rocket key

any good ? has anyone tried them

yes they are good i dont use them tho i take the key out and just set the timing by hand

Yeah like Toby said, many of us "back in the day" (aaaaaaaaah the day) used to just do them by hand, long before anyone had invented the rocket key.

Nice work!

Could you elaborate on the technique for the rest of us

Are you still using a key or just tightening the nut? How do you correctly set the timing?

You'll see that the original woodruff key is around 2.5mm wide... When u take the flywheel off, take out the woodruff key and then place the flywheel back on so slightly turned as if the woodruff key was 2mm further round the crank. This should chsnge the spark timing and give slight improvement. As for which way to rotate the flywheel I can't remember. Just make sure you do the flywheel nut quite tight to avoid slipping on the crank.
I wouldn't recommend you do this if you don't understand it first time around and don't do it to RC's as they are already advanced timing.

Top man,

Thanks for the explanation, Im guessing to advance the timing you would turn the Flywheel clock wise by 2.5mm rather than counter-clockwise?..

Can we remember any other 'back in the day' home mods?

Hmm clockwise or anti?????

Im just trying to work it out in my head lol.

If you think about it, surely the 'contacts' are set to meet as close to TDC (Top Dead Centre, Piston at its highest point....) as possible.

Regardless of the point at which Zenoah set the timing, by turning the flywheel COUNTER-CLOCKWISE you will be 'retarding' the ignition i.e. causing the spark further along the down stroke of the piston? I can't see any benefit to doing this...

I would think turning the flywheel CLOCKWISE will cause the spark just before TDC thus 'advancing' the ignition?

Some one correct me if im being an idiot lol.

[quote="hicksi"]Im just trying to work it out in my head lol.

If you think about it, surely the 'contacts' are set to meet as close to TDC (Top Dead Centre, Piston at its highest point....) as possible.

Regardless of the point at which Zenoah set the timing, by turning the flywheel COUNTER-CLOCKWISE you will be 'retarding' the ignition i.e. causing the spark further along the down stroke of the piston? I can't see any benefit to doing this...

I would think turning the flywheel CLOCKWISE will cause the spark just before TDC thus 'advancing' the ignition?

Some one correct me if im being an idiot lol

This is correct