'77 American Skier Plugs

Hey everyone, new to the forums and I can about guess this has been answered before, but I'm struggling navigating the forum so if it has, just post up the link for me and sorry.

Short story here I grew up on this boat as a kind up in Michigan with my family, and my dad and I took meticulous care of it until I moved to Florida and he did shortly there after. Well now at 27 the rest of my family allowed me to drive home and bring it back with me finally, so I am beyond excited, this boat was my baby. Anyway its in pretty rough shape now since I wasn't there to care for her, and I'm in the slow process of fixing her back up little by little. so I will be bringing many questions in the future.

Now for my first issue, I'm in the process of getting her running again but i can find spark plugs online, the book i have, and what I wrote down back when was Motorcraft plugs ASF32M, but that doesn't seem to be a thing anymore, So what do people recommend running in it? Also, being in Florida now, what weight oil do you guys think is best to run? I have written down a 20w-50 racing oil, but that sounds pretty heavy to me now. Any help is greatly appreciated, and thank you.

I have put SAE 40 VR1 racing oil in my boat at the advice of this forum or maybe it was on PlanetNautique.

cperry11 wrote: Thank you for the replies Guys. So when I look it up, autolite 24 is the actual part number? Seems so simple haha.

We're a simple minded bunch around here   

Autolite numbers are easy to remember.

You could get Autolite AP 24 which have platinum coated tips, but they're not necessary and that's a couple of extra letters to have to remember and more money to spend.

Available at about any place that sells auto parts too

Thanks for posting this thread. I have new plugs on my to-do list for this weekend.

Oil is always a touchy topic but many people here run 20w50. If you're running the stock flat tappet cam/lifters it's important to find an oil with high ZDDP content - to limit pollution modern engine oil has much less zinc than the older stuff that was spec'd for these boats.
I run Valvoline VR-1 20w50 Racing Oil in my '69 Mustang boat and my '61 MGA car, both of which have flat tappet lifters. VR-1 is classified as a "racing" oil so it can have higher zinc content than normal passenger car oil. This is non-synthetic oil. Works for me but you'll have to make up your own mind. Anything similar will work fine.

VR-1 and Zinc info from Valvoline

Zwoob

Not being sure if you're getting Autolite 24's because of this thread or if you know what's in your 351 right now, I figured I'd mention that the earlier 351's used a plug with 16 mm threads and took a 13/16 plug socket.

From 69 up till the early 70's those heads were used, so if you're not sure what you have you might want to check first.

If it is the big plugs, Autolite 45 plugs work good

If you know what you have, just ignore all of this

I.m back lol, Where should I gap the plugs? my manual says .035 with the points sign, but my dad said he swapped out the points a long time ago.

so do i stick with the .035 gap, or move to the .045 gap recommended for the PROTEC ign (whatever that is, it lists both)

just popped the cap and sure enough its the pertronix kit. thank you again for the help