[T3] Kettering Ignitions (Jim Adney)

[William Jahn]

 I've never bothered to file points. Don't they have a hard coating filing
past that and it's pretty thin , you file through that , well. I just
replace them with the best set I can find . Used to have a dwell/ tach that
died long ago . I just set them with a feeler gauge.

 The one issue is setting the timing. When I  rebuilt this engine I used
flat top pistons , Russ said at one point I should set it @ TDC rather than
5 BTDC. I Always did and it was not an issue until I put the vacuum advance
line back. Might be the fuel we have now , I had it closer to TDC and it
seemed to run stronger. Didn't try the vacuum advance even @ TDC. I did
notice with the vacuum connected on light throttle it had more response.
As  long as it does not ping and has good pick up it's fine.

On Mon, Feb 8, 2021 at 2:22 PM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:

> On 8 Feb 2021 at 9:24, Phil Hof wrote:
>
> > ITMm an old fart and still file my points as needed.  Do they even sell
> > point files anymore? -Phil
>
> Probably, but I've already got 2, which I use occasionally. The last use
> was
> on my 50 year old lawnmower. I bought it used over 40 years ago and have
> never needed to do anything to it other than sharpen the blade, replace
> the
> plug occasionally (which it probably didn't need) and clean the carb.
>
> Last summer, in the middle of mowing our lawn, it ran rough for a few
> seconds then quickly died. It wouldn't restart and I found that it had no
> spark,
> so I began my virgin exploration into the world of magnetos: take the
> cooling
> shroud off, pop off the flywheel/fan, and find the points and condensor.
> Measured resistances and found the magneto resistance really low, less
> than 1 Ohm. Eventually decided that that was probably correct. Flywheel
> key
> was fine, so that was not the problem.
>
> Checked the points and saw that the fixed point was much larger diameter
> than the moving one, but the fixed point had a depression in it that was
> the
> exact size of the moving point. Filed it flat again, so I could reset the
> gap.
> (I've got the B&S manual.)
>
> Started right up and ran better than it had in years. I suspect those are
> the
> original points & condensor, probably 50 years old. Still plenty of life
> in them.
>
> The repair cost me nothing in parts and maybe 2 hours of thinking about
> what to do, and then doing it.
>
> --
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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