Supposedly the 9.9 hp engine is 34 years old and the original coil is
no longer made.

When I saw it the ignition system was wired up "energy transfer" like
in Fig. 48:

http://data.sohc4.net/Tech/HondaMES/HondaMES5.PDF

Some laminated cube on the center lug on the coil _may_ be an
insulator to the engine mounting. If so then there are two
theories:

1. The proper ignition wiring is actually low tension magneto (Fig.
47) and the cap/point wire needs to be moved to the center lug.

2. The coil is for another application and the center lug needs to
bypass the insulator be wired to ground.

The engine was the abode for a family of mice who ate through the cap/
point wire and made a mess so there are other theories on why there is
no voltage in the secondary:

3. the kill button is bad (always closed).

4. other wires may be compromised

5. the points are set at 0.017 which may be a little high (always
open)

The coil seems to have ball park range resistances, 0.75, 3 and 30K
ohms. The condensor seems to have some effect on an analog voltmeter
when tapped with a DC voltage. When cranked the low voltage magneto
coil puts out a few volts on the multimeter.

In all systems the crank shaft must be aligned/timed with the cam so
that will probably be the first thing to check. At TDC the little
round impression timing mark can be set for either the side with a
similar mark or 180 degrees as it's a wasted spark system. I'm still
not sure how to get it exactly right. The flywheel has 4 magnets and
it's hard to guess the exact phase angle.

Should the points first open up about 10 degrees before TDC (one belt
tooth spacing). There is a centrifugal advance.


Bret Cahill