Clatter going into forward and reverse intermitten

Well as hard as it is to admit it turns out I had a dumb$&@ attack....I pulled all my spark plugs and cylinders #5 and #8 were fouled and wet. Fearing the worst I did a compression test and all eight cylinders were between 123-130 so that was a good thing. So I decided maybe my checking and rechecking the firing order upon my build initially I somehow screwed it up. I swapped 5 and 8 and boom, she started right up didn't shake and I ran Her to about 45mph @ about 4800 rpm which I never even came close to since this engine has been in. At best I could get to maybe 3300 rpm before. So, problem solved. I really appreciate everyone's help, it always comes back around to the basics it seems.

The .018 sounds good but do check the manual. In a pinch and at a landing, I've even used a matchbook cover!

I've had points in all of my past boats and they worked fine. Hell, I don't know why I felt the urge to try the ei, several buddies of mine raved about them. I personally thus far disagree on both ends. It MAY be my running problem and it's definitely not improved my cold or warm starts either so I do not see the benefit. I guess because I did not know how to replace or adjust points and nobody I talk to seems to either where I live, I figured it might be a positive upgrade was all.

I'm thinking its a goner but I do have the spare so I'll see what I can do with it. It should just be as easy as moving my resistor wires back over and I'm guessing pick up a new coil as well?

from reading it looks like I would just need to pick up a dwell meter then? I already have the points and condenser from when I bought a new cap.. However I don't know that I know where the plate is. May have been misplaced?? Is that an item I might be able to find locally? Or perhaps I have my other prestolite distributor that I pulled which has the screw down cap though. Might that plate work?

I hate to have to continue this thread but my issues seem to have not gone away. For an hour run I had no issues, it ran perfect. This past week I took her out and it started up fine, idled well in neutral and under load. I ran it for a bit at WOT, then as I returned to idle after a few moments it started coughing and clattering again and died. Started it back up, idled in neutral pretty decent put it in gear and same problem. I limped it back home and decided to order a rebuild kit for the Holley and rebuilt my first carb. I never knew it's condition when I bought the motor so I figured it's a cheap item to rule out. It went pretty smoothly I thought, a lot of YouTube and threads from here and I was confident I did a good job. I reinstalled it started at 1 1/2 out on each mixture screw, hooked up the vacuum gauge again and got to a 14 which from what I've read is possibly a sub par number?? Anyways, it was idling good in gear and I took off it ran good wide open. I started and stopped 8-10 times and it ran perfect then once I hit a channel I idled through and a minute in it started doing it again. I'm at a loss 😤. I have a pertronix ignitor 1 on it with a 40000 volt pertronix coil on. It seemed pretty damn warm but I'm not sure how warm it should be. I'm not sure if it's an ignition problem possibly or if it's just a tired motor in need of a rebuild? Any suggestions I certainly appreciate. The issue never seems consistent so it's hard for me to know what to look at next. I'm happy to put points back in and try them but I don't know much at all about them

I will double check that. I checked and rechecked that ten times when I originally put it in but who knows I've pulled them for fogging and checking plugs since then.

Gotcha. Thank you Tim

I'm planning to start with the strut to shaft alignment, then motor to coupling alignment and see if it helps. Then move on to the timing and carb adjustments after verifying all 8 cylinders are firing. Sound like a decent plan?

Spievy79 wrote: I am not familiar with the "quick check" I did rotate the shaft in 90 degree increments during the alignment and rechecked my gap. If you have a trick to check it I would love to hear about it

If you rotated the prop shaft and checked the difference after each rotation, then you did the quick check. If the shaft is bent, any clearance difference will follow the rotation.

These guys are the wizards, but to my understanding if it were the dampener it would rattle every time, not intermittently, and also mostly just in reverse

I am not familiar with the "quick check" I did rotate the shaft in 90 degree increments during the alignment and rechecked my gap. If you have a trick to check it I would love to hear about it

Joel,
When you got the .003" difference between the coupling faces, did you do the "quick check" for shaft straightness by rotating the shaft in 90 degree increments?

TRBenj wrote: To where the prop spins freely? .

scootdogydog wrote: did they align the prop shaft?

Joel
Tim's question is a good one. You were asked if they aligned the engine to the shaft and you did check that it's within the .003". However, is the strut aligned with the shaft??? It all starts at the strut!!

Ok, a couple questions...30-35 max at 3000 rpms is at the dock I'm hoping? ;) as far as the idle mixture and idle screw do I leave it where it runs decent in neutral then go into gear THEN adjust idle screw or mixture screws first? That's where I get confused