On Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 12:35:01 PM UTC-4, David Billington wrote:
On 30/04/2020 17:11, wrote:
On Wednesday, April 29, 2020 at 1:17:09 PM UTC-4, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Leon Fisk" wrote in message ...

On Tue, 28 Apr 2020 05:20:06 -0700 (PDT)
wrote:

Huge snip
Hi Clare, others. I tried the smell test the other day.
It's got more of an oily smell than the gas I smell when I leave the choke
on. TBH the black plugs are not that much of a problem. I clean 'em
in the spring and maybe another time during the summer. I did check the
float level and that looked spot on.
I do love this old tractor. I had the head rebuilt a few years ago.
With any luck she'll out live me. :^)
Found a nice service manual here (~55mb):

http://www.ntractorclub.com/manuals/...e%20Manual.pdf

===
Per that manual you should have a "Delco-Remy Model
No. 1111722 with crankshaft rotation advance of 26 and 24 degrees
respectively, both models are fully automatic..

The centrifugal advance mechanism is in-
corporated in the distributor to automatically
vary the timing of the spark with respect to
the position of the piston in the cylinder. At
high speeds, the spark must occur at the plug
earlier in the compression stroke In order for
the fuel mixture to deliver full power.
The advance mechanism consists of an ad-
vance cam, breaker cam, a pair of ' advance
weights, springs and a weight base that is In-
tegral with the distributor shaft.

At low speeds, the advance weights are held in to-
ward the center by the spring tension. As
the speed of the distributor shaft increases,
the centrifugal force overcomes the spring
tension and the weights move outward and the
toggles on the weights engage the advance
cam. This rotates the advance cam and break-
er cam which in turn allows the breaker cam
to open and close the contact points earlier,
thus advancing the spark...
===

Maybe help you out some ;-)

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI

========================

The quick check is to try to rotate the breaker point plate to see if it
moves freely, and springs back. Maybe the springs broke, or it was
reassembled incorrectly?

Hmm OK I don't know how the advancement works. A rainy day here and I'll
take the distributor apart and look inside. The rotor seems locked to the
shaft/ gear that goes into the engine block. But according to the
service manual I should be able to advance the rotor a little by hand
and have it spring back... The rotor doesn't move... except
with the engine.

More later.
George H.

Likely the lubricant between the 2 part has congealed or it has rusted.
You'll need to dismantle it and clean it up, re-lube and put it back
together. I posted the same on the 28th but I guess you didn't see it.


Right. Sorry. I read stuff. (Even in the service manual.) And it makes
no sense to me. I move on in the hope that it will make sense in the
future.

Anyway taking off the cover it was indeed rusted underneath.
I scrubbed with toothbrush and kerosene and it's now getting a
kerosene soak for the night.

George H.

Distributors are rather mysterious if you don't understand what an ignition
system needs and how they interact with the rest of the components to
provide it, which is why I described all of the basics. There is more,
magnetos, ballast resistors and the distributor-less "wasted spark" system,
and the different worlds of electronic and computerized ignitions.

I examined this closely at the NSU Zweirad (two-wheel) Museum:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_Reitwagen
https://www.zweirad-museum.de/zweira...1885-1929.html

The ignition is a closed-end tube protruding from the combustion chamber
with a little flame playing on it to keep it red hot -- beneath the gas
tank. Pray for no leaks!