1972 888(Ford 302), stalling problem

[mik00052]

After new plugs, points, condenser, wires, cap, rotor, coil, and carb rebuild, all done by local marina, boat still stalls out. It starts well, runs well cold. Once warmed up, if left idling after a few minutes idle will surge a little, and then die. Restarts fine, but then stalls when moving from Neutral to either direction. I can get the boat to move out by "goosing" the throttle in little jerks, but that is pretty hard on the water skiier. Also pretty rough on docking as it stalls at no wake speeds, or when going into reverse to slow down.
I brought it back to the marina, they tinkered with the electric choke, but no better. Any ideas on how to solve?
BTW, 4 bbl Holley, dual points....SeaRay SRV190....about 250 hrs on motor.

THanks

 

[Aloysius]

Re: 1972 888(Ford 302), stalling problem

Sounds like idle mixture problem. Could also be sticking advance weights in distributor allowing timing to retard too far, but carb/fuel is first on the list.

Are the vacuum secondaries closing tightly??

 

[Don S]

Re: 1972 888(Ford 302), stalling problem

Had an 888 with that exact problem, idled great for a minute, then would pop and die.
Check the timing and the mark was way off. Turn out to be 2 plug wires crossed. In my case, I was lucky, as #1 and #2 were crossed which is why the timing was off so far.
Check each one carefully, it was amazing how well that engine ran at idle with 2 wires crossed. It wouldn't happen on a Chevy.