'75 SN 351 won't start

She runs! I think the previous owner ran the fuel tank dry and it just took a lot of cranking to prime the system. Thanks for all the help! You will be hearing from me again!

Luchog wrote: Take the fuel line out of the carb into a recipient and crank, a nice & strong stream of fuel should come out, that way you'll know you're getting fuel out the tank and fuel pump. If you can connect a fuel pressure gauge you should see at least 6psi. How long has the boat sat? As TRbenj suggested, it might be a good idea to drain/clean it or even run an external tank for testing purposes. Do you have a fuel filter? have you checked it? You might have a pretty clogged carburetor as well.

I pulled a fuel line off from the carb and cranked it. Fuel came out in burst for a second, but i stopped because the engine fired a little bit but didn't start.
Judging by the tag on the engine, I think my firing order and timing are good, so fuel must be the issue. How can I check for a clogged carburetor? When I did dump some fuel in it, I did notice that there was "standing" fuel in it after I tried starting it.

I have been told that this boat was running and was used last summer

My boat has the electronic ignition, and I have not yet had it running. The fuel tank was empty so I put 5 fresh gallons of regular in it with lead substitute, so fuel quality should not be an issue. Are there any fuel shut off valves anywhere along the line?

Stu - The gas tank is gravity fed.   Although there is a anti-shipon valve that can become clogged.   It is the elbow on top of the tank.   I think Tim is alluding to emptying all your old gas & start with fresh.   You can hook up a temp. gas can to the fuel water separator/filter if you want to rule out fuel delivery issues.

I tried dumping some fuel down the carburator and it sounded like it wanted to start, so I think my problem may be fuel related now. How can I test if my fuel tank sending unit is working? I popped of the fuel filter by the engine and it was full of fuel.

Get the spark timing reasonably close to 10 before TDC & then squirt an ounce of good gas down the carb. Put the flame arrestor back on & try it. It should light up for a few seconds. if not, you may have compression problems.

The firing order you list is correct for a reverse rotation 351 which is what your boat came with. You can find it in the PCM manual as listed in the reference section.

looking from the back of the boat at the boat, if the prop turns clockwise for forward, you have a right hand engine.
but i must ask, the no start situation, did you or someone else mess with the engine, sparking your curiosity on the firing order?
i was just wondering where a good starting place would be to get you going

Hello, new to correct crafts and looking for help. I have a few questions about marine engines and would like some help to get my motor running. The problem I am facing is the motor will not start. It has spark at the coil and the #8 plug, the only one I checked. It has fuel because I disconnected a line above the pump and it pumped some out. So, I think the timing may be off. Right now, the firing order based on my distributor and wires is 1-8-4-5-6-2-7-3, which may or may not be correct So,

What should my firing order be for a RH rotation engine? I can only find the firing order for LH rotation.

Then, what position on the distributor is #1, or the starting point for the firing order?
Finally, looking at my prop it appears to also have the RH rotation looking from the rear, so does this mean that my tranny is the 1:1 ratio?

Thanks in advance for any replies. I really like this site and could easily spend hours on end reading various topics non-stop, great stuff!