Stuart,
Yeah, you're right . . . I've heard more mis-pronunciations of that motor than I can remember . . . "Wah-keesha", "Wah-hoosah", etc. Anyway, I'm growing to love the da&! thing, despite it's difficulties.
Last-night I finally pulled the front valve cover, verified that both ex. and int. valves were closed at what I thought was TDC. Still wouldn't run. I said &*%$ it, put the cover back on, and started advancing one distributor a little at a time. Finally got it to fire right up, manually twisted the dizzy at idle till it sounded strong, tightened it down, shut it down, turned off that ignition and turned on the other one, did the same thing. Now it jumps to life without even thinking!!!!!
Moral of the story . . . don't always live and die by the manual. I went to a LOT of trouble following the WAUKESHA service manual TO THE LETTER. Turned out, I would have been better just roughing it from the get go. Not sure if this applies to my Stovebolts or not.
Soooo . . . Getting back to topic, my question is this:
How do you KNOW when you've got the timing advanced correctly, IF YOU CAN'T RELY ON FLYWHEEL MARKINGS?! In other words, what reveals the best setting: Is it highest vacuum at idle? Highest rpms at idle? AND, what technically determines idle speed? Is it a given rpm, or is it just when the throttle is fully closed?
This just shows that "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" . . .
-Michael
