A few days ago I posted I got the Lombard running, so a couple nights ago I went out to the shop (colder than a well diggers, you fill in the blank) and thought I'd fire it up and see how its doing. Set the fast idle, pulled the choke, pushed the compression release in, switch to the on position (I get the feeling I'm starting an old airplane here, so I yell "Contact".) 3 pulls and it fires right up, blip the throttle and idles good. (Feeling self satisfaction here) Let it warm up a little and start goosing the trigger a little. I need to set the high speed needle a little, open her up a few times and get the high speed set good. Rev it a few more times, 4 stroking good. Bing, bing, bap, blue flame out the exhaust and it stops dead in the water.
Oooooohhhhhh, sh--. (You fill in the blank). Just stood there looking at it. Pulled the rope, free spin. Oh no, what did I just doooooooo! Took the muffler off, it still had a piston in it. Well, that much is good. I didn't have a bar or chain on it yet, so I turned the nut on the clutch. Piston moved up and down, but no compression. ?????????? Found the compression release was activated, pulled it out and got compression. That's better. (Feelings of encouragement here) Took the recoil housing off, the flywheel was freespining. Don't tell me I stripped the flywheel, please! The nut was loose. Took the nut off, pulled the flywheel. Flywheel looks good, no damage. Whew!!! Found the key was stripped. Pulled a key from a XL12, IT FITS!! Figured out a few nights earlier I had tightened the flywheel with a ratchet and hand held the flywheel. Not tight enough. Put it back together and blipped the nut with the impact. Much better now. Pulled the rope, started right up and STILL runs great. Mojim and 67l36driver told me these things were tough as nails. Yep they sure are, I have living proof that it can survive me.
