Sometimes I just have to shake my head as to my learning curve (forest for the trees) and figuring things out. I have a mostly disassembled engine in the garage at home and never think to take a look at things there and practice on those pieces before trying in the cramped engine space on the boat.
Realizing last evening about the aforementioned, I went out to the engine block on the stand and the dizzy (is that the right slang?) was still attached. Loosened the clamp down bolt a little and right away could twist the unit.. so now I know what it's SUPPOSED to feel like
I've also removed it to disassemble at my leisure on these increasingly dark evenings as a practice tool for setting the gap, checking/cleaning the advance, etc. before heading back to the boat this weekend.
I have a good memory it's just short.