked the compression 85-90. tried starter fluid not even attempting to start. any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks
dalliance

Is the base plate in the correct position?

If you look at the top of the flywheel, with the tank furthest away from you.
The ht pickup in the base plate should be at about 8 o’clock (centre of tank 12 o’clock)
This is for a 40+. Century and 102 should be at about 4 o'clock.

If you have spark, fuel and compression it will run.
But not if it is sparking at the wrong point in the stroke.

H-A

ha
thanks for your reply what is the ht pickup ? the locking screw is at 6 oclock and the spark plug wire is at 8 oclock..

thanks
dslliance

dalliance wrote:ha
thanks for your reply what is the ht pickup ?
dslliance

HT pickup, is the black high tension lead insulator. The bit the spark plug wire sticks out of.

So that is in the correct place.

Squirt a bit of petrol into the cylinder, replace the plug spin it over and it should fire.

H-A

ha
thanks for the reply. i removed the spark plug put some gas in it and tried again would start using a drill. sprayed some starter fluid into the carb and didn't get a sputter out of it. i must be missing something very simple. the throttle is all they way towards the center of the motor. i am assuming that its wide open

thanks

dalliance

ha
checked the gap on the spark plug was way out set it a 20. something is strange. when i open the throttle all the way there is pressure coming out of the carb opening now that shouldn't be.. this thing only goes together one way i believe. now i'm really confused

thanks

dalliance

Piston could be upside down.

Cut out should be up.

H-A

H A
thanks for the reply. i removed the spark plug and the cutout is at the top and the slop is at the bottom.i removed the carb and checked it over. all the openings are clear. think the next option is a new spark plug. the ht plug if i remove the 2 nuts does it just pull off the base plate ??

thanks for all your help trying to solve this problem

dalliance

The spark plug lead is fastened at the magneto end by 1 screw holding a small flat metal plate over the spark plug lead-end fitting. The plate has a hole in its center that centers it over the spark plug lead are you missing this piece?

thanks phil

no the plate is there. in fact i bought a new spark plug last night and get a nice purple spark out of the plug. tonight i checked the points gap. they were pretty far apart. i regapped them .019 goes .021 doesn't. i couldn't find at what point the points close. it appears that they close a little before tdc. i don't know weather this is correct or not. am going to get some more gas and try again...

dalliance

When you start it with a drill does it tick over at low revs or cutout? Could be just choke and throttle variables. Maybe the plug is getting too wet (flooded). Try throttle at about three quarters with choke half way down.

Note: Can be dangerous trying to start with drill.

HUGZ

thanks for the reply.. tried your suggestions. not a peep out of it...has to be something i missed. any other suggestions ? i looked for a picture of the piston in the cylinder to ensure i don't have it 180 out. but i believe that if it was in wrong the spark plug would hit the top of the cylinder.

safe boating

dalliance

Dalliance

How's your progress?

Maybe you have a loss of crankcase compression. This is difficult to measure. However, If it is the case, then, it's usually caused by a worn upper main bearing. Basically, there should be virtually no flog by hand.

Rex

Dalliance

It might pay to re-check the ignition timing from a fundamental basis

Basically the ignition fires at the moment the points break

Turn the motor around until the piston is at top centre. The points should be breaking. If not within a few degrees, then, re-time the magneto base plate.

Rex

I have just had a very similar problem. Turned out that the key that locates the flywheel in the correct position on the crank shaft had failed, and the flywheel had slipped a little.

Is your flywheel correctly fitted and the woodruff key intact and fitted in the slot in the crank? As another poster mentioned, check the location of the piston just as the points start to open. Should be around TDC.