Acceleration issues.

When you go to fix your fire order on the plug wires remember this is a FORD, Ford engines are 1234 on bank one and 567 and 8 on bank 2.

If you look straight down on your engine above your distributor and engine pulleys you will see one cylinder head is about 1” forward of the other at the front of the engine.   This forward head is always bank 1 where your #1 cylinder is on a V8 engine to get started.

I was able verify some things this am. Just for clarification, the previous photo with the piece of paper with the marking #1 on the wire was where #1 used to be before going to the last shop. That is in fact where the #2 wire is and should be located now as KENO stated. See the below photos.

Ok, when I removed the plugs I marked every wire with the correct cylinder location (based on the photo provided earlier in confirming the firing order). So, I went back out and turned the motor to TDC with the dampener at TDC as well as the rotor pointing to #1 wire in photo below. I then marked all of the wires on the distributor starting with #1 and working my way around CCW. Then checked that the markings at the distributor matched the markings at the plug end. 1 to1, 8 to 8 and so on. They all matched. I have looked at these wires so many times in dealing with this boat that I could be going cross-eyed though. If anyone sees anything in the photo that does not appear correct please let me know. Thanks everyone.

Thank you for confirming everything looks OK at this point, I really appreciate it.

I am going to start putting things back together this week and inspecting things well as I do it. Hopefully I will get it fired up on the trailer by this weekend with some news to report. I found the DUI instructions with the troubleshooting section for some light reading as well just in case I need to go down that road at some point (hopefully not). Thanks.

When it returned from the last shop after they put the distributor gear back on, it would reportedly start, idle and then die off idle. They also reported it only had 13psi vacuum. I worked my way through the "slipped timing tooth theory" (thanks to you all) and finally put everything back together. I finally started it yesterday and idled but it didn't sound great. Off idle it stumbled hard and would die. When it would run it would idle low. I confirmed the timing was holding a really steady 10*. I stopped for the day. 

In getting ready to post those findings, I went back through to see what other suggestions I needed to report back as well. So, I decided to triple check the cap again knowing the rotor hit something when it died on the lake and the cap looked perfect and I put the cap back on. The other was to check there was 12V at the distributor. It indicated 11.8 but the battery is likely low from all the start attempts at the shop. I then double checked the connection/clips to the BAT and TACH terminals on the distributor by just making sure they were clipped in. There was really no reason to start the boat again and see if I could slowly get it off idle but I thought let's give one more try to confirm and it FIRED RIGHT UP AND SOUNDED GREAT!! Great throttle response and holds higher RPM's no problem. After turning it off and staring at it in shock for a bit, I tried a re-start and it started instantly (like touch the key start) it has never done that before. Did it twice to confirm. I also checked the vacuum which is back to a steady 15psi. 

The only thing that changed between yesterday and today was I pulled and checked the cap, confirmed 12V to distributor and double checked the connection/clips to the BAT and TACH terminals. The answer must lie here, my guess is a bad/loose connection or ground etc. I left well enough alone at this point. I need to confirm all of those connections since it was the first shop that installed the new distributor. So any recommendations on the best way to do that would be appreciated. I assume I can just remove the clips from the distributor and inspect them but I'm not touching anything right now as I want to enjoy a few days of victory with this boat before digging in for a closer look. 

Thanks again everyone!

If they are spade connectors, they are not as tight as they should be for sure, as there was a lot of movement in them. They seemed loose when I checked them and pushed them together, but I was only checking to make sure outer plastic retention clips (if that's the right term) were connected. Thanks!

Click on the link below for lots of choices

It doesn't have to come from DUI either

It's an easy swap 

Ignition modules fail however they feel like failing

Since I have had a number of issues associated with this distributor, and with it still being under warranty, I decided to contact the manufacturer and see if they have had any similar issues. I didn't want to start replacing more parts that would perhaps void the warranty. They advised that I am the only one they are aware of who has reported these issues, meaning the roll pin coming out and the gear coming off, the rotor damage and now possibly a bad ignition module. I want to make SURE that I convey how receptive they were to hearing what occurred and quickly offered on their own to have the distributor returned and inspected by one of their techs. They advised that they would repair/replace the distributor if needed and make it right. Outstanding customer service in my opinion.

As much as I want to get a new ignition module and put it in and hopefully hear it run great again, I can't pass up their offer to have it inspected by one of their techs and go from there. I hope you all agree. 

There were some earlier comments about using a hardened roll pin for the distributor gear so I asked them about it. They confirmed that they use hardened roll pins in the distributor gear. I just wanted to pass that information along to everyone. 

It may be a few weeks before I have any updates but I will let you know what they find. Thanks again everyone. 

After taking a break, I went out and tried starting again with no luck. I then adjusted the timing by rotating the distributor clockwise a bit (which I believe is advancing it if I'm correct) and it fired right up! I put the timing light on it and set it at 10* BTDC and it sounded great. I was able to give it throttle off idle and it responded great as well. I am a bit shocked and not sure I quite trust it yet, but only time will tell with more testing. 

Thanks everyone for hanging in there with me and helping me along the way. We are at least back to a boat that starts, idles and responds great off idle. I am not declaring victory yet but things are looking much better for sure.

Just kinda wondering................any victory declaration yet or does that wait till warmer weather? 

Good adjustment on the choke, if I understand the change you made.  Truth is you can start an engine without a choke, use the accelerator pumps by pumping the throttle to keep it going in the first 15-20 seconds, so if anything I think you were experiencing too much choke for too long.  Not sure of that, just guessing.  But also a minor problem since it smooths out and runs fine after.

On the 2700 rpm wall that you hit.  If you hadn't had the distributor worked on and checked out I'd be suggesting that you need to check total timing, sorry can't remember if you already did so.  Did you ever try a new ignition module?  If fuel related I'd expect it to bog and surge when you hit the wall, the fact that it runs smoothly tends to make me think fuel is OK.