Going in reverse not forward

SeanDo

Hi All,
Second post for me. 1973 Harley Gas. I finally got her running, for a full run down see my other post on proper RPM. She was not running well in forward or reverse. It seemed I had to fiddle with the choke to get anything to happen. She would sputter, and run and die and run and bog down and run...

I kept adjusting the mixer valve on the carb, no change.

I took off the muffler. Kazow! She runs sweet in reverse. I mean really well, albeit loud. She will not perform in forward.

Any thoughts? Timing? Points look strong in frwd, spark at plug is good as well.

BGW

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ckiguy

set your carb to factory specs, back off 3/4 turn after touching, everything else is turn till touches and leave it.

set your points first! then set your timing. use tonys sheet. way easy to understand then the harley 3 pages to tell you the same. the engine runs bacwards in reverse, and forwards in forward.
other thing i found useful was to find your timing marks on the flywheel and mark the starter genny pully at the case rib. mark both spots. its easier to look for those then lok through a 1/4 inch hole for a dot stamped on a flywheel. rember set the points first, then set the timing, do not just taki it to top dead and set your points to 20, will not work!@

Supersquid

Just a thought pull the head and inspect the cylinder walls and piston. You will get more compression in reverse so that might explain the issue. I had good compression on my cart until I removed the muffler and did anther compression check. I was blown away when I did my topend rebuild on how bad my piston and rings where. I only had one ring and a huge chunk of the piston side wall was missing. It is amazing my cart ran at all. I believe these old carts are a blast to work with because the tolerancess are so huge and for the most part the parts are cheap! Good luck

HarleyCart1973

ckiguy: In your post you say don't just go to TDC, set you points then set your timing, I am trying to solve a "forward" problem. What part of this am I missing. What I do is set my TDC and adjust point plate so points barely start to open at dimple marks both forward and reverse, it will start right away in reverse but a struggle in forward.

Am I missing something ??

Harley Cart.jpg

Macwrench

I think what everyone is saying is old 2 strokes are VERY timing sensitive. Even a few thousands off on the plug gap can affect the timing. Any affect on the timing can cause it to run one direction better than the other. Ignition is a good place to start.

chuckbaynham

SeanDo, you do know that the ending rotates in a different direction in reverse Right?

ksmechwannab

my two measly sense if it ain't going one way or the other - could be crank seals worn - this helped my friends marathon 2 stroke - his went backwards but not forward, I suppose it wasn't getting the correct compression.
If Harley is anything like a marathon (old) have fun removing flywheel, might as well replace both if you're gonna pull the motor.