Home › Forum › Ask A Member › 1941 Merc KB-3 Point Setting Vs. Coil Swap › Reply To: 1941 Merc KB-3 Point Setting Vs. Coil Swap
Interesting. I guess if it were me, I would pull a known-good conventional carb and reed plate off one of my KD3s, and see if it would stay running on that. That way, you’d know whether it was the poppet valve rig or the crank case. I have a poppet valve, Montgomery Ward/Merc, that is very similar in design. It says running okay but it has a weird behavior. It will be running strong, then drop to half speed, then come back strong, just EXACTLY as if it were a two-cylinder engine, dropping one cylinder in and out, like turning a switch on and off. I can’t imagine what does it; but it’s the only one-cylinder, Merc-based engine I ever had that did that, and it’s my only poppet valve Merc.. The point is, I don’t fully understand or trust the run-ability of those simple valves. My only other thoughts are, that you don’t have a ton of spark advance there…I know it’s not on a boat but I would still try a little more advance. Also, where is all the smoke going??? I see none in the video. Those things have to have 16:1, in my opinion.
Long live American manufacturing!