evinrude ignition issue 1988 20hp

Hello, have read many posts and found good info, but need assistance. I have a 1988 evinrude 20 hp, model E20CRCCA. Background on eng. Got it with a boat at estate sale. Family was not sure how long motor had sat. Cleaned fuel tank and mixed new fuel before attempting to fire it off. Ran rough and would not idle. Lots of black stuff in exhaust on skag after running. Performed following work. Compression check, 4 good pulls for each cyl. Results #1 = 80,100,105,110. #2 = 80,105,115,120. Pulled head and decarboned pistons (#2 was much worse than #1). New head gasket. Rebuilt carb. New plug wires and plugs (QL77JC4, gap at .040). Disassembled and cleaned manual primer, o-rings all good. Performed spark check and have good white hot spark on both plugs with them sitting next to block. Engine ran better but fouled #2 plug just trying to set idle speed (have read seloc manual and Jo-reeves posts and have followed advice for needle valve setting). Have given eng a shot of OMC engine tune to help clean reeds etc due to sitting. Cannot figure why #2 cyl continues to foul and eng seems to be running on only 1 cyl. Have swapped coils and problem stays with #2 cyl. Eng runs cleaner now but apparently on 1 cyl. Hope I did not put to much in here. Any help would be appreciated as I hate to start shotguning expensive parts. Also, the seloc manual says float setting is 1 1/8 to 1 5/8 inch drop, is there an actual correct setting for the float drop? Have a type 4 carb, single barrel, front draft, adj l/s setting, fixed h/s setting. Also eng does not seem to get very warm as I can easily touch it and hold my hand to it even after 15 to 30 minutes of test running on flush unit at low speeds. Thanks in advance for any help.

Re: evinrude ignition issue

first--------seloc,clymer---is extremely--generic,...but,good 'basic' info,....prob is...most need more than the theory of operation.....i have a shelf full of them,...i also have about 4500 dlrs of FACTORY service manuals....if u could be so kind to just tell us what the basic prob is,...i--for one wouod try to help.....

Re: evinrude ignition issue

Hello jwbmarine, thank you for lokking at my problem.
Problem is the engine will not idle. It runs rough as though only running on 1 cyl and the #2 cyl plug continously fouls. Starts on one pull every time and I can keep it running if I constantly mess with the throttle but it will not idle without dying.