tuning or timing?

[mattyguk11]

hi,im new to the pleasures of minor ownership.brought it 2 weeks ago and have serviced it,adjusted the brakes and clutch etc. ive set the timing with a strobe and set the carb mixture with a colourtune kit but its still not running as id like! a little rough with unsteady tickover. when i strobe it the mark on the pulley seems to jump about a bit between the 5 and 10 degree markers not very steady is this down to the uneven tick over?
could it be a carb problem? any advise welcome cheers matt

[rayofleamington]

did you remove the vac advance when setting the timing?
If not then set up statically first (using starting handle and a 12V bulb to the points) - somewhere near 5°BTDC is a good start.
The timing will jump around a bit when using the strobe - this is because the mechanical Cam and all the driving links have abit of play in them. Someone with a lot more experiance than me would be able to say how much jumping around is 'ok' and how much is 'bad'. Part of the problem can be a worn/sloppy distributer (they don't last indefinately), however if you set it statically you should atleast get it to run ok.

As for the colourtune - I'n my limited experience they're a good way to get an dodgy mixture setting.

[mattyguk11]

hi,yes i removed and plugged the vacum pipe.im using an unleaded head if that makes any difference! matt

[Kevin]

I had a bit of rough running recently and performance was down, it turned out to be the carb needle, when I took it out it had some tiny black bits on it they almost looked like burnt bits they came of easily with a fingernail and on reasembley the problem was solved, its worth a try as its only 3 screws to check it, the other thing is do you have oil in the dashpot.