gday peter. you must get the points gap correct for the timing to be perfect also. .685 i think it is but you could double check that. also get your spark plug gap correct.
i notice you said it has an older stator plate . thats good cos it gives you the option of getting the timing spot on.
on a car distributor it has a vaccuum advance control. whereby when the engine revs are high it rotates the whole points housing forward so it can keep up with the speed of the engine.
unfortunately mowers dont have this. BUT. you have a little bit of control as to whether you want the engine to run its best at high revs or low revs.by rotation of the stator housing to can acheive this to a limited degree.
in other words you can advance or retard the timing to suit your needs.you cannot achieve this with a fixed stator plate.
i guess victa eventually they worked out that its only a mower engine and there really was no need to have any adjustment on the stator plate .they could set the timing to its optimum position and leave it at that.
