bigmike253

Ok guys, lots of information/ back story here, its bullet pointed for ease of reading. ]
-Bought a boat in last September, 2010
-It was a 79' Formula 233 w/ twin Mercruiser 300's tempest motors
-Got rocked on the deal
-Floor, Stringers, bulkheads, and just about everything was junk
-Come May, finished Floor, Stringers, and bulkheads...things are looking up....

-Come time to run the motors....
I run engine one ( don't get me started on engine two). I pump the throttle and use a little starting fluid to get it going. It will idle at about 2-2500 rpm, but once I dip it below it slowly declines (20-30 sec) then poops out.
-Come the fun stuff
I notice carb is dripping fuel continuously when I shut off motor..... then I notice 10in flames from carb opening......at this point I think I might be in over my head.
-Ok I adjust float level ( my first time working on a carb, I was born after 1980 guys)
-Dripping seems to stop, but doesn't seem to want to fire up as it did before.
-I did a little more tweaking with the adjustment screws (per Holley specs). mixture screws were turned in all the way until lightly seating then out 2 turn, which seemed to work best.
-Seems to want to idle with for about 60 seconds then slowly dies and poops out.

Whats my next step? The carbs are a Holley 4011 double pumper/ vacuum secondaries, and electric choke. Ignition is a thunderbolt 4.
-Check timing? I already checked firing order.

firehawkcat

Low fuel preasure or water in fuel ??? When was the last time these motors were fired before you fired them,

rexcramer1

Well you need to start at the beginning here.

Is the fuel in the tanks good fuel?

New filters?

What is the fuel pressure?

Is the carb still leaking fuel? The float could be sinking or be stuck. I would recommend rebuilding both carbs. Cheap and will give piece of mind

What is the idle rpm? 750 is fine if it will stay running at that rpm

bigmike253

The motors were last fired 2 years ago. The fuel tank is brand new filled with fresh fuel. The bowls are not leaking after I lowered it recommended . I just replaced plugs with factory recommended ones. Would timing cause this.

kreed

iTrader: (2)

Fuel/ water seperator could have $hit in it . When taking boat out for the first time, I would bring 3 new seperators with you, there may be alot of $hit in the fuel tank too!

blue thunder

Flame out the carb = spark plugs firing while intake valve is open. Yes timing will do that.

rexcramer1

How about the caps and rotors? Have you changed them? You could have a timing chain that has stretched and allowed the gears to "jump" throwing the timing off, or maybe its just plain off.

A good place to start is about 8 degrees BTDC.

sprink58

OK...I have been through some similar stuff with my '79 Formula Liberator with twin 260's so I'm going to let you in on what I have done...might help you.

First of all...congratulations...you have the other '79 Formula "Hot Rod"...the 233 Interceptor. Our boats are similar in many respects except yours is 522 lbs lighter.

Anyway...your Holleys aren't "Double Punpers" if they have vacuum secondaries...they may have dual floats however with 2 fuel inlets.

I had similar problems with flames out of the carburetor....double and tripple check your firing order...it is easy to get off by one plug wire and that's all it takes. Also remember that with the firing order being 18436572...you can set the distributor up where you think No 1 is at top dead center when No 6 is actually at TDC...I made this mistake and I have been working with these engines for many years. The only way to really know is to have the port side or "odd" side valve cover off and see that both No 1 intake and exhaust valves are closed with the harmonic balancer timing mark at TDC. Double check this because if the distributor has been out of the motor this is easy to get effed up.

The other thing I had going on was that my ignition module was heating up and dumping out after a minute or two...drove me nuts untill I took the distributor out of the port motor (which ran fine) and put it in my "out of whack" starboard motor. Bingo...problem solved...replaced the module in the distributor and all was well.

As far as setting your timing...get a timing light with a dial on it so you can check your total advance. You need to be all in with 32 deg advance at about 3000 RPM.

You sound like you might have your carb issues under control...don't hessitate to add Stabil or Lucas Oils version of fuel stabilizer for ethanol gasoline....I am using the Lucas.

Good luck with this and feel free to share/ask questions relative to your 233's "ressurection"

bigmike253

Hey guys, thanks for all the great info. Today I took off the carb and checked them out today. The previous owner said they were rebuilt and they seem to check out. Everything looks to be in good order and all the gaskets look new. I re-torqued them and replaced the fuel/water separator. They didn't look so hot. The engine idled much better. It now fires up quicker and runs smoother however still dies after about a minute. Hopefully playing with the timing and tuning screws will get it nailed down.

Anybody have a good source for rebuilding sea water pumps and picking up the kits?

bigmike253

Hey sprink,
I'm trying to find a impeller kit for my sea water pump and all I'm finding is kits for the alpha drive. Do they use the same kits? I went to west marine and they were much help. The Merc manual did help much. Any part numbers for Merc, Sierra or anything would help.