You"ll need to do some diagnostics to figure out what your problem is. Make sure that you points are properly adjusted and are not burned, pitted or corroded. First look at you coil to see if it is what I call a "phony" 12V coil. It will have some printing on it that says "12V coil, Use with external resistor". If it says that, then look for a resistor in the primary ignition circuit. If you don"t have the resistor, your coil can overheat and short internally, killing the engine and this process takes abour 30-60 minutes. After the coil cools down, the engine will start again only to die agan. This process will continue until the coil burns out at which point it wont start. Next time this happens, quickly pull the center wire out of the distributor cap, hold it near a good ground. If you have no spark that is most likely the problem. The coil will also be very warm to the touch. If this is the problem, you either need to put the required resistor in the circuit or you can relace the coil with a true 12 V coil like NAPA"s IC-14SB(~$15).The problem with idle and "...she won"t open up" can be cause by incorrect initial timing, centrifugal advance not working or improper carb adjustment/dirty carb and/or weak spark( poorly adjusted points, bad connections in the primary ignition circuit), reduced fuel flow, etc. "Can"t touch the choke"... problem can be caused by a bad float adjustment or poor carb adjustment. I"d suggest you get a Ferguson Shop Manual(~$20) and go throught the ignition and carburetion sections and make sure you understand how the systems work and then make the appropriate adjustments to your TE-20. Then come back to this forum and we"ll help you get your machine running properly.
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