My 2N had weak and intermittant spark a couple of weeks ago. I found distributor contacts scored, so I replaced the rear bushing and the distributor plate. The new plate has a new bushing. I set the points and slapped the distributor back on, but now the old girl would not even pop. I did not do anything about setting the timing, because at the time I did not have a clue how -- the distributor does not turn, and you can't get it on wrong. So, among the things I checked to get this started again was the compression, which I found to be unbelievably low in all cylinders. (A compression check some weeks back when the tractor was running had acceptable readings, but one plug was oil fouled.) After checking the archives, I somehow got the impression that the low compression could be due to the timing being way off. 1st question: is this correct? If it isn't I'm in big trouble 'cause my readings are in the 50's and 60's. On the assumption that the timing is way off, I tried to find some help in the archives, such as how to set the timing. 2nd question, not too closely related- a couple posts mentioned the importance of getting an F04 manual. I have 3 manuals, a parts manual (FO-P-2N,8N,9N), a service manual (FO-S-2N,8N,9N) and an operators manual (FO-O-9N). None of these manuals tell me how to set the timing. I looked and looked in the manuals section of the on-line store but I could not find any manual called FO4. What is this manual, is it really priceless, and where do I get it? If anybody is still with me, one of the archive posts mentioned a website that explained how to set the timing. I found NSERIES.COM and I was really excited because the instructions looked so easy! I can have this tractor running in no time! My wife will stop telling me to push that thing into the pond (at first she was just kidding, but I am not so sure anymore). So I followed the instructions. First I rotated the cam until the points are just about to open, then I flipped the distributor over and checked the position of the tang. Nope, it is not it the correct position, so this is not the right starting point. OK, rotate the cam to another lobe; nope, my tang is almost perpindicular to the one shown in the figure. I keep rotating the cam, but at any time when the points are just about to open, the tang is always in a much different position than I expect from the instructions, and there just isn't enough adjustment available to make it right. Is it possible that the cam rotated on the shaft when I replaced the bushings? Does anyone have a better way to adjust the timing? If you read this entire post, thanks for your patience with a novice. If you can help, thanks even more!
|
