FIrst extended run...couple of questions,,found??

[thunderroad]

My boat is a 69 Formula F-190 w/160 Mercruiser (SN 2497444) It had been totally idle for 4 years, with limited use for several years before that, but was a one owner and had received good care all of it's life. Took it out for it's first extended run in the Mo. River yesterday and found a couple of hiccups. First...it is a little hard to start when hot. It seems to be flooded. After quite a bit of cranking it always starts but acts like it's flooded. Here's what's new..points, condenser, rotor, plugs, cap, starter solenoid, battery. Every electrical connection on the boat has been checked and cleaned. Carb was rebuilt..BUT...by me. Mostly I did it to change the accelerator pump. Otherwise I just cleaned and replaced parts. Coil and wires are original. Points were set with feeler gauge as I haven't come up with a dwell meter yet. It starts with just a touch of the key when cold and runs great after it starts with maybe just a slight bog at first crack of the throttle. <br />Problem no. 2..if I'm cruising at about 3/4 throttle and nail it on up to WOT it pulls to the left pretty hard. Trim doesn't seem to change this much. I had the lower unit off and didn't mark exactly where the trim tab was but just mainly eyeballed it. Is this critical?<br />Any suggestions on these things would be most appreciated.

 

[tommays]

Re: FIrst extended run...couple of questions,,found??

on the hot starting and starting in general with a carb motor with some time you will find that theres a sweet spot for the throtel position that should allow easery restarting<br /><br />EFI has spoiled us old cars were the same way<br /><br />on my boat it needs a lot of throtel when hot and then you back it down to idle ASAP when it starts<br /><br /><br />the tab has a LOT of power and you want to set it so the steering is as netural as you can<br /><br /><br />there will allways be some pull to one side on hard acceleration<br /><br />tommays

 

[Don S]

Re: FIrst extended run...couple of questions,,found??

Did you change the sparkplugs, points, condenser, cap and rotor? Those are basic "yeary spring tuneup get ready for the season" type part to change, along with setting dwell and timing and carb adjustment. The dwell effects timing, so if the points are off, so is the timing. This could make it start easier cold, but harder to start hot.<br /><br />

 

[thunderroad]

Re: FIrst extended run...couple of questions,,found??

thanks...<br />the points, plugs, condensor, rotor and cap are all new. I'll admit to a total brain freeze here..I haven't checked the timing. Can't believe I forgot that. I guess tommays is right..newer vehicles have spoiled us. A guy at the dock last night also suggested cracking the throttle a little when I try to start it hot. I'll have to search for the "sweet spot".<br />I'm going back out this afternoon. I'll get these things checked and report.<br />Don S...thanks for the pics. That's something that would have been hard to explain in words.

 

[thunderroad]

Re: FIrst extended run...couple of questions,,found??

I may have stumbled onto something. Set the dwell and timing but they were neither one far enough off for me to feel like I fixed the problem. I ran it up to operating temp for several minutes then shut it off. Took off the flame arrestor and looked into the throat of the carb. I could see raw fuel dripping down onto the throttle plates. It did this for a minute or so then quit. By this time quite a bit of fuel had run into the manifold. I took the carb off and disassembled it. I found that when I put the new gasket under the venturi cluster that I hadn't gotten all the old gasket scraped off. I scraped off the remaining chunk, re-assembled and re-installed the carb. Ran it up to temp again and shut it off. Looked into the carb and no fuel dripping down. Not gonna have time today to get it in the water. Mama says we have a wedding to go to tonight and there won't be any happiness unless....you get the picture. Why do people pick holiday weekends to get married? Anyway..here's hopin that it's cured. <br />The moral of the story would be...let someone who knows what they're doing work on things in the first place.