What to do

"ok, rebuilt my mercruiser 3.7

"ok, rebuilt my mercruiser 3.7 and installed it back. it is now ready to run but it is also winter and could be for awhile here in virginia. i am wondering should i go ahead and run the motor to break the new cam and things in now or wait till spring is here. i don't want this fresh motor to stick or develop rust though throughout the winter if it sits. i could run it now but will have to winterize it even though it has closed cooling cause of water in the exchanger and drive. so what to do...??? also here at home i have a well problem that will only run the boat for about 15 minutes... and then the well is dry for about an hour... though it comes back quick. so will this stop in the break-in time with the cam and rings hurt it... i have to run it above 1800 rpm's for like thirty minutes so i would be doing half then wait an hour or so and then the other half... any idea's on this would be nice to if it would hurt my new engine or if it would be ok to shut it down half wide open and then later on start it up half wide open for another 15 minutes.. any help or idea's is great. i don't want to take it to a body of water to do the break-in cause it's so far away and cold and i want to have all my tools near by, thanks for any information , david"

"I'm sure you will get oth

"I'm sure you will get other opinions here, but I would pre oil this motor and wait till spring before running it... rolling the motor over once or twice before April. If it was set up properly and stored properly, it will wait with no problems.

That and I'm not sure i like your break in proceedure. If this was my boat it would see break in under normal usage speed load conditions - avoiding WOT and extended idle periods.

My thoughts.
DH"

"David, I wouldn't concer

"David, I wouldn't concern myself with break-in but I would certainly want to know that it runs. I was in Richmond Monday and it was 64 degrees. I know it's cold now but pick a nice day, fire the thing up, make sure there are no knocks or bangs, OP is good, pump some antifreeze through it and put it to bed for a couple months.

How could you possibly go through all the effort to rebuild the whole thing and not want to hear it run, at least for a few minutes? That makes my testosterone boil.

Maybe that's just me..."

"HA!! I actually dont disagree

"HA!! I actually dont disagree with this: "I would certainly want to know that it runs". Fire her up, check oil pressure et al and put er to bed. Just a lil more work. Would hold the break in though."

"yeah i definately want to hea

"yeah i definately want to hear it run.. can't wait, if i catch a warm day when i am off i will certainly fire it up and check all systems. should be fun... that way if anything should happen(which we hope not) then i can fix it again before the boating season gets here for me. thanks again guys and gals, david oh and i have already run the oil system with a drill and rotated the motor by hand a few times already but don't want to use the starter with the distributor out cause i will lose my timing area on which cycle it is on, thanks agian"

"good luck, Dave."

"good luck, Dave."

it is easy to get back there p

it is easy to get back there pull #1 plug put finger over hole turn engine over when air starts to blow drop in dist point rotor towards #1 and wire it 1-3-4-2 in a clockwize direction
you will be close enough to start and dial in.

got it cranking but not starti

got it cranking but not starting. what could this be.....

"You may be out a tooth on the

"You may be out a tooth on the distributor. Try advancing it one tooth and, if it fights the starter, turn the distributor back (retard direction) until it stops. If it doesn't figt the starter, then you may have gone the wrong way.

Jeff

PS: If the distributor is out 180 degrees, it will backfire like crazy through the flame arrestor."

"It'll backfire, assuming

"It'll backfire, assuming it has spark. Was it checked with a timing light?"

"ok, some more info on it... i

"ok, some more info on it... it has spark, and it is cranking the normal speed as it use too. it is not back firing or anything, i switched the wires on the cap to see if i were 180 out and still nothing, so i switched it back and moved the distributor some in both directions with no luck yet, i have put some fuel down the carb and tried starting fluid too with no luck or even signs that it want to try and start.... this one got me puzzled and i just wanted to hear it run"

"David: Recheck all of your wi

"David: Recheck all of your wiring connections--one or more may be wrong. Did you do what Shawn recommended to get #1 cylinder to TDC? Did you check the timing with a T-light and is it to specs? Is the carb spitting fuel like a snake spits venom as you pull on the throttle? Choke set to specs.? To check for a strong spark, pull the plug wire off of #1 and slip the plug cover back to expose the electrode. Crank the engine and hold the bare electrode near the block about 1/8". If the spark is bright just keep movimg the wire back slowly about to about 3/8". If you have a strong spark at that distance and the timing is correct to specs., it should fire up. Will it run with starting fluid? If yes, then it's fuel related. Guy"

"It's been a while since I

"It's been a while since I played with one of these morphadites, but, being based on a Ford block, is it possible that the distrubutor turns CCW? Just a thought. Also, aren't you glad you didn't wait until the fish were biting to do this?"

"all connections are right and

"all connections are right and i don't know how to set timing with the timing light without the engine running... isn't that the only time you can use this i may be wrong, dunno... anyway i let it set a couple hours and hit the key and it started for a second but cut off, think i flooded it by putting fuel down the carb. but i don't know how else to get fuel to it until the pump picks it up and puts it up to the carb. i will let you all know what happens if it warms up more today like yesterday, and rick yes i am glad that i am doing this now that way i can fish later "

"Go WOT (Wide Open Throttl

"Go WOT (Wide Open Throttle) while you crank it this time and bring it back down to a normal throttle position if it starts. With a carb, that's about the only way to clear a flood.

Another thing to check is the safety switch- is in the right position and if there's a lanyard, is it engaging the switch? You will have coil voltage while cranking but not in the RUN position if the safety switch isn't working."

"DAVID:
you can use the timi

"DAVID:
you can use the timing light while it is cranking to see how far advanced or retarded the spark is; that will help get you close enough to run at a faster idle. Get somebody to help you.

I would loosen the distributor lock down clamp just enough to be able to hold it in place and have your wrench ready while the helper cranks it and reads the timing to you so you can quickly adjust it into range. Once it is idling at oper. temp. you can set it right. Remember, when you tighten the clamp that the dist. shaft may move 1-2 degrees and change the timing so check it one last time.

I never need chalk since I painted the outer edges of the timing mark (about 1/8" wide) on the crank white, leaving the mark black so that when the light fires it fills the black mark.
Guy"

"got it running just now... it

"got it running just now... it were flooded and the float was stuck in the carb... fixed all that and ran it for about 30 seconds to set timing at 8 degrees...i hope that is ok. It starts every time now and runs smooth, it was getting cold so i decided not to run it on the water just yet, maybe tomorrow if it is warm. Thank you all for getting me through this problem and hopefully all is ok and i can break the engine in soon, will be letting you all know, thanks, david"

"David: great job! What a re

"David: great job! What a relief you must feel. Since your carb was flooding, gasoline has gotten into the engine oil and will thin it out. Pull the oil dip stick and smell and feel the oil--if there is a strong odor of gas and feels thinned out, it's cheap insurance to change the oil before next startup so the new engine has clean full bodied oil during breakin.
Another filter is cheap too. Just my thoughts of protecting your assets. Enjoy the rebuild. Guy"

"yeah i checked the oil cause

"yeah i checked the oil cause i were worried about it, is checked out good so i think it should be fine, so far i cranked it for a few times momentarily and different times in the garage and so far it starts right up as soon as the key is turned. it use to take awhile to start before the rebuild and ended up burning up a starter on the old engine, everything is new and so far doing great, we are getting snow now today so i can't really get it out to do the break in on the engine so maybe one day this week i will get to that part."

"David;
I had to jump in here

"David;
I had to jump in here with my 2 cents worth.
I think you are doing the right thing by delaying your breakin until spring, as was suggested by Mr. Hays earlier. The new rings will seat properly and quickly with the cylinder pressures high; ie the motor working against a load, as opposed to just idling and running with no load. Vary the RPM's frequently and avoid WOT for the first few hours, and life will be good for years to come.
Just my thoughts."