Fine in idle, terrible when in gearSN2001

Man that's kinda long winded. All you realy have to do is get the #1 cylinder on TDC of the compression stroke, look at what tower the rotor is point to in the cap and that's your #1 plug wire location, know go CCW with the firing order. Every one makes it sound like there is a specific tower on the cap that has to be the #1 tower when in fact any tower works, it's all relative to where the rotor is when installed and that's your starting point.

Looks like I bought the same nos as you did off ebay. Which one did you go with from skidim and why? I was going to talk to them about this when I figured out I messed up but they were closed. Thanks.

OK here's the dilly. Seems to run super smooth now. I haven't put it on the water yet but it is completely different now.

The problem, I'm not a 100% sure yet. It definitely had something to do with the distributor. I put the new prestolite distributor on with new prestolite electronic conversion on it. Hand-cranked number one to tdc, set firing order, started right up, set timing to 6 btdc @ 650 rpm and it ran super super smooth.

So, the original problem? Not sure, but it has to be one of three things:
1. Bad distributor
2. Bad electronic conversion module
3. The oil pump shaft was not seated into the bottom of the original distributor properly, hence why it bogged when I tightened the distributor set bolt.

Number 3 is what I am leaning towards, because the shaft is what fell out when I tried to replace the new one and when I loosened the bolt on the old distributor it ran better. I am not sure but just wanted to let others know what I went thru.

1st new carb
2nd new fuel/water separator
3rd clean anti-syphon valve
4th new fuel pump
5th new plugs/wires/rotor/cap
6th new distributor with electronic conversion
set timing and all is good..... I hope.

I will take it out on the water in the next day or two and post back.

Feel free to ask any questions and I will answer to the best of my knowledge. Thanks to all who have helped me get this thing going, I just can't wait to get on the H20.

Don

well all and all you wheren't that far off you need to change your order a little and it would have saved you some cash.

When faced with engine problems you have to start with the easy stuff first and eleminate them one at a time before you start changing parts out. number 5 & 2 should have been compined and done first. I always do a tune-up at the start of the season, I inspect the cap,rotor ans wires and don't always replace them, especially the wires. But plugs, filters, timing and re-adjust the idle mixture screw and idle are a must. Then you would have wanted to do #3, and used a pressure gauge to test the fuel pump and the last would have been a re-build on the carb instead of replacing it. You get extremely lucky if you can just bolt on a carb and not have to adjust it. To dial in the carb you need a vaccum gauge for the holley's so that you have maximum possible vaccum at idle leaning towards the rich side of the setting or screwed out not in. On the q-jet's or edelbrocks there a lot easier and can be done by ear given some instructions on what to do.

Don,

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. Sounds like you did a fantastic job. I hate to hear when people have issues with their boats. I've been following your thread since day one. I'll be looking for your response after Friday. Nice work. If and when I need help, I'll call on you guys instead of paying labor charges. Good luck, Don and enjoy yourself this weekend.

Ken

79nautique, I think they are steel block and aluminum heads, and yeah already knew the rotation was opposite. I'll be happy with this 351W as long as she can keep pullin'

Don

richen up the choke setting and double check the timing, you cold have a coil or modual breaking down when hot.

Yes, I concur, likely a richer idle and well set timing is needed.

If the air screws are too lean or the static timing is too retaded, those symtoms will persist. An engine set 6-8 degrees can be symtomatic where 10 sees marked improvement.

Set the air screws with your buddy
in gear, making the engine run strong and smooth at idle. The results will be markedly little drop in rpm when you put it in and out of gear, minimize the flat spot off idle, and make most restarts a hands-off afair.

You will be able to feel the engine's smoothness and pull by gauging rpms, speed and smothness right through your feet, its very effective. This results in the perfect idle mix when under load, a strong condition that is a touch richer than most set-at-idle-in-nuetral methods.

Check for fuel expansion, drippy venturi or accel pump squiring fuel a few minutes after shutting down. If this is occuring,a dress the excess heat or bad needle/seats because the above adjustments wont overcome the overly rich condition on the next startup from the raw fuel.

Put the old carb back on last night. Advanced the timing to about 9 btdc. Ran about 6 hours straight today and no problems. The plugs were a little fouled from the other carb running so rich.

Is it fairly normal to get a little puff of smoke from exhaust when taking off pulling a boarder? It didn't seem to run poorly, had plenty of power. Just wondering if there is anything else I should be looking for.

I also get quite a bit of H2O in the bilge, I suspect from the shaft.

Thanks again,
D

White, and for about 1-2 seconds. Yeah, I read a post about the shaft and stuffing box.
These boats are suprisingly roomy. We were out with 6 people wakeboarding and all of our gear and had plenty of room.

D