Hi Fastatv
1/ 6yrs
2/ Yes, I could get at least 50 out of her at WOT when I first got her. I've had it serviced by several different people because I kept her on a trailer at a marina and I have wondered if someone had switched the carb.
3/ I had a drive bellows go on me which let in sea water, which in turn caused the Gimbal Housing to corrode quite badly. I was about to have the engine taken out at a cost of about £2000 and have the Housing replaced when I found a welder who welded in a bead. It was out of the water for a while, I stupidly ran it on the old fuel so decided to do a carb rebuild.
4/ Actually no I'm not entirely sure but I can honestly say that it wasn't there when I opened it up. As you say they are staked in.
5/ Yes I've been out several times. She runs OK, there's a little misfire at tickover but not much, however she won't run at WOT. She'll do about 30-35 and then struggle.
I have to say, the hole where it is supposed to be doesn't look as if it has ever had a stake chipped into it, however there was a Power Valve in it, which was replaced. Not being a Carb expert I started to wonder how the Power Valve worked so looked into it. The Sierra diagram which came with the kit didn't show a Piston, but the Adobe Mercruiser Manual shows it in the Carb breakdown pictures but again not in the Schematic.