Hi again Andrew, Thanks - excellent advice, and a great link to the Novel site.
Will persevere!
James
James --
>
> All displacement NORVELs ship with a pressure tap installed on the
> muffler -- this is also common for most brands of engines today. The
> purpose is to pressurize the tank while the engine is running. The
> downside is that if the needle valve is open enough to get a new engine
> to start, as the tank pressure comes up with the engine running, the fuel
> mixture may richen to the point of stopping the engine. Some new NORVELs
> may not run long enough at first for you to needle the engine to stop
> flooding. So with a balky engine, I will usually try starting without
> pressure -- if the engine is really being nasty, I will remove the
> muffler and port prime much the way we did with the COX engines. >
> Initially, the engine may run on prime only -- as you are preparing to
> start the engine, be sure you have fuel in the line all the way to the
> carb. With a low tank, it may tend to siphon back -- or conversely, with
> a high tank, flow into the carb. Continue your approach of using your
> finger over the mouth of the carb and flipping thru to pull fuel into the
> line. You cannot turn these engines slowly -- interestingly, and I have
> absolutely no explanation for it, these engines will flip thru TDC, but
> will lock at the top when the piston is slowly raised. As I noted
> before, I've seen a large number of NORVELs showing up at swap meets
> with plier marks -- always use a prop to turn it thru. My response is,
> "Is that engine locked up? Will you take $3.00 -- I'll use it for
> parts" and I'm thinking if they haven't bent a rod, this engine will be a > real runner.
>
> Some folks will use a starter to spin the engine cold to reduce the TDC
> friction -- all this does is reduce engine life because of the wear
> occuring below running temperature -- hand flipping a hundred times or so
> is all I ever do -- but only with plenty of oil -- I use air tool oil,
> but any good lubricant or automatic transmission fluid will suffice (not > WD40).
>
> I like the heat gun approach just because it adds enough heat to get the
> cylinder to expand and help get over the initial friction so the engine
> will start -- you want breakin to occur at running temperature -- not
> free up the piston/cylinder fit while cold.
>
> Attached is a link into the NORVEL tech site -- there is a lot of good
> info there and it has been developed by folks running the engines, not
> someone pounding the keyboard.
>
> As I posted before, don't give up -- some engines can be "really" hard to
> start the first time -- think of it as perfecting your hand flipping > technique ;)
>
>
formatting link
> Andrew
>
>
> > What do you mean by 'pressure' - pressurised tank, or some other
> > trick? (Sorry if I'm being thick here!)
> >
> > James
> >
> >
> >
>