I've really been getting on quite well over this last few days, the engines I've built up start and run OK and ancillary devices like rotary converters and instruments are coming together too.
I thought I'd have yet another go at starting the T300 marine engine I bought off Ebay some months ago. There was nothing obviously wrong with it, sparks in the right place from the BTH mag and plenty of compression, but lacking a throttle cable (not governed, of course) it would fire but not run as I couldn't get the throttle setting to hold still while I cranked it. Naturally, the longer I tried, the wetter it all got in there.
I'd run out of Easy Start, but remedied that with a shiny new tin and that did the trick.
Brrrrm!
It was very uneven, but screwing the pilot jet screw in several turns (!) made a big difference and I got it to tick over really slowly - certainly in the 500's I'd judge. It's a Mk II, so I was surprised to find it was a great deal smoother than the stationary engine version along side it, also a Mk II. Having spent perhaps ten minutes twiddling with the carb etc, I suddenly noticed that the starting handle (fixed and spring loaded on these engines) was moving in and out a little as I revved it. This was because the spring that holds it out of engagement with the dog was missing....
Retrieving a peg from the clothes line, I clipped it over the shaft to avoid any disasters.This naturally was the moment to discover that the kill switch wasn't connected. The points cover was off, so I tried shorting out the centre screw.
Nope.
Pull off a plug lead - and it ran even slower, ticking over on one like it was what the maker intended. In the end, a thick wadge of rag on the flywheel rim did the trick.. To my surprise, I found a spring in my junk box really easily and discovered an ingenious bodge when I took the handle off to fit it. Someone had lost the Woodruff key and had cut off an arc of a flat washer, slotting that into the keyway. With the nut tight it was a good repair, but now I'm looking for a proper key, of course!
Now it goes, I need to decide what to do with it .................
Regards,
Kim Siddorn