I have been lurking here for about a year and have learned a lot. I need to learn more. I recently bought a '57 18 horse from the son of a gentleman that had passed away. It last ran "a few" years ago. It came with many spare parts and had obviously been maintained throughout its life. I took it home and couldn't resist trying to start it. I hooked up the old gas in the old tank (I know) and after a pretty good workout with the rope she fired up and ran for about 4 seconds. When she died I figured I wouldn't mess with her until she had good gas and new ignition. I broke out the manual and the atm card and put in new coils, new points, new condensors, new plug wires and boots, new plugs, and rebuilt the carb. I set the pont gap at 20 and then used the ohm meter method (from this site) to get the points to open right between the marks. I noticed that the point gap was now much smaller than 20 but I read that it didn't matter. "sync'ed the carb and brought in the new gas and the water tank. I was so optimistic about my work that I even bolted on the big Evinrude clamshell engine cover (can I swap that for a Johnson?).
So now, I can pull the heck out of the rope and nothing close to a"fire". Carb has gas based on pulling lower plug from the bowl. Pulled bottom plug and confirmed that she sparks nicely when the rope is pulled. Tried a little starter fluid (very little) in the air box. No change. Pulled until my arm fell off and started getting a kick back. The only way I can explain what I mean is kick starting a motor cycle that sometime tries to kick your leg back up through your shoulder blade.
That made me think that somehow I got the plug wires crossed. So, I switched them. Pulled easier and made a loud backfire after about the third pull. So I kissed it goodnight, closed up the barn and came running to you guys. Is there some obvious newbie thing I screwed up (like putting a car distributor in 180 out)?
Thank you. Frustrated Frank in Napa
Disclaimer: I did a ton of searches here last night and Iboats "quit responding" according to my browser on every post after I tried to scroll down.
So now, I can pull the heck out of the rope and nothing close to a"fire". Carb has gas based on pulling lower plug from the bowl. Pulled bottom plug and confirmed that she sparks nicely when the rope is pulled. Tried a little starter fluid (very little) in the air box. No change. Pulled until my arm fell off and started getting a kick back. The only way I can explain what I mean is kick starting a motor cycle that sometime tries to kick your leg back up through your shoulder blade.
That made me think that somehow I got the plug wires crossed. So, I switched them. Pulled easier and made a loud backfire after about the third pull. So I kissed it goodnight, closed up the barn and came running to you guys. Is there some obvious newbie thing I screwed up (like putting a car distributor in 180 out)?
Thank you. Frustrated Frank in Napa
Disclaimer: I did a ton of searches here last night and Iboats "quit responding" according to my browser on every post after I tried to scroll down.