Petter A1, valve timing

I recently got my first stationary engine, a Petter A1 Petrol engine. Serial nr 579450 ca. 1951
Equipped with a Zenith carburetor and a Weco magneto ignition (serie A).
A manual or instruction book is not in my possession yet.
It is supposed to be restored, but it is not running. Before opening it up and destroying many gaskets, I have some questions:
The magneto generates a spark, but the timing is possibly not correct: 3-5deg too soon. (I saw the video on youtube, it is not on top dead centre now)
There is no suction from the inlet of the carburetor, there is pressure coming out of the exhaust, but also a lot of suction! Closing the exhaust outlet did allow one ignited stroke.
Obvious question: Is the timing of the valves wrong? There should be suction from the inlet, I suppose.
Hope someone can shed some light on this problem.
Best regards, Victor

Hi Victor myself and woodman (Paul ) Have just done a restoration on Petter A1 even though mine is not complete yet.
I guess you saw video of how to set timing on the A1, but will go through it again here, tdc is when the keyway slot is centre
bottom on flywheel, the magneto should click at tdc when flywheel turned by hand which is normal and if magneto ok it will run automatically at 20 degrees btc, if the magneto does not click on tdc you will need to remove magneto, turn flywheel until you have tdc, hold the magneto as if it was on engine and turn the boss until you get pressure keep turning until it clicks but dont turn no further than
that, carefully return magneto back into slots, this can be a bit fiddly be patient, tighten nuts until you can still do adjustment, turn flywheel until you hear click and check that it clicks at tdc, you have minor adjustment on magneto to get it as near as poss.
While the magneto is out check points gap they should be 0.15 and clean with fine emery. as for valves you will need to take cover off the side to check alignment, I have pmd you with a manual which Paul kindly gave me, also there are a lot of petter a1 topics to read on here just type in petter a1 in the search, and plenty on you tube too.

Hi Victor,
Yup, head off and check for stuck valves. If you are careful then you should be able to reuse head gaskets Let us know how you get on.

Hi Richard and Paul, your instructions and manual were very helpful. Thanks a lot.
Corrected the tdc point of the ignition a bit, lifted the head and saw the outlet valve completely open at all times. Cleaned it and it moved properly again. Checked the clearance: 0.01" for the outlet, but less than 0.005" for the inlet valve. Had to use metric and imperial tools.
Closed everything and gave it a go: fired up and ran a while: out of petrol. Minor setback.
Not really smooth yet, but put a big smile on my face. Maybe the carburettor needs some cleaning.

The fuel tank is equipped with a Ewarts brass fuel tap. The cork needed replacement. Found one at a local repair shop for brass instruments: he had the best quality cork possible. And the correct size: round 9.9 mm by 40 mm, although only a length of 11 mm was necessary. He even drilled a 4 mm hole through it.
Next a new pepper pot exhaust silencer and a trolley.

Thanks again, have a good night. Victor

well done nothing like hearing them fire up for first time, thats the buzz I get, good feeling.
Well I lost out on fleabay for the petter W1H but got the Lister Junior A, which I shall pick up towards the end of the week and post pics.
Glad we were of some help, thats what the forums all about.

Regards

Richard

I got exhaust here - good quality and not too pricey. Seem to go in and out of stock so give them a call.

http://www.stationaryengineparts.com/Petter-Exhaust-Silencer.html

As for trolley have a look here
http://www.stationaryengineforum.net/t8559-trolley-for-villiers-mk15

PM me with your email address and I'll send some hints that I gave Steef,