Nick called earlier today and said he got his carb and intake. I'm anxiously awaiting his results, I thought he'd have reported in by now.

Papee just got back

Got it hooked up filter and all fired her up and she was struggling to idle lots of black smoke from the exhaust. I shut her down and removed the filter to see what was going on.
I fired her up again struggled to get going and the same thing ,I noticed the choke stayed closed. I repositioned my wire in my consol and the choke opened. Tried adjusting the two screws Papee mentioned to me about and I got it to idle a bit better. I took her out for a spin and it took a little bit to warm up, there needs to be some adjustment at low speed if I come out of idle to fast it muffles up mid range seemed to be a bit snappier but not a big change on the top end maybe 200rpm increase. May have to try that bigger jet. Would like to fix the low speed problem any suggestions. Oh and I removed my filter and made a temporary breather carb and intake were starting to frost up.

Can you hear the carb click when you turn the key on? Make sure you hear that click it tells you that everything is working. Make sure the carb is grounded good, it sounds like this is a ground or power problem. With that carb being isolated from the motor you should just run a ground. I ran one from one of the carb screws to one screw on the fuel pump.

I would also recommend a ground strap from your engine to your rigging if you don't already have one. Even though your negative cable from your battery is probably attached to your engine, your engine is on plastic mounts so there's a chance that your rigging is not properly grounded where your switches are located. Just a thought.

I had the same idling issue and adjusted the electric choke coil by rotating the housing until the choke just barely goes to full when the throttle linkage is advanced when cold ... that should solve the rich idle.

If you adjust those two carb screws, make sure you follow the procedure from the Volkswagon article as each affects the other. The 130 main jet that I installed gave me a more steady output at WOT but not many more rpm's.

Papee I don't remember hearing a click but I will listen for it tomorrow. I will also run a ground. Ted I don't quite know which part of the carb where the electric choke coil is situated can you or someone else point it out in a pic please.
Nick

It's the three screws and black cap on the opposite side of the linkage where the wire goes in. I went over this on the phone also but we talked about a lot of things. Just google adjusting the choke. There is probably a video out there.

Here's a pic of the choke:

Make sure that you open the throttle lever with your hand when you adjust the choke so you can see it move without being held in place by the throttle.

Ted I read the Automatic Choke Adjustment page and I remembered something from today when my boat was on the trailer. While I had the air filter of I could see the choke lever I watched as the lever slowly opened for about 5 min or so but it didn't full open only when I stepped on the gas it opened more.

When I fire up the engine am I supposed to work the gas pedal while the engine is turning over. That's the only way it would start for me

Thanks Papee Ted i'll read that article more tonight and see what I can decipher.

When the engine is cold, full choke should be tolerated and is probably needed but not for the duration that it stays on. It takes the bimetal choke coil too long to heat up and open the choke so the engine runs too rich while the choke is slowly coming off. That is why I rotated it so that it barely goes to full choke when cold, that way as soon as the bimetal coil starts heating the choke comes off quicker. I hope I explained it OK.

I'm finding that it helps to push the gas pedal to a fast idle immediately after engine start ... it runs better and the electric choke comes off easier

I did the same with my stock carb held the pedal to fast idle. Does anyone know what size drill bit matches the 130 jet.

From what I can tell a 130 is 1.30mm in diameter or .0512. Looking at a chart that is about .008 smaller then a number 55 drill which is .0520. Do a little more research before you go forward with the drilling but im pretty sure I read that somewhere for the jet sizing. Like a 55 jet is .55mm but I could be wrong so try and look it up first.

I set the choke on the carb as you guys suggested and it idles better and it doesn't smoke.

I don't noticed a hesitation at low speed like I did yesterday. Something is going on with the high speed, yesterday when I took it for a test drive my rpm was ranging from 3700-3900, today with me and my brother-in-law a shotgun,rifle, ammo, 6 gallons of gas and some emergency tools I was only getting 3000-3200 rpm ??????? I didn't change anything except choke adjustment. We rode 2.5 hours non stop 3/4 to wide open throttle and I burnt 2.5 gallons of fuel.

I doubt anything is up Nick. With that extra weight in the boat it's probably running lower in the water and pulling your rpm down. I would run it a while before making any changes. How was your icing problem. I really didn't think you'd have a problem with it.

I missed your earlier question about cold starts. When the boat is cold and starting for the first time just hit the gas pedal and push it to the floor once. This will set the choke and be ready for the best startup when cold.

Papee with the air filter on at idle it was starting to collect moisture on the intake so I ran a heat collector to the top of the cylinder.