sharknose dist info needed

poppa

Hi all , Happy 4th!
I am having problems with my cart cutting out , after awhile it will just die. If I sit for a bit (maybe 5 mins) it will start right up . It had a carb , fire before I got it and I had to rewire everything under the hood. Anyway , the cowl kinda melted and the dist got full of water and rusted. I got it free and cleaned as good as I could but I continuely have to blow away rust. I would like to remove it for a good cleaning/rebuild but can not figure out how to get it out. Then I would like to reset the governor and need to know how that is accomplished. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

BGW

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CharleyL

For the distributor, we'll need to know what motor.

Just a wild guess, but have you replaced the cap on your gas tank recently? Newer caps are designed for sealed systems, but older carts had a vent in the cap to prevent a vacuum as the gas is being drawn out. Eventually, enough vacuum develops to prevent the fuel pump from pulling any more gas out of the tank. Yes, I found this out the hard way, then modified my new gas cap so it lets air in. No more cutting out problems. It behaved much like you are describing, wait 5 minutes and it would run again.

Charley

poppa

omc 18 hp.

I did think about the cap....saw one with a 90* fitting and a piece of hose in it where I just had a plug , so I did that.

Thanks for the quick reply Charley

CharleyL

I was referring to the gas cap as the cause of your motor "cutting out". New gas caps of similar design are for pressurized sealed tank systems. They have a spring loaded check valve in them. The original caps for Cushman vehicles that were made before about 1990 just had small air vents in them. If you put one of these new caps on an old fuel system you will draw a vacuum on the tank as fuel is removed, eventually preventing the fuel pump from drawing out any more fuel and the motor will quit. Leave the motor sit for a while and air will gradually leak in, then allowing the motor to run again, for a while.

When the motor cuts out the next time, take the gas cap off and listen for the rush of air into the tank, then try to start the engine. You will quickly know if this is the problem or not. The new cap is easy to modify if you need to, just by removing the check valve type spring and seal from the inside center of the cap.




If all you need is a cover for the timer, I think a modified soup can will work well, if you can find the right diameter soup can to fit.

I have a couple of those timers (distributors) but they came off of 22 hp OMC engines, so the advance springs may be different than your's. No one has ever been able to tell me if the springs are the same for both sizes of these engines or not. I don't think either one of these timers has a cap or retainer spring with it, but I'll look. If I find one I'll make another post on this thread. Give me a couple of days for this. They are buried in boxes in the garage and this weekend it is supposed to be in the high 90's here.

Charley

poppa

Charley , thanks but I have a cover. If I put it on the metallic dust/rust from below the points fouls them up and I have to remove to toothbrush it and blow it out. Want to pull the dist to clean properly.

Not sure on my cap but I "vented" my tank. There's a plug on top and I just put a 90* fitting in with a hose.

Thanks for the reply and stay in the a/c for the weekend.

CharleyL

Have you considered scraping the cover and then painting it to stop rust flakes from falling into the timer?
I painted mine with silver paint, but anything should stop or greatly retard the rusting. Heck, even a coating of WD-40 should work for a while.



You can pull the timer of an OMC motor much like you would pull a distributor from a car motor.

Before doing this, position the motor flywheel so the key is straight up, or somehow mark the main shaft position, and then be certain that this position doesn't change while you have the timer removed.

You then mark the orientation of the timer shaft / case relationship so you can put it back in the same orientation. Call this position #1. Then you remove the two bolts and clamps that hold it. There are nuts to be removed, then lift off the fingered pieces that keep the upper casting from turning, followed by removal of the hex shouldered studs. Then remove the mechanical fuel pump (if it has one), because the lever from it rides on a cam on the timer shaft.

Then carefully pull the timer up and out. It may be hard at first because of an O ring seal between the timer and the motor casting. As you pull it, the timer shaft will rotate. This is because of a helical gear on the timer shaft. Be careful to also mark the final rotation point of the timer shaft as position #2.

When replacing the timer, put a little oil on the O ring around the case and then just make certain that the case and shaft are oriented to each other the same as position #2 or very close to it and slide the timer back into the motor. When all the way in, the timer shaft should have returned to very close to position #1, but it may be slightly off until you rotate the timer case back to where it was originally.

If you are one tooth off with the shaft position for position #2 and you can rotate the timer case so you can get position marks for #1 to match after the timer is fully down, the motor will run, but the timer case may not be in it's original position and the bulge with the electrical connection may interfere with something. This will happen if you are one tooth off when the helical gear s mesh. You will likely need to wiggle the timer shaft a little to get the teeth of the gear to mesh. There is also a square rod that connects the oil pump to a hole in the base end of the timer shaft, and this must also go together, but it's orientation isn't important as long as it does go into the end of the timer shaft as you install the timer.

Once the timer is re-installed, you can replace the shoulder bolts, the fingered pieces and nuts, and also the fuel pump. Then, refer to the OMC motor timing instructions in the 826767 Supplement manual to get the motor timing perfectly correct.

I've attached a picture of the lower end of the OMC motor timer. The groove at the very top of the picture is the O-ring seal. The fuel pump cam is dark colored and just below the aluminum casting, followed by a ridge that the fuel pump arm will catch on if the mechanical fuel pump is not removed, followed by the helical gear. The long straight bottom end of the shaft has a square hole in the end that accepts the square oil pump shaft. This hole and the pump shaft usually go back together without much effort if you carefully slide the timer straight down as you put it back in. If it pulls out with the timer, the bottom end of it fits in a square hole in the oil pump shaft much like the one in the bottom of the timer shaft, so it can be replaced with a little effort, and probably a long pair of needle nose pliers and a flash light.

Charley

Attached Images

Cushman Timer Shaft P1010014.jpg (81.0 KB, 0 views)

poppa

Charley , the dust/rust seems to come up-out of the distributor not from the cover. I'm running without the cover right now but if it rains I get water in it.

Thanks for all the info , that's what I needed.

Is the governor in the dist , under the points ? I think that's what needs the cleaning. Thanks again!

CharleyL

The governor lever is attached to the back side of the timer. The one with the big springs. It should be hooked to the carburetor throttle linkage. Just above my photo are openings in the casting to access the spark advance flyweights and springs and the governor seems to retard or prevent the spark advance when the flyweights swing out too far. I'm not an expert on this, but that seems to be how it works.

Your rust is likely coming from a dry shaft bushing under the points and spark advance plate. If it wears too much it will affect the operation of the points because the cam on the shaft will be wallowing around. I haven't pulled a timer apart enough to know much about how to get to or fix that problem. When it happens in cars, it's usually time for a new distributor. www.directparts.com or www.denniscarpentercushman.com is where I would go to find another, or parts for yours. I have two, but they may be in as bad or worse condition than yours.

Have you got the 826767 Supplement Manual? It's the only documentation that I've found that covers the OMC engines, and it is quite thorough. It even has pictures. If you need a copy, go to www.sillylittlecars.com and go to "Manuals" to download a .pdf copy of it.

Charley

poppa

Thanks Charley. I don't think I have the supplement. I will check it out.

I was going to try fixing the front body ,started last weekend. It may be more than I should try , someone must have smacked into something before I got it and attempted their own "body work". Thanks again

CharleyL

Post pictures. I have done fiberglass work on boats. Maybe I can offer some suggestions.

Charley