Re: 2hp Johnnyrude electrical problem

[Don]

Well, don’t be so hard on yourself. These little buggers can be like that. When they are right, they are great. But sometimes, when they are whooped/wore out, you can work on em forever with no success. Not that I’m saying yours is whooped, but that is just the way it goes with these things. I learned how to recognize the symptoms though. Kinda hard to start, no idle, low WOT power as well.
Does yours idle well? Is it idling well with the throttle plate completely closed and timing retarded to an appropriate idle position? If so, seems like there is hope.
I just want to review the symptoms as I have understood them. Won’t accelerate without feathering the choke. Stalls right out when the throttle is retarded, no missing, just stalls out. Correct?
Where are the needle valves set when the engine is running the best it can? How about intentionally richening up the mixture a bit to see if this helps overcome the mid range bog/stalling. You could also try purposely retarding throttle cam pick up which would help richening things up in the midrange as well. If this helps, then at least you will know what direction to head, or at least you can rule out ignition.
Everyone seems to report pretty high compression readings on these things, but I guess I have never taken the time to make notes. I would think that 100PSI would be a good reading though. Nonetheless, I have seen engines with good compression readings that have scuffed/scored cylinders.
And I have seen obviously badly worn engines run pretty well. But, this engine is less tolerant to poor internal conditions than others, I guess this is because it is only one cylinder. I have sometimes theorized that these engines can suffer from poor crankcase sealing if piston skirt fit is poor, this may not show up on compression tests. Would love to have time to really investigate one of these things fully someday.