1961 Starflite III 50524 75 HP

[Hydrodyner]

Hello all,

After doing some ignition work e.g. new rotor, cap, brush and spring, plugs, points and condenser, and plug wires the boat fires up and actually runs pretty well. I timed the motor and the magneto per manual. For some reason the magneto is taking its sweet time to get to full advance. It will eventually hit the stopper at full throttle, but its not responsive at all. Should I be looking at the magneto bearings??? Thanks again for everything and to J Reeves for his spark plug wire tutorial!

 

[Joe Reeves]

That magneto should move responsively and smoothly from retard to full spark advance. Do whatever is needed to correct that sticking problem.

 

[Hydrodyner]

I took the magneto apart and found the problem to be very old hard grease not allowing the magneto to move properly. The grease was so gummy that the needle bearing would not move so the magneto was basically skidding on the shaft. I removed all of the old grease and packed it with new bearing grease, and it's a night and day difference! Baby butt smooth rotation with little to no effort. Even if I timed the magneto perfectly to the carb, the sticking situation would always have the magneto out of sync because it was barely moving, and not in response to the linkage. I cant wait to put it back on the boat and test it out!

 

[Joe Reeves]

We knew you could do it!