Rick Spivey wrote:Let me take a stab at some of this, not being there in person, it is not easy to fully comprehend.
Okay, the magneto is set to a standard of 13 degrees advance. When the impulse coupling is engaged, it is RETARDING the magneto for hand cranking, and to cause the magneto to spin faster when producing the spark (hotter spark). Once the engine is running, the impulse coupling drops out, so you are back to 13 degrees advance. What I didn't understand in your earlier post is that you advanced the timing light to 13 degrees, but you didn't say that aligned the spark with the pointer. In fact, being below the pointer indicates retarded timing.
First I really appreciate you taking the time to explain the operation of the magneto in such great detail. Hopefully I am beginning to understand.
When using the timing light nothing that I have done gets me to the point where the light shows the notch on the pulley at or above the pointer. When I rotate the mag top away from the engine all that it will go the notch still is below the pointer when the light flashes. When I static time and then hand crank, I hear the click when the notch lines up right with the pointer and this is the part that I don't understand. If it lines up when hand cranking what happens to cause it to be below the pointer when the engine is running? If the governor is off by a tooth why doesn't this show up when static timing? The place that I probably got in trouble was thinking that if it I was able to static time it and get to the point where I heard the click at the moment the pointer and the notch lined up, the governor was installed correctly.
I think your governor is off a tooth, but I also think your distributor cap may be allowing the spark to arc across all the wires. I don't believe your "norther lights" description to be normal. If you haven;t replaced the cap, give it a try. Or at leaf clean the inside and look for possible arcing. Also, retime your magneto to the governor, or governor to the engine. Lastly, make sure the rotor and pinion inside the magneto are timed correctly to one another, using the marks.]
I have a new distributor cap and I looked inside and see no evidence of arcing. When you say "Retime your magneto to the governor, or governor to the engine" I assume that you mean that I need to remove the governor and try to get it aligned in the correct tooth? I'll have a new gasket for this on Wed. and can try that then. I put a sealer on the existing one and probably won't be able to reuse it. Lesson learned. I have checked that the rotor and pinion marks are lined up but it can't hurt to check again. It wouldn't be unusual for me to make this kind of mistake. One additional piece of info-- the Pinion has a small amount of play when you turn it. By small I mean about 1/3 of a tooth. Don't know what impact this might have.
Again thanks for analyzing my problem in such detail and I am sure this will help lead me to a solution and when I resolve the problem maybe I'll understand what I fixed?
Glenn