51 el timing

[Milasevich80]

Forgive me, I know this has probably been asked a million times, but here goes. Where do I time the flywheel mark on a 51 el engine for the best reliability? I have the everyone 2000 electronic ignition and I have it set correctly. I have time to mark coming into the back of the hole and it starts and runs and can be ridden but it is a bear on the cold starts. I have also timed to to center of hole and it does not run as well and is tough to start when hot. I am currently times to just leaving the hole and the cold starts are much better but I have a miss that I cannot get rid of. I am am running a bendix carb and am having problems tuning it properly. Any help would be greatly appreciated on this because I am going to ride it to Sturgis here in August. Thanks in advance. By the way it was bored .030 over when i got it. Thanks in advance.

[panhead]

Electrical - Circuit Breaker

[Andygears]

Assuming ignition is correct, what exhaust do you have? In my experience, coming into the hole from rear works best with drag pipes or similar low back pressure. Also, I have found bendix's hard cold starters. Try this, buy some extra plugs, time to back of hole, install new gapped plugs. Try to start it, kick or two with choke on throttle open key off, open choke, little throttle, find compression, pedal up, then key on, boot it hard. No go? Couple more boots, still no? Stop, pull plugs. Wet? Replace plugs.
Repeat drill but this time, turn gas off, leave choke off/open, give only one squirt with acc. pump with key off, one kick then find compression, pedal up, little throttle, key on, boot it hard. No go? Couple more kicks, still no? Pull plugs. Wet? If they're wet now I would say carb float.....level, or that little spring, or inlet needle hanging....or how strong is the spark at the plug while you're pullin them in and out, check it.
If the plugs are dry in the second test and the kicking pops, try half choke and in all cases, an evil manifold leak will spoil your vacumn and lean the mixture so you really should check that, much in knowledge base on that.

My two cents
Andygears

[nmaineron]

What are you using for a distributor ?

[Milasevich80]

Thanks for the replies, I have good spark , it has fishtail pipes on it and I am using a manual advance timer, it is starting lots better as of yesterday evening when I went through the complete timing process again. I am using the ebeyond 2000 electronic ignition and the plugs are not wet but they look awfully carbon fouled. I have checked for air leaks at the manifold and found none but the carb may have a problem with the accelerator pump from sitting. So I will be pulling the carb and dropping the bowl to check for an obstruction at the needle and seat. And check float setting. I love in Montana so my riding season is very short and I need to get some throttle therapy. I will keep you all posted. Thanks for the advice.