Acceleration issues.

For no start and a clank or pop when it died?   Not much to guess with.

When things don't work for me I go back to the basics.   

Verify compression in all 8 cylinders.  Does not matter if you did this one week ago, something changed and you are trying to find what changed.  If you have good compression on all 8 you know your valves are opening and sealing as intended so that tells you the timing chain and cam are spinning as intended and rules out many other potential issues.

On your timing, if static timing, engine not running is set to #1 at TDC and your distributor rotor is pointing at #1 on the cap Timing is close enough to start the engine, spin the engine over with the dist cap off just to verify the rotor is spinning as it should.

If it starts now I would make sure the Timing light is connected to the #1 cylinder and set the initial timing to 8-10*.  Next with the timing light still connected engine running watch your timing marks as you raise the RPM slowly and see at what RPM the timing stops advancing.  As you rev and slow the engine speed the timing should advance and retard smoothly and exactly the same every single time in sync with RPM.  Full advance is usually somewhere between 2,800 and 4,000 RPM.  Keep raising the RPM till the timing stops advancing and is stable.  So if you think it quit advancing at 3,500 take it up to 4,000 just to make sure you are correct.  If you have a dial back timing light this will also let you know exactly how much timing the engine is getting at what RPM.  Normally you will see between 32 and 36* fully advanced.   You stated timing was  90* off, sounds like you may have grabbed another wire by mistake.  An 8 cylinder engine fires every 90* of rotation so being 90* off might just be wrong wire as a source and that wire would be right next to your #1 wire location so either the wire left or right of #1 on your cap.

If it is getting spark and your Spark is at the right time, It is getting Air, (the choke is wide open)  and has compression it should start right up.

When you find out which part is missing/no longer there, you know what to do next.

There is no more leaking in primaries. When I adjusted the float back down and after a few more attempts at starting the float level is now back to the middle of the primary window and seems to be holding steady now with no additional leaking in the primaries.

After confirming fuel and spark, I moved back to checking the timing again while turning it over although it is not starting. It appears that the timing is now at 90*. There is a Mr. Gasket timing tape on the harmonic balancer, I think the harmonic balancer is what I'm looking at.  I did it a few times because I was so confused. I had set the initial timing myself at 12* as posted earlier and I had also confirmed the TDC marking with TDC at #1. So it was all good at one point. The distributor is securely in place with the nut that holds it in place also secure as well. The distributor doesn't have appeared to have moved.

Had some weather move through so had to take a break for now. Next I am going to go back and check TDC again at #1 and see what the timing mark says now and go from there.  Thoughts?

JQ was able to walk me through visually confirming that there is fuel delivery which there is through the accelerator pump when the throttle is depressed. Also that I have spark to each cylinder through using an in-line spark test light. All checked out. In checking the timing, there appears to be some inconsistencies that I need to confirm. The timing now seems way off (which is really strange) but I need to confirm and I will be working on that and will report back as soon as I can get some of the timing numbers confirmed. Thank you JQ! I guess the good news is the new fuel pump appears to be working even if the boat isn't starting. I'll take small victories where I can get them at this point. 

 

In anticipation of receiving the new fuel pump I went ahead and removed the old fuel pump. When pulling out the pump what also followed where a number of pieces as you can see below. 

The first two pieces next to the fuel pump are parts of the spring which are obviously broken. After close inspection, it appears that these two pieces have been broken for quite sometime and not just recently. I am assuming that the third piece is part of the pump assembly that would have ridden on the spring. 

Now, the fourth piece (far right) does not appear to have anything to do with the fuel pump and I think I know where it may have come from. When I removed the original distributor way back before beginning this post (before installing DUI distributor) I noticed that one of the teeth on the distributor gear was chipped. This looks like a perfect puzzle piece fit for that old chip. Could be wrong but it sure looks like it. 

I have just a couple quick questions. Would a fuel pump with a broken spring even pump (because apparently this one did at least a bit)? Also, it appears that when installing the new pump that the pump lever rests under the cam that can be seen through the port for the fuel pump, is that correct? It doesn't ride under a lifter/rod like in a Chevrolet, or am I not seeing the lifter/rod? Do I need to grease the new pump lever at all or will the engine oil take care of that? I know my technical terms may be off but hopefully I'm close enough to make sense.

The new fuel pump has arrived so I should be able to get it installed soon and report back. Hopefully after now finding something physically wrong/broken a final solution has been found. Although at this point I will believe it when I see it on the water under load and not requiring a tow.

Thank you again for everyone's help, I really appreciate it. 

link    EBAY

The ruptured diaphragm connection is on the rear of the pump instead of the front and on your Commander that's a good thing because the front connection can need modification to clear the back of the raw water pump, depending on the pump.

It probably looks pretty much just like a copy of your present pump.

It's from "the Far East", he's put maybe 50 hours on it and so far so good

JQ

There's gotta be some more to the story of what Buck did and you fixed to make his advance work.

I decided I'd pull out a parts DUI distributor yesterday and duplicate this overtightening feat to bind up the advance mechanism.

I tried everything I could considering my general wimpiness, and all that happened was nothing,............the advance worked fine, but I was strong enough to break a screw .

So.............I fire off an e mail to the DUI guys, get an answer this morning and the precaution about overtightening is to keep from breaking the nylon screws and nothing to do with binding up the advance mechanism. They use nylon to prevent arcing.

Looking at where the screws go in relation to the advance mechanism, it's just not possible

Yup.  If the timing advance curve is working as it should, then the timing advance mechanism in the DUI was not over-tightened.  Uncle Buck referred to this situation when he originally installed the DUI on his engine.  The timing advance was inoperable.  The timing stayed at 10 degrees BTDC.  As soon as I loosened the nylon bolts inside the DUI so that the advance mechanism moved freely, the timing advance mechanism worked as advertised.

JQ