WOT only 1100rpm, no power

Braedon,
That ring gear is in pretty bad shape. There's even evidence that the engine was running with the starter partially engaged. How's the pinion gear on the starter look? I'd have to say it's pretty chewed up as well. Both the ring gear and starter pinion gear need replacing.

When that "mechanic" worked on the engine, did he even check the timing?

nautiquelover1988 wrote: is that ring gear hard/expensive to replace, also is there a way for me to turn it so the starter can engage?

No, The ring gear isn't hard to replace. It involves more man hours than skill. You'll need to jack the tail end of the engine up, remove the trans and bell housing and then the flywheel. The gear itself will be available at your auto supply. It's a heat shrink fit onto the flywheel.

No, I really would not try to screw around with turning the engine over to a good spot for the starter pinion gear to engage. Think of it this way - what happens when the engine turns over to where the teeth are missing??

I'd like to see a picture of the starter pinion gear.

What about that "mechanic" and the engine timing??

hotboat wrote: You can turn the motor with a socket on bolt in the front of crankshaft

Then, as mentioned, what happens when the starter pinion gear get's to the missing teeth on the ring gear???

Ive herd to lay a two by four across the boat is the best way to lift the lower end up to disconnect the tranny and bell housing in order to change the flywheel with the boat still in the water, what do you think about this, does anyone have better methods?

nautiquelover1988 wrote: Ive herd to lay a two by four across the boat is the best way to lift the lower end up to disconnect the tranny and bell housing in order to change the flywheel with the boat still in the water, what do you think about this, does anyone have better methods?

No, not really!! The best method without having a means of hoisting is to use two small bottle jacks under the exhaust manifolds. The search feature is a wonderful tool!!! Did you hear about the 2x4 from that "mechanic"??

hotboat wrote: You can turn the motor with a socket on bolt in the front of crankshaft

Agreed, boats in the water, he may not want to paddle from dock

hotboat wrote: Agreed, boats in the water, he may not want to paddle from dock

.... or get a REALLY big bilge pump...

62 wood wrote: hotboat wrote: Agreed, boats in the water, he may not want to paddle from dock .... or get a REALLY big bilge pump...

In my prior jet boat, I tried to remove the hand-hole cover, clear the debris, and close it in the water. The cover top was maybe 3" below waterline. I figured, "how hard can this be", even though I had read in several forums to never try it. Guess what? I came very close to sinking the boat, fought like hell to get it back on, skinned up my hands and cut an elbow with the effort. I was a complete idiot for trying, was a good lesson on the power of water!

Breadon,

I did a quick search of your old posts, have you had the boat for a couple of years? Any problems in the past? Or, just a run of crappy luck the last few weeks?

One thing about these early boats, most of the engine issues are in the "Mechanics 101" category.

Again, no offense intended on the prior mechanical experience. Just trying to get a feel for where your at.

now, Petes crank start mag engine... not sure what category we put that into?

Thank you everyone for all of the help. I got the flywheel changed, cleaned up the battery and put new connections on the battery cables which connect to the battery terminals, still using the previous starter. Once I did this, the boat fired right up first turn of the key with no hesitation, i took it out three days in a row and had no problems at all. as for my WOT power problem which i am still having, two of the days I went out recently the lake was glassy so i was able to keep it WOT for as long as i wanted. After having it WOT for about 5-8 minutes it kept feeling like it wanted to continue speeding up past where it stops going faster and than finally it was almost like something unclogged and it was able to continue speeding up like it used to. I than backed off the throttle and went WOT again and it was still hesitating where it was before until again i left it for about 5-8 minutes WOT and than it went again. So as of now the only time it will continue speeding up like it should is when I hold it WOT for 5-8 minutes but than as soon as i back off of it, i have to hold it WOT again for the same amount of time before it speeds up like it should again. I have checked the anti syphon valve at the fuel tank and found nothing. Does anyone have any other ideas of what this could be? I also might ad that the whole time during the 5-8 minutes at WOT the boat sounds and feels like it wants to keep speeding up but wont for quite a few minutes.

I would put a fuel pressure gauge on the output of the fuel pump to see if you are starving for fuel. It will take some fittings to do this.

You need to narrow this down to fuel vs ignition.

i was thinking it had to do with the timing too, is the ATC BTC thing as i pictured supposed to turn with the crank shaft pulley? also where do i check the weights or look at them and what should the timing/advanced timing be on this boat, 1988 sn 2001 ford pcm 351

Braedon,
Yes, the markings on the balancer turn with the engine. The timing light will flash showing the timing of the engine in reference to the pointer. Google engine timing and you should be able to find a video that will show how it's done. You need a timing light.

The advance mechanism is under the point set base plate in the distributor. When you R&R it, you will need a feeler gauge to rough set the point gap and then a dwell meter to do the final adjustment of the gap/dwell. I would go heavier than WD40. I happen to like LPS #2 since it's got a waxy lubricate in it that won't evaporate. The WD40 can go in the trash!!

Per the manual, the timing is 10 degrees BTC but some like to give it a few degrees more. The point gap is set to .018" and then the final adjustment done with the dwell meter is 24 to 29 degrees.

Being honest here, do you have a friend who is more engine inclined that could help?

Agree, not fuel related, bad guess on my part. Total timing should be 28 degrees at 4000 RPM. At 1200 RPM, it should just be starting to climb above 10 degrees. If you remove the breaker plate (pretty easy) then you can inspect the weights directly, using feel for a snasg in the pivots.