coil colors

[fleetwin]

Are you sure one or both of those old coils doesn’t have a cracked case? I would pull them both off and have look. Perhaps the "clicking" noise is the coil arcing to the mag plate. A coil with good resistance specs could have a cracked case and be arcing.

[olcah]

I notice that the magneto plate on the motor can be moved vertically a bit by lifting at the point where the plug wires leave the plate. My Johnson RD12 is same motor but does not allow that movement as the mag plate bearing is tighter. I think that as the flywheel magnet passes each coil the plate is displaced a little because of magnetic attraction and that is the tick that I notice. The tick occurs when the magnet passes near each coil. If so, the magnet is not rubbing the coil. I also notice that when I move the coils back this effect happens although it is not as strong.
Side note – I made a 1/4" gap spark tester from wood and a couple of screws and I can that jump the gap only intermittently with either cylinder although a neon spark tester shows spark every time.
I have replaced one of my coils and put in new points. Hope I am not too far out in the weeds with this.

[fleetwin]

Well, I agree with what I "think" you are saying. The magnetic attraction could be enough to drag the mag plate slightly, even though the magnets are not rubbing on the coils, especially if the bushing is loose/sloppy.
You replaced one of the coils, was it on the cylinder that is misbehaving? Did you remove the other coil to ensure its case isn’t cracked/burned through on the bottom where you can’t see it.
Your mag plate has some vertical slop, how about "sideways" slop? Excessive sideways slop could cause erratic point gap settings which could result in a miss.
And yes, for me, it is always best to just start again at the beginning when I get confused, I usually find a mistake/incorrect assumption I have made/overlooked.

[olcah]

Thanks Fleetwin. You are correct about the movement. Does not seem to be any side to side. I could not identify which cylinder is skipping but replaced the coil that seemed "weaker" with a German (used) one based on my gap checker and looked the other coil over. I will reset the coils position and try it in the water in a day or so. Appreciate the discussion.

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