The few gaskets that I needed and the carb kit for my 1959 Evinrude Lightwin came in. I finally had a little time last night to work on the motor. I installed the head and exhaust plate. I checked the compression and it seemed good. I then installed the new carb kit and reassembled the carb and attached it to the motor. I took the lower end of the motor, clamped it to a 2 X 4 that I had clamped in my vice. I bolted the powerhead to the lower unit. I installed the ignition and doubled checked the timing using the ohm meter method that I had read about. There was good fire from both plugs. It was time to see if this thing would pop. I dumped a little gas down the throat of the carb and gave it a pull. The motor backfired on the first pull. I pulled again and it backfired again. It occurred to me that I might have the plug wires backwards. I had read on this list that the front coil fired the top plug so that's the way I hooked it up. I'm used to the front of the engine being where the spark plugs are but apparently that's not the case with outboards. I switched the wires around, dumped a little more gas down the carb, pulled, and it started right up. Of course, it only ran a few seconds. I was pretty excited at this point. I tried it several more times.<br /><br />I realize I have a long way to go. I haven't even checked out the carb yet. My next step will be to hook up a temporary gas tank and see if the engine will run continuously. Even if it does, I'll still only be able to run it for very short periods of time as I don't have a way to cool the engine. No water pump yet.<br /><br />You can follow my progress at www.faculty.mcneese.edu/jbailey/lightwin.htm<br /><br />John<br /><br />
