I am turning to the experts on here! I don't know where else to go honestly.
I have an 83 Skeeter Starfire 180 that the original 83 J150 dropped two cylinders. So, I found a repower! A 1991 Johnson Fast Strike 150. History is a little iffy on it. He had it on a Ranger and took it off for a repower. VRO was already disabled (which is great because my J150 was already disabled too), it had two cylinders rebuilt on it (no idea which ones but I can assume), and ran when he removed it. Got the motor mounted and my mechanic ran compression on it. Starting at the top Starboard cylinder and going down it had 100, 105, 80 and on the Port side top down 93, 95, 95. He didn't want to attempt to tune it with the compression differential on that one cylinder. Well after thinking about it for a while I decided that I didn't have anything to lose because I had already bought the motor and it was already mounted. So, I finished controllers and wiring and got it to run! It ran good too getting me up to mid 50s on the lake by myself. The only problem is that it didn't like to idle. So, I figured I would do carb kits to see if that fixed it. I have a buddy with an Intruder 175 and he sent me the carb kit he used without any problems. I put them on and let it idle and it was great. Took it to the lake and it had no power in gear. Like put it in gear and it instantly bogged and died. So, I took it back and took the carbs off to go through them again, but the gaskets started tearing from tightening them down. I found OEM kits and put them on. Same problem. Then I found out you aren't supposed to use the plastic washer under the needle seat on plastic carbs. Took them apart again and removed the plastic washer, relevelled the floats, checked the gaskets to make sure they were sealed. Same problem! It idled better but still no power. Somebody before me had installed a little electric fuel pump so I wired it in and managed to get it to run well enough to get up to a whopping 6mph at WOT! Got to looking and found that the little cap on top of the fuel pump between the VRO and diaphram was seeping fuel. I tried a fuel pump from my old J150 but I don't think they provide enough fuel with just one. I got a functional pump withou the VRO off a Fast Strike and removed the check valve looking fitting in the block and replaced it with a brass hose barb because the old one I could spin the barb part in the nut and didn't know if that could cause a vacuum leak, and put hose clamps on all the connections for airtight seals. I can pump the bulb up until it gets firm crank it in the water and it idles, revs great in neutral, but as soon as I put it in gear and push the throttle down it bogs and dies. If I pumped the primer on the key while it was running I did get it to go to WOT in gear on the trailer a couple times, but it took some work. I have brand new Champion spark plugs gapped at .030 too. I have not done comporession since I got it running, but I am going to do it this week. I am losing my mind on this thing! There are no carb adjustments other than the floats, and these things should be so simple! Any ideas? Because I am lost. I have tried to write everything I have done and all my symptoms too, so sorry for the long post.
I have an 83 Skeeter Starfire 180 that the original 83 J150 dropped two cylinders. So, I found a repower! A 1991 Johnson Fast Strike 150. History is a little iffy on it. He had it on a Ranger and took it off for a repower. VRO was already disabled (which is great because my J150 was already disabled too), it had two cylinders rebuilt on it (no idea which ones but I can assume), and ran when he removed it. Got the motor mounted and my mechanic ran compression on it. Starting at the top Starboard cylinder and going down it had 100, 105, 80 and on the Port side top down 93, 95, 95. He didn't want to attempt to tune it with the compression differential on that one cylinder. Well after thinking about it for a while I decided that I didn't have anything to lose because I had already bought the motor and it was already mounted. So, I finished controllers and wiring and got it to run! It ran good too getting me up to mid 50s on the lake by myself. The only problem is that it didn't like to idle. So, I figured I would do carb kits to see if that fixed it. I have a buddy with an Intruder 175 and he sent me the carb kit he used without any problems. I put them on and let it idle and it was great. Took it to the lake and it had no power in gear. Like put it in gear and it instantly bogged and died. So, I took it back and took the carbs off to go through them again, but the gaskets started tearing from tightening them down. I found OEM kits and put them on. Same problem. Then I found out you aren't supposed to use the plastic washer under the needle seat on plastic carbs. Took them apart again and removed the plastic washer, relevelled the floats, checked the gaskets to make sure they were sealed. Same problem! It idled better but still no power. Somebody before me had installed a little electric fuel pump so I wired it in and managed to get it to run well enough to get up to a whopping 6mph at WOT! Got to looking and found that the little cap on top of the fuel pump between the VRO and diaphram was seeping fuel. I tried a fuel pump from my old J150 but I don't think they provide enough fuel with just one. I got a functional pump withou the VRO off a Fast Strike and removed the check valve looking fitting in the block and replaced it with a brass hose barb because the old one I could spin the barb part in the nut and didn't know if that could cause a vacuum leak, and put hose clamps on all the connections for airtight seals. I can pump the bulb up until it gets firm crank it in the water and it idles, revs great in neutral, but as soon as I put it in gear and push the throttle down it bogs and dies. If I pumped the primer on the key while it was running I did get it to go to WOT in gear on the trailer a couple times, but it took some work. I have brand new Champion spark plugs gapped at .030 too. I have not done comporession since I got it running, but I am going to do it this week. I am losing my mind on this thing! There are no carb adjustments other than the floats, and these things should be so simple! Any ideas? Because I am lost. I have tried to write everything I have done and all my symptoms too, so sorry for the long post.