Intial Carb Setup Problems.....
 

Have a 355 roller motor. I had a PCV valve in for the first hour of usage and the Edelbrock 600 seemed great out of the box..The pcv valve was run to the manifold. Well after the first hour (builders choice to have it in the first place!) It was pluged up and a breather was installed. Well after this it seemed o.k. But after a trip to the lake whenever it was put in gear it wanted to die....For a quick fix I upped the idle speed to around 1400 (out of gear) well even this didn't help. I could put it in gear (forward) and catch it before it died with some quick throttle jabs. It would idle accepatble at that point. If I tried reverse (helpful at the dock!) the thing would die with-out any hope of saving it. Well with 2-3 foot chop and 20 Mph winds and no engine hatch I had to put her back on the trailer before I could try much......Why would the PCV valve have this effect? Or am I just assuming the PCV valve was to blame? And to get to brass tacks where should I start to get it to not die shifting into Reverse and Forward without jabbing the throttle and praying it makes it.........

"Bad-Habit"

F3LS. When you plugged up the PCV valve, you're sure it was a 100% close-off at both the carb base, and, on the manifold to ensure no vacuum leak.

Question. The the boat idle normal?

The Carb base wasn't used...The intake is sealed I think. I mean I used a brass plug with gobs of gorrilla snot on it. It idled fine. It died going into gear. It really seemed that the load of the drive going into gear in the water caused it to die. Going into forward gear I could jam the throttle quickly and have a 50/50 chance of it not quitting on me. If I could get it not to die on the actual shift itself it would idle fine in gear. But going into reverse (More load I guess due to the shape of the transom compared to the bow) was useless. It would die. I could not get it to idle at all.

"Bad-Habit"

a PCV valve wouldn't have that effect as long as you plugged the manifold . an EGR valve could. i would pop the top off the carb and check the float settings, the needle and seat for dirt, and the neutral safety switch.

Was this the first water test with the new engine?

What kind of drive do you have? I had an Alpha on my old 24 Superboat that did the same thing. There is a cable at the drive that momentarly cuts the engine when shifting. If this cable is worn or streched or just out of adjustment, you'll get the problem you are discribing. Check that out.

Mongo

"Bad-Habit"

I have a 355 with an edelbrock 600,vortec heads and an edelbrock air gap intake. I still have my stock merc cam. The factory settings have been the best that I can find for my edelbrock carb. I have about 10 hours on it and and my motor has been running very good. I have tired adjusting the carb but I keep comming back to the factory setings. It idles at 600 and my outdrive shifts fine. My boat has the stock breathers in the valve covers that have hoses that run to my K&N air cleaner.

I have a quad jet on my truck. No carb will give you more top end than a quad jet. I do like the edelbrock carb , intake and heads. I am very happy with it. It starts well. I can kick in the secondaries at any speed. I know I can easily pass 5000 with that carb. It seems to be well matched to my sbc.

I am very happy with the edelbrock setup. The question is how long will it last?

Yeah, the ignition cutout switch on the shift linkage rocker. You did not specify whether the boat idled nicely in gear once it actually WAs in gear. If you DO get it in gear, and then slow down to idle does it behave properly? If so, then I would look at the ignition cutout switch.

M

Another vote on the ignition cut-out switch. The engine should momentarily die when you shift (if you listen on a system that is actually working, you can hear it). Is it possible that you might have left one of the wires disconnected going back to the distributor or something like that?

Tom

Well I got the top end of my motor back on today and tried the shift again ON THE TRAILER AND OUT OF THE WATER. It went into FORWARD fine. REVERSE the engine died. It sounded like it cut out then with me jabbing the throttle it sputtered for a second then died. AGAIN Forward was fine ONLY REVERSE has a problem.....

"Bad-Habit"