i bought a 1990 four winns liberator 221 a year ago from fox lake harbor in the chain of lakes and part of the purchase deal was a new 300 horse 350. after having it for a year i noticed it seemed slugish out of the hole. it has a 14.5 inch prop 19 pitch so i would think it should be fine prop wise but i noticed it used to be fuel injected i believe with a coil pack set up now it looks like they converted it to carbrated single coil and it has a marine style distibutor so im pretty sure i got screwed on that part of the deal. i ran the numbers on the block and it is a new crate 350 300 horse marine motor from gm performance marine but i cant tell what type of advance it is running because i can't find the control modual so i don't know if it is advancing properally. i am asuming it is electronic ignition so but im confused on how this distributor is working i believe it is a mallory distributor. im a car motor head not marine and the ignition is confusing me. help!!!

Is the control module attached to the distributor?

It will have a vacuum hose running to it like an old school auto hei. This sounds like an old thunderbolt or something? Mallory runs wieghts under the module either way I believe. My specialty is gel and glass but we have built a few speed skiffs and changed back and forth trying to get higher rpm's.

Hope this helps.

Billy

i haven't looked real close like taking off the cap, butt usally if it has a control modual in it . there would be a plug in for power this just has two wires coming out that go to the coil. threre is no vacume modual on the distrbutor. im going to check under cap for springs ect. like a mechanical advance but the way it appears to me this ignition system is all wacked up. thanks guys and ill get ahold of ya billy about the jelcoat job.

A magneto makes it's own power but it is unlikely that's what you have. They are quite expensive and unusual in this application. A Mallory Unilite dist. can be used without an amplifier but it does take a power wire. Both have mechanical advance.

ok it is mechanical it has weights and springs under what looks to be maybe a uni-light like the racing version i had many years ago. what would be the best bet convert to a distributor with vacume advance or try messing with changes of the springs and weighs.I found a performance distibutor vacume advance through davis unified ignition and they will taylor the distibutor to your needs but they aren't really marine distibutors and i don't know if it really matters i don't think i need it water proof if water gets this high im thinking this is the least of my problems and I stay away from salt water. they are at www.PerformanceDistributors.com they said to tell them whats in the motor and they will even set the vac. advance. sounds easier just don't know if it's worth it?

you dont run vaccuum advance on a boat. mechanical only. no hills on the water

I was always under the impression that it was ALL uphill and no down hill