1650 rehab thread

[The Dark Side of Will]

I have a CC 1650.
My dad snagged it from his neighbor across the street.

I bought a place with 1.2 acres (~1/3 wooded) and had him bring it up to me. It didn't run well, but drove itself into the shed.

I tried to drive it out of the shed but it wouldn't start. I found it had no spark. I rebuilt the ignition system using a Kirk Engines Transdenser II. The external wire Kirk provided just won't work, but a CarQuest STP483 3/16" female spade terminal reterminated the original coil ground wire to work with the Transdenser.

Transdenser: https://www.kirkengines.com/index.php#1

The original coil was oozing boiling goo from some cracks in the cap. The Transdenser requires a coil primary resistance in the 3-6 ohm range. I replaced the original coil with a Pertronix Flame Thrower epoxy filled coil from Summit Racing. It's one of the few canister coils I found with a 3.0 ohm primary winding. There were some coils with 5 ohm primary resistance, but they were all for motorcycles. The only canister coil I found with 5 ohm primary resistance is a "dual fire" unit with two outputs for a dual plug Harley. Funky.

The coil I bought: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pnx-40611

The Pertronix coil is *slightly* larger than the original coil, so I had to replace the original 10-32 x 1.5" coil clamp screw with a 10-32 by 1.75" screw. Other than that, everything went right together.

The Transdenser sinks coil drive current to ground through its case, then through the original condenser clamp into which it mounts. That connection has to remain low resistance despite exposure to weather, so I installed the Transdenser with "bulb grease" in the joint.

I also replaced the plug and have a new coil wire on the way. I did *NOT* waste $60+ on a OE plug wire. Standard Motor Products 812CA or equivalent *should* work just fine. I have one on the way, but haven't tried it yet since the tractor still runs on the original wire.

I also have replacement engine mount bushings, but have not installed those yet.
After some trial and error, I found that a CarQuest L481 1/2" x 81" belt works for the deck, although the spring tensioner is *slightly* inside where the marks say it should be.
I also bought a new muffler from CC, as mine has cracks around the connection to the engine.

Now, the engine runs passably, though not great, at idle, but is really ragged at WOT. It misses a LOT, has little power and doesn't sound like it's attaining 3000+ RPM. It starts readily cold but will NOT restart hot.
The service manual says to turn the open throttle mixture screw in to lean it, and do the same with the idle screw, remaining aware of some interplay between the two. I have not done that yet, but will be soon.

The Transdenser instructions mention setting point timing using "P & SP" marks on the flywheel. I used the sight hole on the side of the engine to look and stepped the flywheel all the way around with a screw driver on the ring gear teeth, but never saw P or SP. I saw ONE horizontal line, but did not verify it had any relationship to TDC.

What mark on the flywheel should I actually be looking for to set point timing?

Is there a trick to replacing the engine mount bushings? They look like a PITA. I assume it's wise to drop the deck to make that job easier.