| Addressing the most commonly
asked technical questions about Hendersons, there is the first of a number
of articles by Rob Olsen.
Timing your engine
Remove the timing plug on top of the flywheel
housing.
Remove the sparkplugs.
Remove the timing cover.
Remove the idler gear between the oil pump
gear and the mag gear.
Remove the idler gear between the cam and
the crankshaft.
Use a large wrench and turn the engine sproket
nut while in gear so the flywheel rotates.
Rotate the flywheel around until the letter
"E" is visible dead center in the inspection hole.
Exhaust tappets shoud have .008 clearance
between the tappet and valve stem cold. Intake valve should be.002 clearance
between the rocker and the valve stem.
Now take a wrench and turn the camshaft on
the front nut and roll the cam over until the #4 exhaust tappet moves down
and just barely releases the valve. You can tell exactly just when it releases
as you will be able to start to turn the tappet. So by holding the tappet
and trying to turn it while you turn the cam around is an easy way to tell
when it releases.
Now put the idler gear back in between the
cam and crankshaft.
So what you have now is when the letter E
appears in the inspection hole the #4 exhaust valve tappet will just be
released.
The valves are now timed and you can start
on the magneto side.
Now, roll the flywheel back using the engine
sproket (you won't have to go very far) until you see "S" in the middle
of the inspection hole and stop there.
Remove the distributor cap off the magneto.
Set the magneto to full advance for KJ, retard
for DeLuxe. On the magneto lever, advance is down and retard is up.
Set the magneto distributor brush pointing
to the upper right segment which is the terminal for #1 cylinder.
Advance the points closed but ready to open
with the slightest advance of the flywheel. Now put the idler gear back
in between the oil pump gear and mag gear.
Check your gaps in the points they should
be .015 full open but no more than that make sure the points open to no
more than .015 in both positions. There are 2 ramps inside that mag housing
that open the points. If one ramp is worn more than the other that will
effect the firing. You don't want the points to open .015 on one set of
ramps then open .025 on the other ramp. the both must be .015
Plug gaps should be .019 to .023
You should be timed. |