points setting made me a believer

[old52pan]

Finished a 49 bobber yesterday and kicked it for two hours and all I could get was a hit on one cylinder no matter what I did. Since I built the motor from scratch, I mean STD cases, I rebuilt and trued the crank assembly with new bearings etc, wiesco pistons, sifton oil pump, auto advance timer, all from v-twin except the heads and crank so I figured I did something wrong, hmmm,, compression/spark/fuel.12.6 volts at the battery also. what more did I need? Turns out I set the point gap using the small lobe(front cylinder) and that cylinder was indeed firing. Turned the shaft to check the wide lobe and had enough gap to drive a car through . set the points to the rear lobe and two prime kicks with the key off and choke on and one with key on and choke off and viola, She not only started it ran perfect and ided down like it had been together for years. I will never set point gap to the front lobe only again. tim

[FlatHeadSix]

Tim
the high point on both lobes should be EXACTLY the same, if it isn't then something is wrong. Worn timer bushings or a bent shaft will cause that. Did you get the auto advance timer from Taiwan Tedd, that might explain it.

After you reset the points using the wide (rear cylinder) lobe did you also recheck the other lobe to compare them? I always check both lobes after installing new points and I usually get a very similar gap on both of them.

One other thing to remember when setting an auto-advance unit, it MUST be locked in the full advance position when setting the timing, did you do that?

just curious

mike

[Panacea]

I used to allways static time my panheads due to the bad results I got with a glass plug, or the oily mess without one, untill a member of this board (can't remember who) suggested having a helper lean the bike over to the right so the oil won't spit out the timing hole. What a great idea! Now I don't have to manually advance my auto advance timer, just hold the revs up a bit and check the mark with a strobe lite, works like a charm...Mike

[FlatHeadSix]

Mike
That was my suggestion, have a helper hold the bike in its normal vertical running position when you pull the timing plug and hit it with the strobe light.

If you run the engine for a few minutes before you unscrew the timing inspection plug it really should make no difference in the amount of oil that spits out of the hole, standing it up to a vertical position just makes it easier to shoot the timing light through the hole and see the timing mark on the flywheel. As I just posted in another thread, these are "dry-sump" engines, once all of the excess oil is pumped out of the sump all you should get out of the timing inspection hole is a chuff-chuff-chuff of hot air, maybe a little oil mist mixed in, but nothing that will get in your way. It "blows" as much as it "sucks", hold a piece of paper against the timing inspection hole while its running and you can prove it to yourself, the paper will flutter, when the pistons are going up the paper is pulled against the hole, when the pistons are going down the paper is blown away from the opening. If the scavenger pump is doing its job you should have NO oil blowing out the hole, even if its leaning over on the jiffy stand.

Automatic advance timers are great but if you static time them they MUST be locked in the full advance position.

mike

[old52pan]

flatheadsix,Mike.The timer is a new out of the box unit from v-twin. There is a .0020 difference between the front and rear lobe on the timer also. murphys law, I am sure I recieved a bad one out of hundreds shipped out(lol) and yes I remembered to advance the plate before setting it and then return it to retard position afterward and locking it down there. Tim