Looks great, hope to see it sometime! Assuming you have a stock thunderbolt 4 ignition that has 24 degrees advance, 8-10 initial is a nice place to start. Another couple degrees isn't going to change the world power wise, and may just push you into detonation.

Josh, you may not see this since I know you're busy trying to get a move on, but as I mentioned yesterday... listen for pinging. Assuming you have the V8-24 module, you'll come at 34 degrees (approximately) at 10 degrees initial. I would like a little more initial to help with idle, but that would put you into detonation for sure.

Make sure to take her easy until you've got some good premium fuel in there, too. Last season's fuel will not be up to par for WOT running.

Pictures and video!!!

Good luck!!

Just an update, still not 100%. The engine fired on Thursday evening and the carb, valves, and timing were set. The engine was run for a short period of time on the trailer to check for leaks and to come up to temperature. I took off of work on Friday and spent the entire day buffing, waxing, and cleaning the boat. Friday evening, went for a sea trial and she wouldn't fire like she did before at the local boat ramp so I moved the boat down to my cousin's pier where I wouldn't have spectators while I worked on the engine. After some brief troubleshooting, I discovered she was only firing on 3 cylinders so I adjusted the valves once more and it came back to life, she ran great back to the boat ramp. I changed the oil on Saturday Morning because there was a little bit of water in the oil from the valves hanging open. Went to head down the river on Saturday afternoon once I finished the engine hatch vinyl, and the boat fired right up at the ramp but about 1/4 mile down the river, the engine changed tone and it turns out the valves lost their adjustment once again! I adjusted the valves once more and counted the threads. I ran the boat one more time in front of my cousin's pier, pulled the covers, and 14 of the 16 rockers lost their setting. I put the boat away for the weekend after that. I was too aggravated to even look at the boat. Now, I followed the procedure on properly adjusting the valves while running, with the correct preload and everything but I am using the Comp Cam lock nuts that came with the rocker arms which I have read mixed reviews on (not holding their adjustment). I plan on pulling the top end apart this week to check on the valves, heads, pistons, and cylinders to see the extent of damage, if any and I may switch over to the poly locks that my friend has an extra set of to see if that helps any. I am hoping there is no damage to any of the rest of the engine but at this point, I am less than optimistic. This Memorial Day Weekend was one that will forever be remembered as a waste of time. The only upside is that I take delivery of a Bayliner Ciera 2855 this week to have as a second boat, but it's not my Formula.

"The only upside is that I take delivery of a Bayliner Ciera 2855 this week to have as a second boat, but it's not my Formula."

Still looking for the upside to this.....

Hahahaha! Me too... other than being able to get on the water as a last resort.

So are you saying the self locking nuts on the rocker studs were turning while the engine was running? If they were loosening making the valves lose lift until the engine no longer would run, I don't see where you would do damage. I've never seen that happen before.

Yes, the rocker studs are torqued and did not move, but the actual locking nuts are backing off. Causing a huge racket and degraded performance. The engine will still fire within 1 rotation of the starter so I am thinking everything else is fine.

Well my first trip out with freshly rebuilt and upgraded engines (and the all the mind racing and nervousness that goes along with it) went like this:

1. Get to boat, sea strainer won't seal, pouring water in the bilge, pull boat out and work on that get it fixed back it down in.
2. Batteries dead, must have left something on. Go to store buy new battery.
3. Go out, engines running good, doing some tuning. See oil pressure dropping on one motor. lucky I was idling, goes to near zero and I shut it off before low oil pressure alarm goes off. Open hatch and there is 8 quarts of oil in the bilge. Blew an oil cooler line. Limp back in on one engine and fix that, and clean bilge up best I can for now...

At least the engines are running good, but the struggle is real hahaha

I expected a few hiccups for sure. It's frustrating. That's why I am giving myself a few days to calm down before I tear into it. Hah! I remember this morning on my way to work that I left my batteries on.

Just curious, but how are you confirming that the rocker nuts are coming loose, and that it's not the cam lobes? I had a bad experience with Comp Cams (soft lobes) in the past, Comp wouldn't stand behind their product & I'll NEVER use them again. I've been a Crane guy since that bad experience with Comp, and haven't had any troubles with that product.