I'm gonna start by saying this: I am by no mean an outboard mechanic and only have general knowledge of engines. Now that that's outta the way, I've recently aquired a 1964 Johnson Golden Meteor 90 HP. I gave it a tune up, new plugs, used (but good) distributor cap + wires, points, and rotor button. I cleaned the carbs and fuel lines. I have anywhere from 88-90 psi on all 4 cylinders when cold. I fired it up and it ran like crap. I found out that the fuel adjustment knobs were all crazy, some were out 1/4 turn and others were out 2 turns. I found out the 'normal' is 1 to 1.5 turns out so I started there. It ran a little better but it still spits and sputters at times. Once it warms up it seems to run much worse. I decided to try a warm compression test 60-72psi, quite a bit lower. I've heard that the compression should be well over 100psi. Those pressures were taken with only about 3-4 turns on the engine, it was building higher slowly. I took it out to test it out under load and it spits and sputters every now and again. It seems to have lots of power starting on the bottom, but then it gets to a point where it bogs down, then once it gets past that, it picks right back up and has power, until the very top then it starts to miss a little. We have great spark in all plugs, we have fuel from the fuel pump, no fuel filter but the sediment bowl is clean, no noticible difference if I pump the bulb while its running. I occasionally foul plugs because I'm not sure how to adjust the fuel correctly, I know that I don't want to run it too lean and burn up what little compression I have left. I checked the timing at idle and it's dead on. I'm not sure what else to check. Is the compression causing this? Is the fuel mix causing this? Both? Any pointers or suggestions? I'll take what I can get.
