Re: 1956 Oliver 5.5 hp won’t start

[Buccaneer]

Update- It RUNS! I was going to try putting the carb from my good Running Chris Craft
on the Oliver (same basic block) but the Chris Craft Carb was too tall because it had
a sediment bulb on the bottom. I found a grimy Tillotson of similar design (but had to
run the throttle and mag advance independently of each other) in
a loose parts tub, cleaned it up, and bolted it on the Oliver. Primed up the
carb bowl, pulled it over, and it started and stayed running the first pull !
The motor has the original Oliver simple Simon fuel pump with just a thin
(new) diaphragm…. no springs, no mechanical check valves, etc. When idling,
it would die when the bowl ran out of gas (unless I pumped the primer)
but when running faster it would stay running on it’s own.
Frank mentioned that the reed block has to be seated all the way in to make
it run. I took the reed block off again and see that in the back of the reed block
is a tiny port that mates up to a tiny port in the center bearing / block,
when the reed block it tightened all the way.
There’s also a tiny port on the top and the bottom of the reed block.

Are these ports for the three bearing drains?

If these tiny holes in the reed block and crankcase aren’t completely mated, would
that cause Old Ollie not to start?

Next "go around" I’ll put the original carb back on and see what happens…
maybe as Frank says, the reed block wasn’t seated all the way in.

Any reason a B&S fuel pump wouldn’t work on this engine?

It didn’t want to shift in reverse (did on the bench), but hopefully
it’s just a mater of adjustment.
All in all, it was good to see that it actually runs!

Prepare to be boarded!