Oliver OC 3-42 ignition

[jnovak]

I recently purchased an Oliver OC 3-42 which,
I discovered, had the bottom two plug wires
disconnected from the magneto. The wire from the
magneto's upper right terminal (looking at the
magneto from the rear) is connected to plug #1
(assuming that the cylinders are numbered
from front to back), the upper left wire is  
connected to plug #3. Even though the motor starts
and runs, I'm suspicious of the two connected
wires as well.  I need to know both the cylinder
numbering sequence, and the wire terminal connections
on the magneto (or the magneto's direction of rotation).
Thanks for any help.
Jim

[thecatskinner]

The firing order is 1 2 4 3. If you take the cap off, you can turn the motor over and tell the rotation of the mag. the number 1 position is usually marked on the cap.

[JOHN HILL]

Your OC 3 should have a Hercules IX series engine. The engine number is on the left side of the block behind the oil filter on a flat spot near the top of the block. If this is correct then the ignition wires should go as follows  ; top right - #1(front), top left - #3, bottom left - #4, bottom right - #2. If in wires are connected wrong the engine will be hard to start, backfire a lot and have almost no power.