radara4077
Member
Thanks to all you guys' help here, and from working on my own 841 getting her running this spring, I felt like had just enough knowledge (which may be a dangerous thing) to help a friend of mine get his late 8N started (side-mounted distributor). We pulled it out of the barn, rolled it down to his work shed, flushed the radiator (didn't have a cap--let him have my old one for now), turned the motor gently by rolling it in 4th gear (per advice gotten here), drained out the old gas, hooked up jumper cables (it's a 12V conversion)...no spark.
No way to easily diagnose, so I went to the most likely issue and he spent ~$10 for new points and a condenser. The plugs looked awful, so he got new plugs, as well. Did the best we could gapping the points, got yellow spark. No start. We tinkered with the points a while, still the best we could get was a weak yellow spark.
I know you "don't throw parts at a problem," but I'm wondering if it could be the plug wires, since we're getting some spark, just not a bright blue one. They don't look in the best shape. Or could we still have the points gapped wrong? I used a dollar bill as I've seen my uncle do.
Isn't a coil either "all or nothing"? Or could it cause a weak spark, as well? Didn't see the brand, but it's a 12V, no resistor needed type.
Also, as a separate issue, we can't get the rotor cap off the post. On my 841, there's a clip you slide and the cap comes right off. His cap looks identical to mine, but I can't find the clip, and it won't budge. Made gapping the points an interesting process...
No way to easily diagnose, so I went to the most likely issue and he spent ~$10 for new points and a condenser. The plugs looked awful, so he got new plugs, as well. Did the best we could gapping the points, got yellow spark. No start. We tinkered with the points a while, still the best we could get was a weak yellow spark.
I know you "don't throw parts at a problem," but I'm wondering if it could be the plug wires, since we're getting some spark, just not a bright blue one. They don't look in the best shape. Or could we still have the points gapped wrong? I used a dollar bill as I've seen my uncle do.
Isn't a coil either "all or nothing"? Or could it cause a weak spark, as well? Didn't see the brand, but it's a 12V, no resistor needed type.
Also, as a separate issue, we can't get the rotor cap off the post. On my 841, there's a clip you slide and the cap comes right off. His cap looks identical to mine, but I can't find the clip, and it won't budge. Made gapping the points an interesting process...