The Old Lawnmower Club
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers
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How to set points - Suffolk Punch :(

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sawleyman Fri, 08/05/2020

I have been given a Suffolk Punch. It is in reasonable state and so far I have changed the oil, cleaned and reset the spark plug as well as a general strip down in order to lubricate the major moving parts. It turns over nicely, the blade cylinder moves freely and smoothly but I am currently waiting on a fuel tank (was missing) and a new jet for the carb.

I cannot however, fathom how to set the points gap on this mower! Please bear in mind I am not adjusting the timing as I presume this is OK. When I looked at the points through the flwheel, there was indeed a gap but it was slightly too wide according to my feeler gauge so I cleaned the face of the points and unscrewed the screw visible on the picture below. This then closed the gap and since then I've been unable to set and hold a gap. The screw undoes and tightens but doesn't seem to do anything. I presumed the hole above the screw is for a small screwdriver to enter to move the plate around?

Cannot find guidance in the manual or any posts online. Although I'm only 30 I have set point gaps before on two old Hillman cars I had and that was far easier!

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sawleyman Fri, 08/05/2020

I have now figured out that a screw must be missing from the unit, but in using a flat-bladed screwdriver in its place I can make the adjustments. 

RedLeader Tue, 19/05/2020

Hello Sawleyman, just so you can see what the screw should look like, here's a reference picture showing the eccentric screw that you are missing, which is turned to adjust the gap between the points (with the cross head screw slackeded off)