Rewind starter 4.5 HP Merc wont engage fly wheel

[eurolarva]

I received this motor model 10455 1975 sn 4271506 4.5 hp merc from a friend. I got it running good but cant get the rewind starter to engage the fly wheel without manually opening the catch cams. Can someone explain how this works. The rope is recoiling just fine. Are the cams suppose to open when pulling on the rope? Or are they suppose to catch the flywheel while pulling on the chord then opening.