[stewlane]

hello, I have a Constellation engine with both pistons and barrells removed and is extremely tight to kick over, will only kick over if stood on kick lever for a long while.

Once kicked over the engine is easy to kick over.

If left for a while the fault reappears.

The pistons and barrells were removed to see if the fault was lost.

Any ideas?

thanks ng

[AzCal Retred]

Have you personally ever seen this engine run? Is this a new-2-you machine or a NEW problem? Are the ID marks on the engine case halves IDENTICAL? The cases are sold as matched pairs, if they aren't, the crank may not be running straight & true in them. If they are, crank spacing/shimming may not be right and too tight.

After kicking over the oil pumps would have operated, maybe explaining why it loosens up.

You really need to find out if it's the crank.

Pop off the timing cover and see if the distributor has freeplay. See if the cams have freeplay.

Pop off the primary cover and see if the clutch basket turns freely, gearbox in neutral. Loosen the primary chain & use the con rod to move the crank a bit.

If you need the crank freer, you'll need to go back to the timing side & lose the cam timing when you disconnect the cam drive sprocket. The primary side alternator & clutch will need to come off too. When the cams & clutch aren't loading the crank, it should turn freely with the conrods. If the crank spins free, the issue is in the cams, distributor, clutch or gearbox. The alternator rotor will have rub marks if the problem is there. Check everything you can see for freeplay. No valve springs in play so everything should just spin.

NOTE: Make SURE you know how to retime & reassemble the cam gear & distributor BEFORE disassembling it.   

[stewlane]

Thank you for your ideas I will try each one to locate the issue.