Hi guys,
I want to close off this story before moving to the next. Besides, I feel like I owe it to you after getting good advice. About three weeks ago I had a fairly detailed story written out on my iPad (don't blame me, family decided it was a good gift for a milestone birthday). That story disappeared with an errant screen touch, so you may consider yourselves lucky to be spared even more tedious detail than I give here. So, I'm going to try to do it in shorthand so I can move on to my latest issues.
After all-winter engine rebuild, started once or twice, then: no start. So, struggle, time, kick, struggle, time, kick, etc, etc. etc.
Replace plugs wires and caps with great quality parts, re-time, starts a couple of times on first kick, put everything back together, then: no start. So, struggle, time, kick, struggle, time, kick, etc, etc. etc.
Discover lock pin not keeping cam ring in place. To access lock-pin adjuster, decide to rotate cam-ring housing 180 deg. Easy to do. Re-time. No start. So, struggle, time, kick, struggle, time, kick, etc, etc. etc.
Comb cobwebs of mind to recall the need to check point gap for each lobe. Gack! Rotating the housing led to the cam ring being well off center. Removed the mag, rotated housing back the way it was, gapped points for both lobes. Turned out very close. Reinstalled mag (duh, but thought I was on Candid Camera while trying to reinstall the long nut). Timed. Success! Put everything back together. Still success. Starting regularly on three or fewer kicks, often, one.
All of the above covering about three months, what with other things going on in my life and a limited amount of knee cartilage available to contribute to the cause at any one time.
With the rebuild running apparently fantastic, put about 200 miles on her before doing something I had not done before, specifically, get on the open highway and run her fast, briefly up to about 80 MPH (I know, not fast compared to racers here). Well, something happened. Now, if you want to read more, head over to my "Piston Melted?" topic in the "Engines" section.
Richard L.