[Farlsincharge]

Well, this seems to be the forum with the 400 gurus so I had to sign up. There is a serious void on the internet when it comes to these swathers and the 200 ford industrial they use.

I have one that has been converted to a loader. When I got it, the initial timing was set at about 25 degrees. The only information I could find is for the 200 ci 6 cyl used in ford vehicles.
It recommends 6 degrees for a standard and 12 for an automatic.
I set the timing to 12 degrees and it starts and runs fine, but diesels on shutdown sometimes or just pops and seems to be running a little hot.

I am just wondering if anyone has the ignition timing specs for this engine?

Thanks in advance (no pun intended)

 

[Grainline]

Nature of the beast
get used to it

 

[Northern Farmer]

Assuming we had a manual for it, the swather is long gone and most likely with whatever booklets it had come with it so that's of no help to you. I remember we had problems early on with the engine and they dropped in a whole new engine but I'd have to say it was a bit of a finicky unit, I think partly ether the starter or electrical would get hot and so to restart it when it was hot, was not always successful. Stopping the engine, it was bad for running on so it had to be idled for a while to cool down after the load was off and then get the engine down in RPM so it would quit rather then diesel on.

 

[8700]

We have a 400 & 4400 both came with a 200 Ford. Both manuals say 6°.

 

[Farlsincharge]

We have a 400 & 4400 both came with a 200 Ford. Both manuals say 6°.

Thank you for that. Does it say at what RPM? I've been doing it at about 700.

 

[rickfly]

frankly with the ethanol blended fuels this engine will not be too happy, hence the dieseling. for the peace of mind and longterm use , just use premium fuel. the regular and midgrade fuels have a 3 month shelf life and also are prone to not do so well in these older engines, as well as the hoses and carb needle and seat will degrade in short time. premium all the way, and you could run 8 degrees initial timing...

 

[rickfly]

disconnect the vacuum advance line to the distributor and plug it while setting the initial, 700 rpm is a good number, also make sure the vacuum advance is free and working, so as to get the best economy and performance

 

[gleanerman]

Set the point gap first, then the timing. These engines tend to build deposits on the spark plugs and we have found that when they start to diesel it's time to clean the plugs.
I usually set the timing with the engine running, set it to the sweet spot.
These are good little engines, have had 4 of them going back to 1976 and never had a problem with any of them. (they also make a great snowplane engine)

 

[kevlar]

I remember dad had a 400 with an 18 foot head and swathed about 1400-1500 acres a year with it!!! I rode with him alot and thats the one thing I remember most about it, ( besides not having a cab ) it would diesel on no matter what he did. He had several mechanics look at it but could never get it any better. About the best thing was let it cool for a few minutes then if you reached back to the carb you could push the butterfly back and slow it down a little more and that would help.

 

[whtbaron]

If it's an older machine the rubber in the harmonic dampener will start to deteriorate and let the timing marks move. At that point it's pretty much tune it by ear... push it until it pings and then back it off a few degrees. That might explain why it was pushed so high when you got it.

 

[meskie]

I had trouble getting ours to the sweet spot on timing and found the timing chain worn. Changed the chain and gears and it ran a whole lot better. We changed plugs and points every year on our 4400.

 

[stevie]

seafoam it. May have to vacuum some into the intake

 

[whtbaron]

We have slant 6 Mopar engines in the JD 800's and I've found the needle and seats in the carbs tend to stick with ethanol. I toss a cup of oil in the gas tank every 2nd day and they run a lot better. Might be worth trying in the Fords as well. In the 70's a lot of cars got a little solenoid attached to the carb linkage to shut them down tighter when the key was turned off to prevent dieseling... might be what yours needs as well.

 

[stevie]

A bit of 2 stroke oil helps a lot of older gas engines. And keeps the steel tank on a Brigs from rotting. Keep fuel tank full so ethanol cannot suck as much moisture

 

[Northern Farmer]

I recall us having issues with the ford in the verse 400 as well with running on after it was shut down but it helped a lot just to let it idle down for a few minutes to cool and also to set the idle speed down and pull the throttle all the way back just before its shut off. If set that low, one would have to get in the habit of cracking the throttle open just a bit when starting as it wouldn't be open enough otherwise with a low idle speed setting.