Kghost...... I'm suggesting these as for conversation only.... as I don't want for you and I to get into it over this.
Fair nuff?
1... issue is not 1 or 2 degrees of timing change based on dwell of a couple of degrees diffirence.
The issue is
2... we have no idea what it was before............ lets say he was running a gap of .019" (maybe we dont know)
lets say timing was marginal, maybe 2-4 degrees BTDC, DOnt know if he knows what it was........
3... All the theory in the world is of no importance here.
4... He clearly states it ran good before trying to set points with dwell meter.........
5... If this is true then only two things can be wrong,
1. new points or condenser are no good.........he did find an annomoly with the points
2. adjusting by dwell meter vs point gap caused a change in timing enough to cause no start or poor running.
6... I doubt anything else such as resistance or coil is the issue here, simply the method used and lack of doing it in a way that is repeatable each and every time. Again we have NO idea what his timing is..... bet it has never been checked and set by ear.......
1... If you site an incorrect advance as a potential for the problem, then how can you remove this from the equation?
kghost said:
If you had set the gap with a feeler guage before with no issues and the timing was ok, when you do it by dwell angle then most likely the timing is out of spec...
2... See above.
3... And yet this theory may perhaps lead him to a conclusion.
4... Understood.
5...
1. No arguement there at all.
2. IMO, this is an assumption!
We have no idea as to his experience with a dwell meter, nor if the dwell meter is accurate or not.
6... Again, no arguement there.
He needs to be checking/re-setting his ignition advance each and every time he makes a change to the dwell angle.
DWester said:
The spark is weak when I manually break them.
At what area are you looking at spark? Pay no attention to any arcing at the contact points for now.
Look at your secondary voltage spark output.
When viewing by color and at the spark plug gap, you'll want to see a hot white-ish/blue-ish spark.... not yellow-ish.
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And by no means should anyone be setting Marine Ignition advance by ear.
That would be a recipe for either poor performance (under advance, for example), or severe detonation damage (if over advanced, for example).
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DWester, how about helping us out here by posting what your BASE advance is being set at?
Have you checked to see if there is any excessive distributor shaft wobble?
Have you checked or tested the mechanical advancing mechanism?
Are you seeing a consistant dwell once out of idle speed RPM?
Can you post a few photos of your ignition distributor... under the cap, etc?
And as an FYI only, I'll suggest that you NOT fool around with anything else until this issue is resolved.
If the cam follower adjustment has not been an issue prior to this, I'd not mess with it at this time.
P of E.... process of elimination. Take one item, and one item only at a time.
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