First time start - no go

Bl1zzard said

Thanks guys. Oh yes I have spark all right. Forgot about the power down discharge too, wham through my hand holding the spark plug all the way to my leg touching the fender. Son of a !@#$. I forgot how much that hurts. So I guess I'll have to set the timing to an estimated 18 to 20 degrees BTDC and give er a try again. Thanks for the suggestions.

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OW!

But it is good you said this..... it brings up a possible test problem. If you are testing spark with a spark plug in open air, this is 100% wrong. It only takes a few thousand volts to produce a spark across that small gap in open air, but will take 20,000-30,000 volt minimum to arc across that same small gap in a compressed fuel-air mixture. So your spark can be be super weak and still jump that gap in open air, but will never fire an engine.

For proper test of spark voltage, you need to take the plug wire off of the spark plug and see if it will jump a 3/8" gap to metal (like a valve cover) in open air. If not, then you have a faulty ignition component.