74 chrysler 55 throttle link

[ryan77]

I have a 74 chrysler 55 that I have been reviving. It is battery points ignition. I keep breaking the throttle link that goes under the breaker plate and connects to the top of the tower. I've checked the cables readjusted the cables installed new cables. re greased and cleaned the breaker plate. after a few pushes of the control lever that link rod snaps right by the red connector piece under the breaker plate. The motor fires right up and sounds great fires on both cylinders. I think I am timing the motor correctly even without the timing tool. with test light on the coil lead the light goes off when fly wheel mark crosses the timing mark by adjusting the link rod then connect it to the top of the tower. I seems the adjusting nut on the tower has to be almost all the way in to get it in time. Like I said the motor fires right up sounds great. Then when I test forward and reverse which works fine that link rod snaps right by the red connector under the breaker plate. does anyone know why? could I be missing part of the linkage? linkage seems really smooth before and after that rod breaks. I had a couple parts motors and have run out of link rods please help

 

[Tnstratofam]

:welcome:You should be using Franks timing procedure which is a sticky topic at the top of this forum. Once you have the engine in time you should be able to hook up your throttle and shifter cables and have good travel. Are you sure you don't have them hooked up backwards. Throttle for shifter, shifter for throttle?

 

[Tnstratofam]

One more thing. You will not have full throttle movement in neutral. Your engine must be in gear to get wide open throttle (wot). However this should not be done with the engine out of the water. You can damage the lower unit revving the engine in gear on muffs in your driveway. You can verify throttle movement in gear with the engine off though.

 

[ryan77]

the cables are not backwards. I did not mention that the motor has a jet pump in place of the prop. so the shift cable simply operates the the bucket gate on the pump for forward and reverse. now I did rig the neutral safety switch with extension wire to press the button to start the motor. may this cause the problem. My thoughts are that I am timing the motor in the incorrect position or the linkage is set up wrong or the breaker plate is worn? motor seems to run great could spark be to far advanced or retarted enough to break that link rod?

 

[Frank Acampora]

The breaker plate is held down by four screws by an odd shaped aluminum plate that rotates under the flange. IF the flange is incorrectly tightened or if the plate is crooked under the flange, the breaker plate will bind. be certainn the attaching screws are in correct holes and not too long. Be certain that the whole assembly turns freely by hand befrer attaching the link rod. The assembly also needs to be cleaned and lubricated in addition to the brass bearing in the breaker plate itself.

It is also possible that the lower plate is worn and jams under use

 

[ryan77]

Hey Frank thanks for your input. I think I may have solved the problem, however still not sure to rely on it for a boatin trip. I welded a broken link rod back together and set it up with cables as loose as possible to still get wot. I have the 4 screw flange with a seal in center that goes over that crank an bearing @ the top of the motor then the plate that holds the points and condensers and link rod on the bottom. That plate basically just places into the flange and there are three little odd shaped clips that I guess are supposed to hold the plate down with the stattor on top and bolted through to the flange seems to have smooth movement used a "sil glide grease" recomended at the auto parts store by my house. There is a section in the Clymer book that seems to say those clips have to be gaped with a feeler guage. however I could be wrong on that. any way now when I time the motor the link screws down in a different position than before on the tower in wot. motor fire up sounds great and have great throttle response. haven't broke the link yet with about 20 min. of easy lever movements with the motor in the trough. so my question now is am I timed correctly? I have 2 factory marks on the flywheel That are not top dead center so I am figuring that they are the 32 or 28 degree marks but they seem to be after tdc and evething in book and other sources says before tdc. does this make any sense? so if the points close that far out of time would the motor still run this good?

 

[Frank Acampora]

Tried to answer yesterday but the forum would not give me permission!

I thought your engine had the more common 9 pole alternator stator. If fact, it appears to have the multi-pole (I forget how many) alternator stator. The odd shaped springs apply pressure to keep the plate from rattling.

The two lines scribed into the flywheel are BOTH 32 BTDC 180 degrees apart. The engine is a two cylinder, dual point engine. Because the point opening affect timing you must time each cylinder separately. This is because a small difference between point gap will result in a big difference in timing.. Thus, you check timing at WOT on each cylinder. If they are close like less than one degree leave it alone. If they are say, 1 to 3 degrees different, remove the flywheel and re-gap the affected cylinder's points.

You must be certain you are using the correct scribed line for the correct cylinder. Remove the top plug and find TDC with the engine at WOT position. Then color the line closest to the block pointer. If there is no block pointer, scribe one yourself.

Since with these engines the stator and flywheel serve only to charge the battery, it is POSSIBLE but not PROBABLE for the engine to run with a broken flywheel key.