Some of you might remember that my 1965 B40F (side points) won't run without a bit of choke, even when warm, and yet has a black sooty plug. Before I start looking at the carb, I thought I'd check the timing. Having had a look at the current setting (rod down plug hole), I think it might be a bit retarded (you'll notice I don't sound very sure - that's because as a novice I found it difficult to be accurate about piston position.) Anyway, I thought I'd advance the timing a bit and see what happened (having been advised in a previous discussion that if my timing is retarded it might result in my needing to run with choke.) Trouble is, when I've slackened the two pillar bolts, in order to rotate the points base plate, there is very little movement possible, because the bolts are very close to the ends of their slots. And what very small bit there is is hindered even further by one of the pillar bolts pushing up against the spring. Any thoughts/advice please? Phil (novice)
PS Enjoyed the show at Shepton Mallet today - got a few old imperial spanners at the jumble, but annoyed that I bought a large secondhand Pozidrive thinking it was a Phillips.