1976 888 Fuel Questions

ratdude747

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 30, 2023
Messages
221
Drilled holes. And despite having other things to do, I decided to give it a try.

I'm actually testing it now... But here's what I have so far:

Idle is way down... Due to a working alternator! Had to adjust the throttle screw to get it to 700-850 (700 cold, 800-850 warm).

We do have water flow out the bypass ports:

View attachment VID_20240523_191240.mp4

Many minutes in and no overheat. Almost at 140...

17165064222153149918780817579946.jpg

I'll let it run a bit longer... But seems better on both accords.

Yay?

Edit- ran over 21 minutes, temp didn't rise above what's pictured. Test complete.
 
Last edited:

ratdude747

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 30, 2023
Messages
221
Per my other thread the lake test was mostly successful. No overheating (maybe got a hair past 150?) and had plenty of power (we didn't go all the way to the redline, too much traffic). I did run some Motor Medic Lead Substitute just to be safe.

That said, fuel wise, I'm in a pickle. Bringing this back to the original question of this particular thread, the fuel I'm supposed to run isn't super obtainable. Lead substitutes are hardly stocked (heck, the LAPS I bought from didn't even know they had it stocked- somebody had asked 20 mins earlier and only one old bottle on the shelf) and while the local lake 30 mins away has a couple 90 octane E0 stations nearby, the lake is too small for this boat to be worth using (only area where wake is allowed is 1.25x0.5mile). My town has a really nice Ohio river boat ramp but literally nobody in town has ethanol free (it's all E10 or E15)... and an hour of driving just to fill my boat's 20-25 gallon tank (it puked out the vent at around 17.5 with no more than 4 already in but I thought was supposed to be 25???) seems like a waste of time and gas.

From what I can tell the fuel lines/tank are decently clean... but my fear is that ethanol will wreck the mechanical fuel pump (which I believe is factory) and I have yet confirm if such can be rebuilt to handle ethanol (from what I can find the mercruiser fuel pump may be a rebadged/modified Carter pump like Ford used on automotive 302s???). Let alone issues with ethanol fuel sitting in carb bowls (but that's a winterization issue and can be worked around- I run E10 in my carbed truck without issues).

Last thing I want is to be dead in the water with a dead fuel pump. But I also would like to be able to use fuel that doesn't require an expedition to obtain.
 

matt167

Rear Admiral
Joined
Sep 27, 2012
Messages
4,151
Don’t sweat the ethanol. Pump what you know you will use and burn it.

The fuel pump is probably available if not a rebuild kit for sure is. It’s a Carter pump that has a hose nipple on the weep hole. It’s so if the pump fails it does not fill the bilge.
 

ROY WILLIAMS

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 8, 2022
Messages
400
Per my other thread the lake test was mostly successful. No overheating (maybe got a hair past 150?) and had plenty of power (we didn't go all the way to the redline, too much traffic). I did run some Motor Medic Lead Substitute just to be safe.

That said, fuel wise, I'm in a pickle. Bringing this back to the original question of this particular thread, the fuel I'm supposed to run isn't super obtainable. Lead substitutes are hardly stocked (heck, the LAPS I bought from didn't even know they had it stocked- somebody had asked 20 mins earlier and only one old bottle on the shelf) and while the local lake 30 mins away has a couple 90 octane E0 stations nearby, the lake is too small for this boat to be worth using (only area where wake is allowed is 1.25x0.5mile). My town has a really nice Ohio river boat ramp but literally nobody in town has ethanol free (it's all E10 or E15)... and an hour of driving just to fill my boat's 20-25 gallon tank (it puked out the vent at around 17.5 with no more than 4 already in but I thought was supposed to be 25???) seems like a waste of time and gas.

From what I can tell the fuel lines/tank are decently clean... but my fear is that ethanol will wreck the mechanical fuel pump (which I believe is factory) and I have yet confirm if such can be rebuilt to handle ethanol (from what I can find the mercruiser fuel pump may be a rebadged/modified Carter pump like Ford used on automotive 302s???). Let alone issues with ethanol fuel sitting in carb bowls (but that's a winterization issue and can be worked around- I run E10 in my carbed truck without issues).

Last thing I want is to be dead in the water with a dead fuel pump. But I also would like to be able to use fuel that doesn't require an expedition to obtain.
my MCM470 year 1978 .. the gasoline 90-93 octane 10% alcohol ...
the marine additive one oz. 10 gallon gasoline ... the marvel mystery oil one oz. 10 gals .....the carb is very good and the gasoline tank ....no mess !!!!
the winter boat tank gasoline draining it .... then the truck gasoline tank in the fall .....

the carb/gas pump/filter is a very good job ....no corrosion !!!
 

ratdude747

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 30, 2023
Messages
221
Don’t sweat the ethanol. Pump what you know you will use and burn it.

The fuel pump is probably available if not a rebuild kit for sure is. It’s a Carter pump that has a hose nipple on the weep hole. It’s so if the pump fails it does not fill the bilge.
Today I burnt roughly the same amount of 89 octane E10 I pumped in on Friday. No issues.

Supposedly by the 70's they already were using butyl rubber in fuel pump diaphragms, so I'm not sweating the pump.

I've read that one only needs to add lead substitute 1 out of 3 tanks of fuel... didn't buy or add any this time. Hope that's OK...
 

ROY WILLIAMS

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 8, 2022
Messages
400
Today I burnt roughly the same amount of 89 octane E10 I pumped in on Friday. No issues.

Supposedly by the 70's they already were using butyl rubber in fuel pump diaphragms, so I'm not sweating the pump.

I've read that one only needs to add lead substitute 1 out of 3 tanks of fuel... didn't buy or add any this time. Hope that's OK...
my 1978 MCM470 engine `the gasoline 90-93 octane and the marvel mystery oil 1OZ and the 1OZ marine additive 10 gal gasoline tank .
decades of the gas tank 1986-1996 the lead 10 yrs 1oz of the 10 gallons of the tank .... marine additive is gasoline today ....
 
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