Checking ignition timing on moped engine. 

Agree about the faffing! Changing the gap changes the timing. Of course, the FS1( and EVERY other bike I worked on back then) sold in South Africa had the top dead and fire positions stamped into the flywheel. Simple: a spot of white paint on the mark and pointer, run the engine to check with a light, adjust the gap as needed.

Hi, chaps, thanks for your comments. I get what you mean about the timing being fixed. I guess I chose the wrong bike to demonstrate how I check the timing on my mopeds and other small engines. I should have show it on an engine that has an adjustable stator plate. I will change the title of the video if I can. Bikes like the NSU Quickly with slots in the stator plate were set up in the factory with the correct points gap and timing, then the stator plate was marked with a line stamped from the plate to the crankcase. You could then fit new points, set the gap and as long as the line was in the same place the timing was correct. The problem is that years later when people (like me!) are building up engines with parts from other engines the lines are not necessarily in the correct place.