FE350 flywheel heads up

[charlie99]

Hi, first post! I wanted to post what I found with a FE350 I got in a 2005 Carryall from CraigsList. Seller reported the motor had been replaced with a rebuilt unit, but it's never run right for me. Very hard to start; backfires through the carb and kicks the motor *backwards* every try. When it did start, it seemed low on power.

I tried everything I learned here, to no avail (new coil, check cam timing marks, disconnect RPM limiter, clean carb, replace carb, clean out fuel tank, replace fuel pump....). Nothing made a difference.

Finally I put a timing light on it, thinking maybe I'll have to make an offset key to retard the ignition timing a few degrees.

A few degrees, Hah! Turned out the igntion timing was at 68° BTDC! Not gonna correct that with a key ......

Brad Porcellato was kind enough to confirm that somehow the key in this flywheel was in the wrong location! The rebuilder evidently grabbed a flywheel from the wrong pile. It's a FE350 flywheel (cast into the reverse side), but clearly not from this FE350.

So long story short, I guessed at timing and put it about 30° BTDC, and now it runs like a scalded cat!

So really just an FYI, be aware not all FE350 flywheels are the same! Pic attached, of the BAD one! Keyway is about 38° off of where it should be.

[CP241]

Good find. Never know who is rebuilding these engines or what they may do...

[charlie99]

Originally Posted by CP241

Good find. Never know who is rebuilding these engines or what they may do...

Yep, forgot to mention that the same motor was 'rebuilt' without crank or cam shims, so crankshaft was wandering back & forth about 0.060

[Jeff McGuire]

That is the same flywheel that is on my 2013 FE400. How odd. If you look at used flywheels on ebay, you can see that the keyway is close to inline with the trigger magnet. That one is almost 90° off of the keyway.

[CP241]

Gotta love eBay rebuilders...