had some bogging issues and motor wouldn't pull rpms or hold idle. Strong fuel smell and acted flooded. So after some experimenting, I discovered the motor runs great with the flame arrestor off and chokes out with it on. The choke appears to be working as it should but you can hear it slam shut with the arrestor on so I'm assuming restricted air flow. I pulled and cleaned it today. Letting it dry out overnight before I try it again tomorrow. My question is, is there anything else I should be looking at that would cause those issues? Even got a backfire with it on. Oh and it's an hp500 that ran perfectly fine till this point. Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Coil

Wire the choke open. Boats really don't need a choke anyway.
How often do you boat in really cold weather???

That's certainly an option to try but ultimately I'd like to find the root cause

My guess is you had a backfire and blew the power valve. Not restricting fuel and dumping excess gas.

Anything can happen but if you asked Holley about a backfiring to blow a power valve in their carbs they will face to face tell you no way of happening . And of course they have written it many times in their own words. I have asked them face to face and Holley says no.

Just saying and in writing plus you find this all over the net written by Holley themselves,. plus a simple test to check if so in fact you think the power valve is blown is in the story written by Holley.

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/2013...y-carburetors/

Thanks. I'm not convinced it's the arrestor just yet either since it didn't look bad. I'm actually gonna swap the one off the other motor and see what happens. If that doesn't work ill disconnect the electric choke and/or wire it open. After that it'll be shop bound. I'm far from a mechanic, and can't wrap my head around why it would run fine with it off other than air flow.

If it has a blown power valve from a back fire (I've never seen it). What caused the backfire?

Ethanol gas can also eat away at the power valve diaphragm. Bad gas can cause misfires. It was a suggestion . I had a 1999 carved hp500 with this situation. Power valve is like 9 bucks. Start with something simple. Drop the meter block and give it a try

I would ohm the coil and see if it is within manufacturers spec...