Sutphen,

Not to throw him under the bus, but that was the builder that did that. He did all the engine wiring. All good, though. He’s allowed ONE mistake.

Thanks. Brad.

Wow, been a week or so since I've been here... Looks like lots of progress being made.. Coincidentally, I've been in a similar "boat" as you.. I've been gearing up to start up my 496 and my starter isn't working lol..
Unfortunately, I've traced mine back to a dead on arrival OEM Merc starter I bought back in october... Now the vendor says I have to go thru Mercs warranty process because I'm past the 30 day return period, and every local merc vendor is ghosting me...

Guys,

Not a moment too soon. The day has arrived.


Thanks. Brad.

Get that thang in da water !!!

Jeff,

Trust me. I’m chomping at the bit. But it’s still running REALLY rich. I won’t idle below 1000RPM, and about 15% throttle. Gotta get it idling reliably on the trailer. Then it’s off to the lake for some final tuning.

Thanks. Brad.

Congrats
Gonna sound good when you finish sorting it out.

to be honest it sounds lazy, what is the timing and is it advancing properly? almost sounds like it is still in base timing mode. it sounds good just lazy but that could be the way it comes across in the video

Comped,

It is, in fact, essentially a “base tune” that the builder wrote, anticipating the requirements of the build, but specifically to run rich initially. And it is RICH…. Like I said, I won’t hardly idle at all. That’s probably why it is sluggish on those throttle stabs. That and I’m not really stabbing at it that much. I’m gonna drag it up to the dealership and he is gonna connect the laptop and get to work.

Thanks. Brad.

Be careful not to wash it down if you think its that rich.
Also, revving like that leads to reversion. When you free rev, vaccum goes to the moon, when you close the throttle plate it gets worse but has nowhere to pull from except the exhaust, leading to reversion issues. You're also just dumping accel enrichment fuel down the intake revving it, making it richer. Get it in the water and get a load on it to seat the rings. The guys free revving at the dock are usually part of the clown show anyway. lol.
Sounds lumpy. Have fun with it!

Johnny,

Understood. But I think we've done a lot to reduce the possibility for reversion. Scroll up and check out the exhaust mods we made. Dry almost to the tips. It's the stock 496HO cam, too, so not much overlap. Just 1.8 roller rockers to increase lift. Plus, I wasn't stabbing all that hard or dropping back anywhere near zero throttle, else it would likely die.

The revving was for posterity . I don't make a regular habit of it. Unless, of course, we are going under a particular low bridge at our local overgrown mud puddle. Then I gotta "pay the troll".

I don't think it's running THAT rich, just too rich to be happy. The initial tune was an educated stab in the dark, aiming for the rich side to be safe. It didn't flood itself out, drowning the plugs, so it ain't THAT rich. We are hopefully going to be getting together this evening to dial it in a bit, at least to a stable idle on the trailer. Then we are off to a ramp for on-water tuning; hopefully next week.

Thanks. Brad.