Can't adjust shift cable correctly and no throttle under load

[scooby333]

1991 Sea Ray 200BR, 350 mercruiser I/O drive. Brief history. Boat has been sitting for the last 6 years do to the upper drive gears going bad. I finally replaced the complete outdrive last year. When I finally got into the water, there was such a lack of power in the motor. At full throttle I couldn't get it over 2000 rpms. This was last September. The boat sat again until this past August when I found out that both head gaskets were shot.

After ripping the top end of the motor down, I replaced the following :

Carb
Both Head Gaskets
Intake gasket
Exhaust Gaskets
spark plugs
wires
oil / w new filter
and changed the oil in the outdrive

Finally got the boat back in the water this weekend. I have 2 issues now. The first is that when I tried forward gear the shift cable would travel past engagement to wear the throttle kicked in before going into gear. Reverse went in immediately. Obviously the shift cable needs adjustment. 2nd was I still had no power. At full throttle I still couldn't get past 2000 rpms

1st things 1st. I'm trying to adjust the shift cable. Here's the problem. When I adjust the brass barrel to 6" like I'm supposed to the dogs don't engage until forward gear. I have reverse gear, but still no forward. I have to twist the barrel almost all the way till I have no threads left for the forward dog to engage, but then I have no reverse. I tried adjusting the post travel for reverse, but still nothing. I can't find the spot for both gears to engage.

2nd. While in the driveway, I can get full throttle. I can rev to 4000 rpms no problem. Butterflys open with no problem. Why the lose of power under load. I'm having the issue with the new carb just like the old carb. Seems like these problems both started happening after replacing the whole drive assembly

:mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new::mad-new:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[alldodge]

It takes very little throttle in neutral to get a motor to rev up, so pay no attention to what happens on the hard.

You need to adjust the lower shift cable per the vid achris put together in the adults only section. It needs to be done to the letter. If after that it still will not shift correctly then the cable needs to be replaced, the upper cable needs to be adjusted, or you did it incorrectly.

With the motor OFF move the throttle full forward and then look at the carb and see if the butterfly is full up and down.

What is the motor serial number?
What is the drive ratio that was installed on the boat?
What pitch prop is on the drive?

Your getting next to no responses because you have it in the OB section. I have sent a message to move to Merc section. More help will be here soon

 

[scooby333]

Sorry, I saw the "M" folder and didn't read it that it was Mercury and not Mercruiser. Thanks for moving it to the correct folder.

I can get the motor serial number tomorrow. It's pouring rain where I live right now.

260 HP motor 1.47 gear ratio

don't know the prop pitch, but it's the same prop that was on the boat when I didn't have the "no power" issue. It was on the boat when it worked fine

 

[alldodge]

Being a 20 footer and 1:47 ratio should be close. My thought is either you might have low compression or the ratio and or prop pitch is to high. Suggest doing a compression test to check the health of the motor. Need to make sure all plugs are firing. Also check plugs for what they look like

Basics
Plugs MR43T gap at .035
Timing 8 BTDC
Compression 150 psi give or take

 

[nola mike]

Did you check the fuel filters? Hopefully that's not 6 year old gas/varnish that you're running through that new carb?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Basic compression test, basic tune up, VERIFY spark plug firing order, change fuel filters,
For the drive, remove it and verify that FWD puts the brass shoe in a straight line ,exactly 12:00