Pickup timing question

[jayard78]

I have an 1986 Johnson 50hp that I have been working on. When I bought it the throttle cables were bad so I replaced them. Now when I shift in forward and reverse and back to neutral the throttle was not going back into place against the idle screw (where it started). I adjusted the throttle cable the best I could but the best I could do was to loosen the jam nut (which adjusts pick up timing my manual says) in order to get the it to get about a centimeter away from the idle screw.

My question is this, do i need to worry about my timing being off b/c of this adjustment? In my manual it says to use a timing light but I just don't see why. What risk to you run having the pick up timing out of time?
Numbers 1 and 2 in the attached image are what im referring to.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Pickup timing question

ruining your motor. read this > http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=228183

also you adjust your cables to the motor, not the motor to the cables.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Pickup timing question

You can do all sorts of damage to a motor if timing is wrong. Scoring pistons, burning holes in the crown, running hot, are just a few. Disconnect the cables, do a complete link&sync and then reconnect and adjust the cables -- using the procedure in the manual. It is far too long to go into here.

 

[jayard78]

Re: Pickup timing question

I briefly described to my mechanic what I did and he said not to worry about timing unless I removed the flywheel blah blah????