’90 Ski Nautique not firing properly

I bought a '90 Ski Nautique and I can't get it to start. It is getting plenty of fuel. It has points and I checked the points and the gap was too close. I regapped the points and now when I first turn the engine over I can see the points sparking. After they spark a few times the spark goes away. I also pulled a couple of plugs and when I first turn the engine over I can see the plugs firing then they stop. I am going to buy new points, condensor, cap and rotor but wanted to know if the problem could be the coil. Also, what should the point gap be? What plugs should I use if I replace them and what is the plug gap? Any help is greatly appreciated. I know there are many Fan members that can offer advice and I need it. Thanks, Kevin

Get rid of the points and go for an electronic conversion. I was reluctant to make the change but I think it may have been the single biggest improvement I made in the boat. (Cheap too.) I went with the Petronix. About $95.00 as I remember. You will thank me for the advise.

Since I could not find a pertronix kit locally and I wanted to get the engine running, I bought a tune-up kit and installed new points, condensor, rotor button, and dist. cap. After installing the boat fired right up and idled perfectly. Then came the next problem. The engine would run very smooth up to 2000 RPM. At that point you could not give it more gas or it would begin sound like it was missing, flooding, shaking or something. I checked the timing and it was 10 degrees at idle and moved to 20 degrees at 2000 rpm. I diconnected the throttle cable so I could give it gas while looking into the carb. While giving it gas up to 2000 RPM everything looks fine in the carb. However after you give it gas to go above 2000 RPM the carb appears to be dumping raw fuel into the primaries. You can see it dripping into the carb. Is this normal? Is the carb the problem or should I be looking somehwere else? The engine is a PCM 351 with a holley carb. Thanks in advance for your help. Kevin

Kevin originally posted: <<I bought a '90 Ski Nautique and I can't get it to start.>>

You didn't tell us how the "test drive" went...?!! Was the guy sitting at the dock with the engine running when you showed up?
This has potential for being kind of funny, don't you think??

Kevin, I bought my boat the same way. You ARE very close. The problem could be the coil but I doubt it. If in doubt change it. No one has mentioned the Holley power valve. I do not know the symptoms of a faulty power valve but maybe someone will chime with some thoughts.