Ok Norm ,if you are using the side pull full crank motor and the coils test ok they should be good enough, I would just check anything you may have missed to make the engine start easier as you know these usually start easily especially after the engine has run and is warm.
You could just make a list of things that could go wrong and check them.
The muffler could have restricted flow.
I've had ports that are half closed off by bad castings ,I don't know how they got through QC as the motor lost a lot of power.
The decomp can be removed and blocked off by a spark plug to check a difference in starting if the decomp is closing too slow.
It's worth double checking everything as sometimes I've seen a piston in backwards.
Use a carby from a mower that you know works well.
Also seen crank cases that are warped and leak.
A non genuine thickness lower barrel gasket can throw the port timing out.
Another thing I would do is check a good 24 mower that starts easy with the comp tester on one pull start cold and if the rebuilt motor doesn't have at least as good a psi reading there must be a problem.
I've also seen damaged leaking crank cases ,one example is when someone has used a wrong bolt that's too long and broken the crankcase like the starter main bolt on the side starter.
One good thing about putting a spark plug in the decomp hole is you can spin the motor over and hear leaking compression from a warped head or from somewhere else.
Also sometimes I check the keyway in the crank is cut in the correct location and check the flywheel key slot is in the correct location to the magnets as machining can be slightly out sometimes.
Check the mounting position of the coil in case of casting shift or drilled slightly out and that the coil wasn't fitted incorrectly.
It sounds like a bit of a head scratch if you've already checked most things.
Hi Max, I have done most of the things you have listed and it sure is a head scratch. Motor runs well and revs up and down without any problem. I have pulled that motor off and I will fit another one to it today. I will go back to the problem one a bit later I just want to know WHY?
I have proven it isn't the carby on these motors, put the carby on a PT and it fires straight up. It has to be a spark issue even though my test light shows me a good consistent spark it has to be failing under compression I have a new coil here to suit cup starter so I will fit that tomorrow and see how that goes
When swapping coils you need to check the North and South poles on the Flywheels Norm ,from memory the coil must be put on the E core backwards if you go from internal coil to external flywheel coil and reverse the coil when fitting an external coil internally.
A quick pic below to show how the magnetic flow can go through the front or back of a coil depending on internal or external coil or N S on flywheel.
The flywheel for the internal coil leads with a North Pole and the flywheel for the external coil leads with a South Pole Norm, so you just reverse fit the coil.
I was looking into using a Briggs electronic coil on a Victa side pull motor ,the Briggs coil fits the Victa core.
That is very interesting Max, I will look into setting one up to see how it goes. It looks like you have the Briggs coil on backwards? not sure I understand as the Briggs and the Victa sidepull are both external coils
I just slipped the coil on the core to see fitment ,it's not setup to work yet ,the Briggs has a 2 ended core instead of 3 but the Briggs has 3 magnets instead of Victa having 2 magnets ,I'd have to check the Briggs flywheel magnetic Poles to see which way the Briggs coil goes on the Victa core Norm.
I can;t remember if Briggs is North South North or South North South without checking.
