1993 nautique won't run over 3200 rpm

Good deal it's easy to forget that many people now days have no experience doing tuneups. When we were younger it was a right of passage watching your Dad tune up the car every fall

All of these techniques (like timing an engine) can be seen on a you-tube how to's.   It's worth the time to learn DIY stuff. It's like building blocks - each new experience helps you down the road.

I don't even start a car repair without consulting the internet anymore.

Ok ran the boat in the water today and no change. It takes a long while of warming up at about 1100 rpms to even be able to idle. Top speed is 34 and top rpms are 3200. With a skier it stumbles backfires and misses when I floor it to take off from idle. Even if I put a little pressure on the skier it still does it. What do I need to check or change now?

Did you verify you have the plug wires in the right firing sequence? Pretty common issue to get the wires wrong when changing a cap.
I guess another thing is verify that the choke is operating as it should. Remove the flame arrestor. When cold, the choke plate should have a 1/16"-1/8" gap opening. Turn the key on without starting the engine and the choke plate should slowly open up to wide open. This will take about 45 seconds to a minute. If it isn't setup and operating right, it could certainly cause some issues. Maybe not the same issues you're having but issues none the less.

You've changed the ignition parts and messed with the carb (which is probably not right either based on your experience level) so I don't know what other parts you can throw at it.
Short of verifying the wiring order, the only other thing to do is checking the timing and then going from there.

Any pics of your boat and engine?

Do you know the rotation of your engine? Most we're Left hand standard automotive by 93, but a few were right hand reverse. This could be a cause if firing order confusion.

Uh-ha!

Sounds like you might have a righty.

If someone put the plug wires set up for the more common lefty, that could be your issue.

You'd be surprised how well a motor will run with the plug wires mixed up. You might not be able to tell until you lean on the throttle.

I once managed to mix up wires in a 4 cylinder Jetta, and it still ran, just ran terrible. A V8 would more easily mask that mistake.

A v8 will start and run surprisingly well on 6 or 4 cylinders (1 or 2 sets of plug wires crossed), but it will not run on 1 cylinder- which is what you'd e trying to do with a LH firing order on a RH 351w.

Good point Tim, I didn't think about that.

But, it still sounds to be like some plug wires are crossed or the spark is arching somewhere.

18456273

Ok another newbie question or two. Choke plate, is that the plate that is over the primaries on the carburetor? If so I believe that mine stays open all the time.

Second one is about firing order and cylinder number location.

If I am standing in front of the engine like in the second picture, how are the cylinders numbered. Also I looked at the firing order in the manual and not sure where to start on the distributor. Is the drawing based on standing in front of the motor looking back at it or standing at the back end of the motor? Sorry for the questions but I want to get this right.

Thanks again.

This is the distributor on my RH motor. Make sure yours is definitely RH. Keep in mind, your rotor turns counter clockwise, regardless of rotation. The exact position of the #1 depends on how the dizzy is set up, but the wires relation to one another is important.

I checked rotation again, sitting in drivers seat looking at motor, engine rotates counterclockwise.

Nice!

Have you gotten a chance to test it out?

Unfortunately no. Hopefully I will tomorrow afternoon.