1960 Merc 400 Keik Mag coil grounding?

[sqeezy]

1960 merc 400 keikhaeffer magneto. The motors serial number is 1314803. I think the coil in the magneto might be bad...but this mag is still sparking. If I hook up an ohm meter to the lead from the coil going to the points...then the other lead to anywhere on the mag body it's showing .001 or so resistance. Shouldn't this be infinite resistance? <br />I pulled apart another mag to see if it was the same way and it was...either two bad coils or my thinking is off.<br />When I spin the mag over slowly and look at the points I can see spark jumping all over the place, sometimes it went to the rotor shaft. I thought it was the condensor but replaced it and it still did it. <br /> The motor was running before I pulled off the mag, but I couldn't get it to smooth out below 1500 rpms.

 

[Laddies]

Re: 1960 Merc 400 Keik Mag coil grounding?

The best way to tell if the pts a screwed up is with a dwell meter I have a Allen dist. machine I use it saves alot of trouble when set up properly the mag should arc 5/8 of a inch easilly by spinning it by hand or at crank speed most small engine shops or any decent marine shop should have a magneto tester that will test the coil and condenser. Parts are very expencive for that mag $40+ just for points, you need a tan or white cap and rotor, green and red were junk when they were new. If you have any D stock outboard racers in your area they could be a world of help

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: 1960 Merc 400 Keik Mag coil grounding?

The dwell plate for the 4-banger magnetos is available over at John's Mercaholic site: www.pfs-ware.com/kwast. You'll just have to come up with a pointer and follow the manual. It will nail down your point dwell and you'll have a much smoother running motor...<br />- Scott