Starting woes

[Mars55]

And here's an example of what it's doing now. It's about the same whether I give it gas or not. 

As for the plugs, it's had NKG 7131s.

 

 

 

[Hans]

You have not responded to a number of comments and questions from page 1 so its hard to know what's changed.

[tme]

Do you get the same results if you drop a little gas down the carburetor throat?  Choke is fully open?

[Mars55]

Thanks for the replies. As the video shows (If you can see it), battery and starter are working. I have spark at the plugs. 

The carb is getting gas fed to it and it smells like it. I've also sprayed starter fluid. 

I've tried with choke wide open. It's been my experience with this motor that it prefers the choke knob out about a finger-width to start.

I swapped in new condenser and installed new points (the old ones were more pitted than I could see before.) Points have been gapped.

 

Could it be carb related? What possible carb issues could cause this failure to start? 

 

[jimk]

With the several attempts to start, the plugs may now be wet and the engine in a "flooded" condition. Check plugs and dry if necessary. Hold the throttle wide open and do not pump if it is flooded to clear the flood.  If it fires at all don't stop cranking and continue to hold the throttle wide open until it fires on all four.

Do you have any confidence that the spark timing is anywhere near correct of close to being correct?  The last video of the attempt to start seemed late on the spark timing.

Edited June 27, 2023 by jimk

[tme]

2 hours ago, Mars55 said:

Could it be carb related? What possible carb issues could cause this failure to start? 

 

That's the point in dropping some fuel down the carb.  It appears in the video that the engine is momentarily firing when you press on the throttle which is squirting a small amount of fuel into the throttle body.  If you perform this test and the engine fires and runs for a few seconds then it is time to look at what is going on with the carb.  If not then it's time to look at the ignition, timing, compression.  

[7502]

If it wont catch w/ starter fluid squirting down the carb during cranking I wonder if the timing got jarred or something? 

[Mars55]

Update

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Bottom line - after trying a couple of different condensers, one of them finally seemed to work. I had some help to reset timing and she started up. Need to do more fine tuning to smooth out idle. It's been a good experience to troubleshoot what I gather is a common set of circumstances.

Again, thank you!