1957 Silent 6 Starts & Runs on 1cyl, then 2nd Cyl runs great

[sohcfour]

Hi all -

A couple weeks back I wrote in about a 1957 Silent 6 that I'd just bought. It was super clean and nice but had not run in 10 years. Well, I did get it going. Lots of important things appear to be working great. The tank, fuel pump and carburetion are in good working order. It has even compression. And, it ran great through about 3 gallons of gas out on the lake.

The only issue I ran into was that the motor (still) likes to start cold on 1cyl (the top one). In the morning after sitting all night, it would start after a couple pulls and then chug along on 1cyl for up to 2 minutes before the second one would come alive. It would be relatively quick when it happened, feeling more like spark than fuel. I would not make any adjustments while this was happening.

Once the second cylinder comes online it runs great. It will rev out nicely, as well as idle down smoothly. I never lose the second cylinder again until it cools off.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Matt

 

[racerone]

Pull flywheel and clean / adjust the breaker points.

 

[sohcfour]

I will do this. But I wonder, what would be going on with the points that would cause this? Why would one cylinder be dead and then just come alive after 1-2 minutes? After that it runs great. Would it be something like a dirty/sticky pivot for the point more so than a corroded point contact?

 

[Chinewalker]

Did you replace the condensers? They have been known to work better when warmed up.

 

[sohcfour]

I have not replaced anything on this motor, though it looks like someone before me has. I'll take a look at the condensers, thanks.