Where is the pickup?

[petrolhead]

I was doing a bit of fine tuning of my '59 Lightwin last night, prior to using it for the first time on the river tomorrow, but trying to synchronise the timing and carb I couldn't find the primary pickup point!<br />I know where it should be, according to my manual it should be on the cam and the pickup is set to the middle of the mark, as on my bigger motor, but there's no mark there!<br />There are a couple of marks cast into the edge of the armature plate itself, is it one of those? There's also a small mark that looks like it's been stamped into the edge of the plate, but it could be just a dent or a casting flaw, it's roughly where the cam follower picks up now so that could be it.<br />At the moment the cam follower picks up on the cam directly below the throttle lever, about the middle of the cam, is that right?<br />It seems to run pretty well so I guess it can't be that far out, but I'd like to know for sure and set it up correctly.

 

[rwise]

Re: Where is the pickup?

is the carb open all the way at WOT?

 

[petrolhead]

Re: Where is the pickup?

Hmm, I haven't checked that, but I think it probably is.<br />Something that may help, the cam follower touches the cam and starts to move just before the throttle lever reaches the "Start" position, as marked on the front panel.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Where is the pickup?

Petrolhead - I ran into the same problem with a '63 3hp Evinrude I fixed up last year - no mark on the cam. The two marks (lines) in the armature plate are for timing the engine - there are two corresponding marks on the flywheel. I always check and adjust my timing with a timing light and these marks - setting to .020" just doesn't get them close enough most times. The flywheel mark will 'appear' between the two armature plate marks.<br />I ended up setting my pickup like this:<br />Start with a random pickup point around 3/8" from the end of the 'ramp' and start the engine and setup the carb at full throttle and idle. When warmed, the engine could idle down past where the pickup came off the cam, so I could set the carb idle mixture without regard for the carb opening.<br />Then I set the engine to about 1/3 throttle, and adjusted the cam in and out to get the best running.<br />Then put your own damn mark on the cam.<br />It seemed to work pretty good. Try giving a few long burns at part throttle.

 

[petrolhead]

Re: Where is the pickup?

That sounds like a good way to do it Paul, as good as any I can think of anyway!<br />I'm not going to do it right away, I'll de-carbonise the engine tonight and see how she runs tomorrow with the current setting, it's been that way for some time after all so it may be OK. If I'm not happy with it I'll do as you suggest, I'm out on the river all day tomorrow at a local regatta and I'll have my tool kit with me, so I may even do it there and then.

 

[petrolhead]

Re: Where is the pickup?

Well I took the motor out on the river today and it definitely isn't right! Starting was quite hard, it needed to be advanced well beyond the "Start" position to get it going at all, then once it started it chug..chug..chugged for a while before the revs picked up and it ran smoothly, this was even when the engine was warm. I think a carb rebuild is definitely in order before next weekend!<br />It didn't seem terribly powerful either, I'd say about the same as my Seagull and the Lightwin should be up to 50% more powerful than that. I think that cam definitely needs adjustment as it seemed the carb wasn't opening at the right time, and may not have been opening fully either.