Hi Phil,
Iv’e got about 5 hrs on the Nova type modules ( mine are Laser, house brand knock offs from Princess Auto – kind of a Canadian Harbour Freight store) and so far there is no problem. My electronics friends tell me that the burn out problem likely comes from old coils. The same older coils that will / may power point & condenser ignitions reliably, will cause these universal electronic modules to burn out. The explanation was this. Electronic modules watch the current rise as the magnet passes the coil shoes. The micro second that the current shows a drop, the modules interpret this as peak current and fire the spark. Modules like to see a rapid current spike cleanly without harmonics or fluctuations to the preset point when the spark will fire. Old coils which are beginning to breakdown internally produce a ripply current spike which points & condensers can tolerate well but electronics don’t like. With brand new modern coils the current spike is clean & rapid and the electronics work well. Both my coils had been replaced with new and had almost no hours on them. So far so good. Spark is hot, blue at about 3/8″ with a good pull on the starter rope. Now, if a coil is breaking down at higher RPM and causing a high speed miss – I’ll have to do a wire off test with the motor on the boat, to see if RPM drop is equal on each cylinder. Lakes are freezing here so that’s for next spring.

Good evening all,
Well, the results are in. I pulled the carb again and went through it with attention to all the info provided by Crosbyman, Fleetwin and others. I did not find any dirt but I blew out all passages and under the welsh plug too. The LS needle is still a bit blunt but I cleaned it up with some very fine emery cloth. There is no broken point in the LS orfice. It now cold starts reliably on the third pull with choke on and throttle at 3/4. Warm starts reliably on one pull with no choke and throttle at 3/4. Trolls about the same. BarreI test shows it still runs best with the LS needle at 2.5 turns out. Wire off tests at 1/2 throttle show equal RPM drop for each cylinder ( I forgot how much that stray current hurts!). Overall performance is acceptable and I think this will be all I do on this one> If the hard cold start condition returns I will likely jury rig a primer. I did this on my 1970’s snowmobile engines and they were never more than a 2 pull start even in the coldest weather after the retrofit. I’m pleased with the performance of the electronic ignition modules. An unanticipated benefit of having them mounted on a heatsink off the block is that you can carry an extra one in your tackle box and change one on the lake with nothing more than a screwdriver if one should fail. Can’t do that if it’s under the flywheel. I attached a better picture of the assembly if anyone cares. I hope to keep you posted as to their ultimate success or failure sometime next summer. Onto my next project – a 1951 Neptune Mighty Mite 1.5 hp built by Muncie Gear Works, Muncie Indiana. My long gone dad loved his and literally wore it out. Many Thanks to all who commented Esp. Crosbyman for teaching me to “chase one rabbit at a time”

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Mumbles.