Hi folks,
I recently bought a 1990 Sea Ray 280 sundancer with twin merc 5.7 V8's and alpha 1 gen 1 outdrives. The Port motor was running but the starboard was seized. So i ended up having both motor replaced with 2 re manufactured engines. The marine place used my old ignition stuff which I was fine with, since I was trying to keep my costs down as much as possible. I knew my port ignition stuff worked since the motor was running when i purchased the boat.
When I picked up the boat from the mechanics, He started both engines and ran them up to temp and everything was fine. I drove home (about 15 miles) with the boat and in my excitement I wanted to show my wife the new motors running. I hooked the muffs and proceeded to start the starboard motor. It cranked and cranked but wouldn't fire. I then switched the muffed to my port engine and it fired right away. I let the boat sit over night (thinking I flooded the starboard engine). Went out the next morning to start the starboard motor and same deal. cranked but wouldn't start. Called the mechanic and explained the situation. He said to bring the boat back and he would troubleshoot it. Took the boat that afternoon. He found that it the starboard motor wasn't getting any spark. So he advised to use a new HEI dizzy. It was billet with a red cap and very good looking. I asked if that replaced the whole system he said yes. It has a built in coil and i'd see better results with this setup. I had him replace the port ignition with the same HEI dizzy he put on the starboard. Just because I like 2 things to be the same. (sorry if i'm long winded i'm getting to the point now) I have not splashed the boat yet. I've been waiting to redo the outdrives, but i do go out about every week to start the engines on the muffs and let them warm up to stay lubed. Here's my problem. They start extremely hard. Take lots of cranking and lots of pumping the throttle to get them to start. Today I had to retard the turn on the dizzy to get it to try to fire then once it was firing I had to advance a little to get it to idle. From what I've read this dizzy setup I was given is an automotive dizzy and doesn't work well with the marine application. I've had a notion to just put my old ignition system on the port motor and buy a new used system for the starboard. But I would need a dizzy, coil, wires, and ignition module V822A which seems to be expensive even in the used Field. Is this the best route to take, or is there a better alternative for the marine ignition?
I recently bought a 1990 Sea Ray 280 sundancer with twin merc 5.7 V8's and alpha 1 gen 1 outdrives. The Port motor was running but the starboard was seized. So i ended up having both motor replaced with 2 re manufactured engines. The marine place used my old ignition stuff which I was fine with, since I was trying to keep my costs down as much as possible. I knew my port ignition stuff worked since the motor was running when i purchased the boat.
When I picked up the boat from the mechanics, He started both engines and ran them up to temp and everything was fine. I drove home (about 15 miles) with the boat and in my excitement I wanted to show my wife the new motors running. I hooked the muffs and proceeded to start the starboard motor. It cranked and cranked but wouldn't fire. I then switched the muffed to my port engine and it fired right away. I let the boat sit over night (thinking I flooded the starboard engine). Went out the next morning to start the starboard motor and same deal. cranked but wouldn't start. Called the mechanic and explained the situation. He said to bring the boat back and he would troubleshoot it. Took the boat that afternoon. He found that it the starboard motor wasn't getting any spark. So he advised to use a new HEI dizzy. It was billet with a red cap and very good looking. I asked if that replaced the whole system he said yes. It has a built in coil and i'd see better results with this setup. I had him replace the port ignition with the same HEI dizzy he put on the starboard. Just because I like 2 things to be the same. (sorry if i'm long winded i'm getting to the point now) I have not splashed the boat yet. I've been waiting to redo the outdrives, but i do go out about every week to start the engines on the muffs and let them warm up to stay lubed. Here's my problem. They start extremely hard. Take lots of cranking and lots of pumping the throttle to get them to start. Today I had to retard the turn on the dizzy to get it to try to fire then once it was firing I had to advance a little to get it to idle. From what I've read this dizzy setup I was given is an automotive dizzy and doesn't work well with the marine application. I've had a notion to just put my old ignition system on the port motor and buy a new used system for the starboard. But I would need a dizzy, coil, wires, and ignition module V822A which seems to be expensive even in the used Field. Is this the best route to take, or is there a better alternative for the marine ignition?
