After a bit more work on the 261 we have had it on the road a number of times. Just short shakedown runs, for the most part. Most recently, we took it to school for the first day of school for our 3rd grader and 6th grader. It was a hit, for them, and most everyone else we encountered.
It is about 15 minutes into town, then about 15 minutes of monkeying around, then about 15 minutes back home. About 5 minutes into the trip back home the engine seemed to be missing. As best I can describe it, it seemed to lack power and I had to stay in the foot feed to keep it running. We had plenty of fuel, so I believe it was not fuel related. I am leaning towards ignition, but would like to hear from those of you that know about such things. We are running what appears to be a 'stock' coil/distributor setup. The coil being mounted to the engine on what would be the passenger side. As received from the PO, there was not a ballast resistor in the coil circuit. Is it possible that running full voltage to the coil all the time could cause issues after a certain amount of run time, or should we be looking elsewhere?
When it happened, it seemed like it was also almost backfiring (though I suspect that is not the right way to describe it), especially when letting off the foot feed.
It pretty much died as we pulled into the parking spot at home. It would not restart immediately, but did a bit later once it 'cooled off'.
It never ran over 180F on the gauge, so we are rather certain it was not/is not an overheating issue.
Any/all thoughts/questions are appreciated.
Take Care,
Joshua L. Coder
