Hi all,

I hope there is no such thing as a stupid question or two.   I have this project bike and it is the gift that keeps giving but I am determined to carry on.  I had no spark so read as much as I could find on this wonderful forum and had a go.  Spark was eventually there after following the advice and cleaned up the points with contact cleaner and dragging card through. Consistent spark. So all good.

timing came next. Again I had a good read. Head off (another question or two for another night there) dial gauge and looked for 2.9mm btdc timing marks on flywheel and case seemed to match pretty well.  I do have the one year only advance retard spring mechanism that was a bit notchy. I tried to set the points by eye but as mentioned on here it’s a bit hit and miss so decided to remove flywheel and have a good look.  Duly taken off. Cleaned spring up and mechanism and all working smoothly now and can see the cam move on the flywheel assembly. Back to setting the timing..  but of course with the flywheel off there is no cam to open and close the points!
so finally my questions. 

1.  Is there a way to set the timing with the flywheel removed?  Do I have to disassemble the advance/retard mechanism to get at the cam or something or am I just being thick? 

2. I thought I would use the resistance method.  Disconnected the black wire from the stator and used that and a ground on the engine and got a reading of 1.8.  Seemed close enough with the points open.  However, when points closed it was still 1.7/8?

I do have a spark that looks good. But now at a bit of a cul de sac with trying to set the timing accurately.  Do I have to disconnect another wire somewhere to get the 0.4 reading that is in the timing article?

any advice gladly taken on board…. It’s 3.50 am here in the uk. It’s keeping me awake…

many thanks in advance (no timing pun intended)

Morning Ian.

According to the Service Manual (see link), flywheel/rotor should be present. However, maybe if the crank can be turned, other than by using the rotor (eg using the back wheel with bike in gear (a job for Mrs R )), then this might work? I could easily be talking bollox, though!

Vintage Yamaha Enduro Fans - 70-71 RT1 (MX) and RT1-B (MX) Service Manual