I have returned... with a Starcraft this time!

[MNhunter1]

Great job on all little details! I feel your pain with the fuel issues, had similar problems getting mine to run and found the culprit to be the fuel line disconnects for the tank. Lookin' good!

 

[BWR1953]

Oh man she looks super nice!

So on the motor issues, 7 or 8 months isn't going to make the fuel go bad enough to clog up the carbs, maybe separate or soak up water if you're using E tainted fuel. At least an inline filter but a spin on water separator type is best to limit any future bad gas issues.

If you have a gray Attwood primer bulb fuel line, that needs to go as it's the #1 cause of fuel feed issues in the OB motor groups.

I sure hope not! I really don't want to take the thing apart again! :lol:

The fuel line is black and not Atwood. And I only use non-ethanol fuel for the boat, tractor, chainsaw, etc. Costs more but definitely worth it in the long run. :joyous: I learned my lesson about that the hard way. More than once. :facepalm:

Right now I only have the OEM fuel filter (which can be seen by the lower carb in the following video) on board. I do have a water separator on my "wish list" but I'm running out of installation room on the transom.

 

[BWR1953]

Today's update:

 

[classiccat]

Today's update:

Looks like we were both servin' neighborhood mosquito eviction notices yesterday! :lol:

Lookin' and soundin' good there BWR!

 

[BWR1953]

Looks like we were both servin' neighborhood mosquito eviction notices yesterday! :lol:

Lookin' and soundin' good there BWR!

Two-stroke mosquito foggers! :lol:

 

[BWR1953]

And today things were better, but that motor ain't right. (To paraphrase Hank Hill.) :mmph:

 

[BWR1953]

I wasn't able to get video/audio of the engine struggling on acceleration. Maybe next time. The plan for now is to go fishing early in the morning the day after tomorrow. We just want to get out on the water and rip some lips.

After that, I'll take some time and try to figure out what's going on with the old Merc.

 

[BWR1953]

Some pix from today.


The boy turns 14 on June 21st. He sure is growing up.

 

[jbcurt00]

Excellent!

Congrats to the 1st mate for his bday.

No fish pix?

Looks like a nice day for a cruise....

 

[BWR1953]

Excellent!

Congrats to the 1st mate for his bday.

No fish pix?

Looks like a nice day for a cruise....

Nope, no fish. The purpose of the trip was engine related and a little fishing time was bonus. But tomorrow morning we're planning on getting to the launch ramp early, weather and local bass tournaments permitting.

 

[Watermann]

It sure sounds to me like you have a fuel delivery issue but it could also be the timing. I would for sure do a link N sync on the motor and put a fuel pump kit in it. That era of motor needs to have the sync between the timing and throttle linkage/idle air adjustment perfect to run right hence the reason it's dying at idle..

 

[BWR1953]

It sure sounds to me like you have a fuel delivery issue but it could also be the timing. I would for sure do a link N sync on the motor and put a fuel pump kit in it. That era of motor needs to have the sync between the timing and throttle linkage/idle air adjustment perfect to run right hence the reason it's dying at idle..

Well, we didn't go out in the boat this morning. My wife was too tired and all 3 of us got new cell phones last evening so she and the boy wanted to stay home and mess (play) with them today. I'm a bit more patient.

It was odd to me that engine struggled so much when it was trimmed fully down.

But since I'll have some extra time, I'll take a look at things, starting with the "repair" I made to the carb coupling assembly. The coupler had split at the top ring. I made this quick repair back in February when we were working hard to get the boat splashed while my buddy was here.

Mine looks like this after the repair in February. It may be flexing too much on throttle up. Replacement part is almost 50 bucks, so I've been reluctant to buy one.




And a new one looks like this.

 

[BWR1953]

And after proof-reading my post above, I decided to "splurge" and just now ordered the replacement carb coupler. :facepalm: :lol:

 

[BWR1953]

The boy and I went fishing a couple days ago. Got up at 0530 and left the house by 0600. It's an hour's drive to the lake. Stopped to buy shiners and breakfast along the way, so didn't launch the boat until 0730.

Searched for a couple hours but didn't find any bass. Temperature and humidity was up by then, so we went under a bridge where the boy caught a dozen or so bluegill. He had fun.

I hadn't made any changes to the engine since the last time and it ran the same as before. But I did do some online research afterwards and found that the issue I have is "classic" for this motor after rebuilding the carbs. I just needed open the idle mixture a bit, so I did that yesterday morning. Will be testing on the water in a couple days. We'll have everything ready to go so that all we have to do in the morning is hook up and leave, with no stops along the way.

 

[BWR1953]

Hi all. Been a couple weeks and we've done some more work with the KF.

We haven't been out on the water in almost 2 weeks because my wife was in home isolation. She got out 5 days ago and went back in today!


As part of the bogging on acceleration issue, we checked to be sure that the carbs were sync'd. I couldn't get my eyeballs level enough with the carbs to see for myself, so the boy took some pix. The top carb looked like the throttle shutter wasn't closing all the way, but I couldn't be sure.



We pulled the top carb loose in order to install the new carb coupler. It bugged me to pay $50 for that little piece of plastic but I did.



And since it was loose anyway, I pulled the top carb off and verified that it was in fact closing all the way. The lighting made it looked like there was a gap, but it didn't have one. All is good.


We got the coupler installed, the carbs sync'd and the motor test run in gear, in the barrel. Everything worked fine.


So we moved on to installing the Garmin Striker Plus 4. Here it is running the simulator before we got all the wiring mounted and tucked away.




We nearly got it all installed in one day but I ran out of energy due to the high heat and humidity. Ugh!


I'm using a Nocqua lithium-ion battery to power the Garmin. It's light and has plenty of oomph for the job. I have it hanging on a hook under the bow where it's out of the way but can be easily removed for charging. We got the wiring and transducer installed on the trolling motor.


All set and ready to go!

 

[Watermann]

Sounds like you guys are now ready to terrorize some fish. Uh 50 bucks for that carb coupler? NLA stuff I guess, a guy could pay for a 3D printer pretty quick at those prices.

 

[BWR1953]

Sounds like you guys are now ready to terrorize some fish. Uh 50 bucks for that carb coupler? NLA stuff I guess, a guy could pay for a 3D printer pretty quick at those prices.

Yeah, it galled me some to pay that much but it's even more at the dealer.

It'll probably be a couple days before the boy and I go fishing. Not fair for the two of us to go out and leave my wife home alone with her stresses. :lol:

 

[BWR1953]

I received a new water separator/fuel filter a short while ago. The thing is huge, about the size of a car oil filter. I have no idea where I'm going to be able to mount the thing. :noidea:

Also, I read a couple of reports that it might be too much for the 50 Merc to handle. I'll try it out and if it's too much of a drag on the fuel system, I can always remove it later.

 

[BWR1953]

The boy and I went fishing this morning. The main focus of the trip was to tweak the carbs on the 50 HP Mercury but we did boat a few fish. A couple largemouth bass and some bluegill. I got the biggest bass but the boy got all the rest. Whupped me good!

 

[BWR1953]

I pulled the cowling off the Mercury while we were in a shady spot on the lake. I adjusted the carbs a little at a time until they sounded "right" to me.

Took the boat to some deeper water for a holeshot test.

This was the result.

I was very happy with the results.

BUT!! Once I put the cowling back on, the bogging returned, albeit at a reduced amount. More tweaking to do.