Things I have changed Dist cap spark wires fuel pump diaphragm impeller all rotten wires except for the 3 distrib wires and 2 stator wires all fuel hose replaced with new 5/16 because the old 3/8 hose had 3 or 4 points of air leakage pulse hoses changed to 50psi rated 5/16 fuel line carbs disassembled. Squeaky clean. No stuck needles. Floats show no apparent defects. checked timing is correct. set to 20 degrees max advance. link and sync and set idle screws to 2 1/2 turns out. verified tank vent working put some ring repair in cylinders and then ran a 50 to 1 and seafoam tank Plugged backdraft hoses 110-115 psi on all warm cylinders. tell tale is strong and cool water. no spark loss seen in the dark anywhere. every plug is firing. I am running 50 to 1 mix on Normal fuel. I have 24 gallons of this mixed fuel then know now to switch to a premium or low ethanol alternative for the future. I did not change the dist and stator wires because the seemed a pain to access if even possible. I went to all 5/16 fuel line because fuel line setup when I got the boat was all kinds of rigged air leaks all over. The factory spec calls for 3/8 until the quick connect on the cowl then 5/16 from there. From a stand I can put the hammer down and she takes off like a champion. If the tach is to be believed it will buck itself right up to 5krpm and sing for about 45 seconds to a minute and a half. It will then bog down to about 4k. A little bit of surging. If I ease back a bit it will run great at 4500 seemingly all day. And when it bogs down. I can ease back a moment and then just open it up again and she goes. To check if it was overheating I ran it WOT (as much as possible) on a lake for 1 and half hours straight and when loading WOT against the trailer for 15 minutes. It was only able to reach about 4k rpm lugging under this load but the entire time it never sputtered or faltered. Tell tale kept a stream flowing good. Checked cylinders for melted presents or changes at all after the lug fest and none. So I don't believe it to be overheating. Could overheating wires from the stator or distributor cause this? What about the 5/16 fuel hose not being able to push enough juice? The filter will be nearly full when I prime. Then after some WOT action the filter will nearly be empty of fuel. I've seen it look so empty it honestly didn't look to anything inside other than air but the motor was running. The primer ball goes soft, maybe compresses halfway during use. I plugged the backdraft hoses on the carbs and left the brass jet screws in. At last look the bottom carb lost its jet screw. Should I be looking to put it back in or am I safe to just take them all out? Any help is appreciated. This thing is driving me nuts.
Never heard of this " ring repair ", so what is that ?-----Have your assistant ready to operate the manual fuel pump to see if motor runs different and does not falter.
I reopened the carbs and found that carb one had one needle lever that was not pressed correctly and found it riding on top of the float. corrected the issue and checked other carbs to be sure. Checked to make sure they were all in spec. Minor adjustments needed. Removed the other 2 back draft jets. Fuel pump check valves removed examined and check out so back in they went. Its being starved for fuel. I ran her on the lake for a few hours this morning observing. I pulled the fuel out line on the fuel pump to verify operation and its kicking fuel out. Kind of sputtery and weak but certainly pulsing and kicking fuel. But its either not enough or perhaps some filter screens in the brass carb fittings I missed somehow in the carb dismantling. After fixing that needle lever it runs much harder and will pull the fuel dry in the filter and die out. Pumping the bulb does feed it and keep it going. I pulled the fuel hose off the tank outlet and ran it right down the fill tube to verify if the pickup was getting clogged. no change. Weak pulse? Clogged in-fitting screens? Is it possible that all my tinkering and troubleshooting on muffs has ate the impeller already? The pulse fuel shots coming looked very weak but I have nothing to compare. thanks for all the quick replies fellas! and to the ring repair question not sure if serious but it is a sticky thick mess that is probably 90% snake oil that I shot down the cylinders before trying to run the motor on the water. I got a 50psi on cylinder 1 reading. Bad fuel pump had pumped water in and made everything nice and shiny but froze the ring on the cylinder 1. 50 psi compression then shot full of ring repair goop and turned over by hand, let soak then re ran compression and 110psi. It helped my sticky ring situation but other than that the only thing it may have actually helped in the leakdown department possibly. I'd like to think so because while my compression isn't supreme it does hold very well for cylinders ran lean and steam cleaned instead of having proper 2 stroke lubrication. Had a about a dimes worth of melted metal covering the spark plug hole in cylinder 1 after that happened. But no more since.
I have been in all the cylinders with a borescope and have done a couple warm on the water compression test and all good my friend. I believe when my fuel dia. was failing that it caused a lean condition that started to burn down cylinder 1. Thankfully I think the dia failed soon enough after to put the pin back in that grenade push a nice water/fuel mix just long enough for it to rust the ring closed and give me that 50psi reading 2 days later. Shes unstuck now but my cylinder walls got that 100 yard stare going on now for sure. I know mechanics and engines well, but I don't know 2 strokes, boats and low pressure mech fuel systems but I've learned a thing or two getting this old motor going for sure! I swear I have never had such a simple air leak just make me feel defeated for a bit. Half pondered cheating and slapping a trusty old red electric squirter on it and ditching the pulse pump. But I have spent enough time undoing shortcutted fixes with this boat that I just made the right call and in the end learned a thing or two about cheap primer bulbs and actually measuring fuel fittings as I glanced and ok'd a 5/16 smooth fuel thru-fitting as being a 3/8 fitting when comparing it to a barbed 3/8. It was a 5/16 thru fitting on the splash guard I mistook for a being a 3/8 and a cheap 5/16 primer bulb that would suck air through one of its bulb clamps at high fuel draw. 2 air leaks fixed. She runs great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uJXJp_cfEw Now onto the next project. Went to relocate my batteries more bow side after having a bit of trouble planing with a 2 person tube and noticed a bit of soft flooring. Currently got the nose flooring off digging out some waterlogged foam. Pulling all the foam and found that down the center channel was about 10% total waterlogged but the side channels are nothing but squishy mess. Between relocating 140 pounds of trolling batteries, replacing possibly 100ish pounds of waterlogged foam and propping down (currently on the backup 23p after spinning the OG 17p) I hope to have it screaming at 5500-5700rpm and cruising smoothly for the remainder of its life. With 24 gallons of fuel in 2 12 gallon metal tanks and the 2 deep cylces and then also the inline 6 motor all plopped smack on the stern, with the bonus of some heavy foam and a sasquatch leaning over to gander at it that I may have went about weight distribution all wrong. It may have dawned on me when me and 2 people were standing stern side and i noticed my transom was .5" under water lol. Not good. First boat. I'm learning though. Before the 2 trolling batts that transom sat very comfortably so seeing the splash guard filling up had me anxious for a moment so I quick hit the bilge expecting a situation. Turns out I'm fat and the boat had to much junk in the trunk. She was bone dry. I appreciate you who posted for helping me try to get her going. Certain parts of this adventure weren't so pleasant. Like buying a new dist cap after I butterfingered a perfectly good one and drop tested the OG one from five feet onto my garage floor and replacing all the trim lines that were burnt down from the hackjob wiring a guy did to his grandpas old boat that had been sitting for over decade so he could whip it around for a mere 2 hours before starting it on fire and quickselling for $900 on craigslist. Between just those 2 repairs I'm in for half the cost of the boat/trailer. But alas she lives and breathes again and my family and I had a blast with this old thing on the water and plan to do so again asap!
