1969 Merc 1000 redlines upon startup

[inthedirtagain]

Brought home my grandfather's boat and have begun the cleanup process. Its a 1969 Silverline DeVille 16ft with the original Merc 1000. He's owned it since new and has taken great care of it. However, its sat for the last 5yrs because of his health. Since his passing nearly 2yrs ago, no one else in the family seems interested. Of course, its full of rotten fuel. I know I need to address that first. However, I'm not sure if the fuel was ever treated. It smells a little stinky, but the motor does fire up. This lets me know that all systems are functioning and the motor can/will eventually run the way its supposed to.

While on muffs with the old fuel, it starts easily, but instantly goes straight to WOT. The electric choke does not appear to be stuck, but I also understand this to squirt extra fuel. I've removed the carb filters/screen and surprisingly found very little debris. They looked very clean. Not detecting any varnish, but I will still clean out the float bowls and jets. Am I missing anything here? I've got about 5 gal of fuel to dispose of before I can clean the tank, replace the fuel line and bulb, and install a new in-line filter. Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[wired247]

Either the throttle is stock open or the distributor is stuck advanced. Get rid of that old gas and start checking and lubing linkage parts. The chokes on those old carbs do exactly what a choke is supposed to do. They choke the carb like an old automotive carburetor. You dont have the fuel squirting type.

 

[inthedirtagain]

I will lube every zerk fitting I can find later tonight. One question.......when looking at the distributor (is upside down), which way does it turn when advancing? I want to make sure that its not rotating until the throttle lever is advanced. Also (ok, two questions), there is a warm-up lever on the control box. When its lifted up, what part of the linkage is it supposed to be pulling on? I can't tell from the manual so its possible that this may be sticking and contributing to the RPMs.

 

[inthedirtagain]

Cleaned out the fuel tank and line, added fresh 50:1, verified the timing is not prematurely advanced, verified compression while I was in there (120-130 in all 6), but will need to wait for better light to view the butterfly valves are closing and not open. Will also disconnect the throttle and move it by hand to see if the warm-up lever is too far advanced. Any other suggestions?

 

[inthedirtagain]

Think I have it figured out. Looks like the throttle cable was out of adjustment. Didn't notice it at first, but it's set to idle on the muffs at about 800rpm. Engages forward and reverse just fine with no hint of bog right now. We'll see if that changes once it's in the water.

 

[Faztbullet]

Set the idle at 1000-1100rpm on the hose as it will slow down when put in the water....