351-W carb?

well Frank,
Just some confirmation needed first. The boat starts OK cold and then when you shut it down after warming up good, I assume that it cranks over but doesn't start very easily? Then maybe starts right up after sitting for a period time? Your terminology is confusing. If that's the case, it's a fairly common occurance that can have a couple different fixes.

First, start it and warm it up. Remove the flame arrestor and then shut it down. Look down the carb throat right away and see if gas is dripping down onto the throttle plates. I'm guessing it is.
If yes, the needle/seat in the float bowl is dirty and not closing completely or the float is adjusted too high in the float bowl and keeping the needle/seat open.

Cleaning the needle/seat fixes the first one and adjusting the float down fixes the second. Both scenarios require that the fuel bowl be removed.

Holley's rebuild perfectly fine as long as you have a genuine Holley rebuild kit. Anything else is pretty much junk. There have been some quality issues recently with the needle/seats in some rebuild kits but in most instances replacing with the originals has fixed that also.

Your mechanic is either too damn lazy or too damn ignorant to fix the problem. I would suggest that you find a new one or we can walk you through fixing it yourself.

If you happen to get a new carb, just make sure it's a 600CFM Marine unit. Bolt it on with a new gasket and go. Several here recently have went with a Quick Fuel M600 and have had excellent results. It's a Holley design that is much easier to make adjustments on. Edelbrock makes a good carb with mixed reviews. They're either loved or hated.

Hope this helps.

racingnc wrote: Want to fix mine backfoot....

Absolutely. Just get it down to FL and I'll fix it right up.

Holley carbs aren't difficult to rebuild if you take your time with it. Buy high quality kits and try to use the blue. Alcohol resistant gaskets and accelerator pump. If you go to Jegs or Summit Racing you can find a lot more alcohol resistant hardware because of alcohol race cars.

A lot of the problems now with carbureted engines stem from the gasoline itself. The oil companies have engineered the gas to work better in fuel injected engines. One of the things that has happened is that the new formulations have a lower vapor pressure, meaning that they boil at a lower temp. On fuel injected engines is isn't a problem because you have a feed and return line. Fuel doesn't. End up sitting on a hot engine. It is constantly recirculated back to the tank. Injected engine also operate under pressure usually around 60psi at the rail. In the carb'd engines fuel sits there in the bowls and boils off. This allows more vapor than liquid to move through the carb. Hence....vapor lock is more of a problem. I found this out from a mechanic friend of mine when I was having this issue with the Mopar 440 in my Winnebago. His "cure" on his race car was to use a cold can. That works fine for racing but not practical for boating or the street.

Yep, Its wide open after warm up. The Camaro too.

Cranking for more than 5 seconds before starting.

mamigacz wrote: Cranking for more than 5 seconds before starting.

So it cranked for more than 5 seconds and then started without touching anything else.
Or did you have to pump the throttle, hold it wide open or do anything else with it?

backfoot100 wrote: Just some confirmation needed first. The boat starts OK cold and then when you shut it down after warming up good, I assume that it cranks over but doesn't start very easily? Then maybe starts right up after sitting for a period time? Your terminology is confusing.

Correct, but it doesn't matter if it has been sitting a period of time, unless it's the next day.

This is kinda of what happens;

A. It starts right up at home, run a minute, shut it off and head to the lake.

B. 45-minuets later I'm putting it in the water, it turns over but takes a couple of minutes to start.

C. I run around on the lake a while, runs great, 30-45 minutes, shut it down to chill awhile.

D. Climb back in, 1/2-1-2-3 hours later, it turns over but takes several minutes to even start hitting. It just turns over and over for several minutes then Pup...pup-up...pup....pup-pup-pup..pup-up...pup-pup-pup..boom-boom-boom-varoom with a gasy smell and smoke out the exhaust.

I've tried to start it diffrently each time; with no throttle, a little throttle, wide open and everything in between.

It's funny how great they seem to run on the trailer.

lakedog55 wrote: And what else happening in the chill time? points or electronic ignition?

It has points.
The chill time...A dip in the lake and a couple of beers.

Might as well throw some wires on it. Coil is usually good or bad. I would switch it over to electronic, but that's just me.
Starting problem sounds like carb. Fuel drip will cause it to flood. just for giggles drain your bowls.

nautique74 wrote: backfoot100 wrote: Just some confirmation needed first. The boat starts OK cold and then when you shut it down after warming up good, I assume that it cranks over but doesn't start very easily? Then maybe starts right up after sitting for a period time? Your terminology is confusing. Correct, but it doesn't matter if it has been sitting a period of time, unless it's the next day.

nautique74 wrote: I checked for the fuel drip this past weekend. When I take the flame arrestor off the choke valve is blocking my view and when I push it open, gas will squirt in the carb but I don't see any dripping after that...

Setting Chris, Tom or Eddie up for the Alley-oop

Everyone must be too busy doing their actual jobs.

I can't wait any more.

It sounds like the choke is not opening, or not opening consistently or reliably. If the boat is warmed up, and your choke plate is closed, we'll there's your problem right therrr'

Opening the throttle to full will force the choke open usually.

I'm thinking he opened the choke with the throttle and got an accelerator pump shot.

I have this book and like it a lot. It may not be the most comprehensive, but it packs most everything the casual user would want to know into a quick, easy read. Pound for pound, it packs a lot of knowledge:
http://www.amazon.com/Holly-Carburetor-Handbook-4150-Hp473/dp/0895860473/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=04QYYHF8QM84ZB2WDPAR


I have this DVD too:
http://www.amazon.com/Holley-36-378-Carburetor-Installation-Tuning/dp/B000M2AM22/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
A lot of what's in the DVD can be found on youtube, but it's nice to have it all packaged together. Plus, on DVD, the whole family can enjoy in the comfort of your living room, haha.