[Silly Little Cars] help 89 truckster

[Charley]

Charles,

You have a 22 hp OMC 2 cylinder engine (22 hp = spark plugs on top of cylinders - the 18 hp version has the spark plugs on the lower side of the cylinders). The cylinders are horizontally opposed (one out each side of the crank case). There are 2 coils, one for each spark plug. Both spark plugs fire at the same time since they are connected in series to the same points, but the cylinder that's on the compression stroke is the only one that lights (this is called a "lost spark ignition system" ).

It appears as though you have the original mechanical fuel pump and the bypass filter (necessary when using the original fuel pump) and it is quite likely that this pump is bad. These original fuel pumps are hard to find and expensive if you do find one. I switched to an electric fuel pump. The pump itself costs $53 and it self regulates the pressure, so you can eliminate the bypass fuel filter and just use a single inline filter between the tank and the electric fuel pump. The hole where the mechanical fuel pump was mounted needs to be plugged with a thick metal plate and gasket if you switch to the electric fuel pump.

I would first check the inline fuel filter nearest to the tank. Disconnect the fuel line on the output of the filter to see if gas comes out. If it does, put the line back on the filter and go to the fuel pump and disconnect the line that goes from it to the bypass filter (the filter with three connections). Turn the engine over and see if fuel comes out of the fuel pump. If it does the pump is OK, so you can replace the fuel line connection. Now remove the fuel line connection from the carburetor and turn the engine over. If you get fuel coming out of the line, the carburetor is your problem and it will need to be cleaned and possibly re-built. If it is a Keihin carburetor, first look in the end of the carburetor connection where the fuel line connects. The Keihin carburetors have a tiny fuel filter screen on a tubular plastic frame that is inserted into the fuel fitting of the carburetor. You will need a sharp knife to catch the edge of it to remove it. Before rebuilding the carburetor, check this screen to be sure that it is clean. If there is no screen or the screen is clean the next possible problem is a stuck needle valve and/or damaged float inside the carburetor. If you have to go inside the carburetor, be prepared with replacement gaskets, a replacement float and needle valve, and an accelerator pump diaphram to completely rebuild the carburetor. You will need to run a cleaning wire through all of the internal ports and use carburetor cleaner to remove all of the varnish and dirt before reassembly. Carburetors are complicated. If you have never done this before, find someone who has and let them do it.

My 1987 Truckster had been sitting untouched in a forest for a bit over 12 years and it needed everything that I described above, plus the removal, derusting, and cleaning of the fuel tank and all new fuel lines, fuel filter, and electric fuel pump and a new fuel tank cap before I could get my truckster running. For the tank cleaning I bought a cleaning/relining kit from KBS Coatings through Amazon. Although the cleaning and relining of the tank was time consuming, it wasn't hard to do and it worked very well. 

Charley
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Charles Shearin 
  To: silly_little_cars at lists.sillylittlecars.com 
  Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2013 8:15 AM
  Subject: [Silly Little Cars] help


  just bought my 1989 cushman and can anyone tell me the size of the engine?

  attached are pics of the engine it is a one spark plug engine

  Also cannot get gas from tank to carb

  pic of one of the gas filters it has three lines to it, can I just remove this filter in the pic and will it matter?


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