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Got me a Namco

kustomizingkid

Titanium
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Location
Minnesota
Been searching for a Namco ever since Wheelieking started posting about his... just had to have one. In the past few years I have seen ONE for sale. Well last week one popped up on Facebook Marketplace and I had to go get it. Contacted the guy and got the address from him and it was at the Minnesota School of Horseshoeing, I honestly thought it was a joke. Got there and no joke, guy runs a horseshoeing school and horseshoe supply house. He had been using it since the 80's and 6 months ago it started acting up and he had a couple people out to work on it to no avail. He bought a new lift and I bought his non running Namco for $500. Drug it on the trailer and brought it home. I cleaned the points and adjusted them and got it to start but not run well enough to use, so I had confidence.... more soon.

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Well since this isn't Wrustle you get updates right away, just had to pay a little homage... So I'm a millenial, no points for me. Started googling into an electronic ignition conversion. Found that Onan made an OEM conversion, found the part numbers. Well all the parts are NLA, bummer. More googling and I found a guy on Ebay who sold one, and he was in MN, and he was 15 miles from. So I rang him up and went and picked up a conversion.

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Got talking with him and found out that when Onan discontinued the conversion he bought all the NOS modules. There were a lot of model to model differences in the points breaker box so he took the module and made his own box to eliminate those hassles. Now comes the bad news, he is almost out of stock. He has 30 kits left, told me he will be out in a month or so. So after the you are SOL. He said if there is enough demand he might try and find another supplier or adapt another module.

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I rushed to the shop and figured I would have this thing installed and I would be living out my forklift dreams in no time. The points box is in a hard to get to place so I pulled the pump off to make room. With the pump off I was in business.

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After that it was disaster after disaster. Come to find out I had the wrong length pushrod. The CCK uses a different style box, points and pushrod. I trimmed the pushrod to a guess of the correct length and pressed on.

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So I get that back on and everything bolts up now and I move on to hooking up the coil only to find out I have a non compatible coil :angry:

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So thats where things landed... sigh. I messaged the guy who sells the conversions and he has the correct pushrod and all the other parts I need including a new coil. Not a real loss because if I'm going this far I might as well have new everything. I have also started a mental list of other repair and improvements I want to do. First thing on that list is ditching this ancient generator and replacing it with something more modern. Likely use a GM one wire alternator... that said I won't be doing anything until I hear it run and get some seat time ;).

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Never heard of a Namco before. Thanks for the education.

I have worked on Onans of that vintage, though. My experience is in line with yours...
 
Other than the missed nail hole that's decent looking heart bar shoe. It was probably to small hence being creased all the way around. It's a pretty tough shoe to make.
 
Other than the missed nail hole that's decent looking heart bar shoe. It was probably to small hence being creased all the way around. It's a pretty tough shoe to make.

I'm going to have to trust you... also he pulled it out of a scrap bucket so maybe it wasn't done or rejected? I plan on mounting it to the dash as a little keepsake and funny story. Or at the very least to confuse the next owner.
 
So after a ton of research I finnally got the correct coil and points plunger. Onan made so many variations of this motor for so long it can get really confusing trying to figure out what fits what. My motor had a 6 volt coil with a resisotor going to the points module. I was finnally able to find a guy who knew whats what. I asked him about the 6v coil on a 12v system, he said "dumbest fucking thing Onan ever did." Anyways he got me the correct plunger and the best, most updated, most proper 12v coil. The 6v coil will burn out the Magna Arc module fyi.

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That part number for the coil is a kit that comes with new spark plug boots, plug wire clips, and hardware for the threaded mounting studs.

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Got it installed and it fired right up and purred. The cover for the Magna Arc requires remving the carb to install. I also don't have a working timing light so I am waiting to get a timing light and I will set timing and then get the cover on. That said this thing runs great and fires right up now. Drove it around only to find out I have lumpy tires so that will be a top priority. Very pleased to have it here and running for ~$750.

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Just noticed your's has a steering wheel and not a tiller. Do you have a horn button on the fwd./rev/ throttle lever?
If you step on the right pedal it should go faster. Like a passing gear. Have had mine for near 40 years. Yer gonna love that thing!
 
Just noticed your's has a steering wheel and not a tiller. Do you have a horn button on the fwd./rev/ throttle lever?
If you step on the right pedal it should go faster. Like a passing gear. Have had mine for near 40 years. Yer gonna love that thing!

The steering wheel is terrible. I am going to get a spinner knob at Fleet Farm when I go into town today. My two speed linkage is disconnected for some reason, need to fix that. I do have a horn button, and the throttle and drive lever need to comes off, it is very sloppy and only gives me 1/2 the rpm I can get by actuating it at the engine. The lumpy tire makes it very hard to drive though so that needs to get fixed asap.
 
The steering wheel is terrible. I am going to get a spinner knob at Fleet Farm when I go into town today. My two speed linkage is disconnected for some reason, need to fix that. I do have a horn button, and the throttle and drive lever need to comes off, it is very sloppy and only gives me 1/2 the rpm I can get by actuating it at the engine. The lumpy tire makes it very hard to drive though so that needs to get fixed asap.

Is it the steer, or a drive tire that is lumpy?
I was actually sitting here looking at mine yesterday thinking: "I should probably service that guy!"
We are in our only time of year when condensation is an issue. I had to use it the other day to unload a piece of equipment.
I left it sit outside idling for about 15 mins. Neighbor asked why?
I told him because I wanted it to get warm enough to steam any condensation out of the engine.
He looked at me like I was crazy :nutter:
 
Any chance you can get a good picture of the wiring on your oil pressure transmitter?

Thanks,
Daniel
 








 
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