Carver Owners Forum

Lake Erie Monster wrote:I am a former mechanic and i hate carbs with a passion, perhaps its because im a young wippersnapper and can't figure out where to hook up the lap top. any way i just bought a 76 28ft mariner with twin pleasurecraft 302 fords and v drives. port engine fires right up and i mean right up. starboard fights you then floods and blows black smoke after a few minutes. so i tried a simple trick and swapped the carbs. starboard now happier than a clam. the previous owner had both carbs rebuilt last year and had continual problems with the starboard engine and had that carb rebuilt 2 more times to no avail. i have recipts for the services. is there somewhere on this toilette like fuel delivery system than can be cracked and causing it to pour fuel into the manifold? or possible something that is easily overlooked when rebuilding a holley 4 barrel? I'd rather not have to buy a new or remaned carb if i can fix it easily.

I had the exact same issue with both of my 302 pleasurecrafts on my 79 Mariner. I rebuilt both carbs and still had the flooding issue and would not start most of the time, especially on my Starboard engine and occasionally on the port. I have electronic ignition and was getting good fire but not enough obviously after I found the reason.

So I went to look at why my starboard was giving me such a hard time and always flooding and my Dad stops by and says "cross the Terminal resister and see if it will start"
He crossed it and it started immediately. I was amazed. Then I googled the electronic ignition and found that with electronic ignition I don't need the terminal resister in line with the coil AND the resistance in the resistors were worn out anyways and not holding their resistance of 2ohms, which makes sense why sometimes they start perfectly and some times not.

I wired a 30amp fuse inline where the Resistor was and now my engines start immediately.
The Terminal resistor looks like this white ceramic thing here


Now it starts perfectly.
Shown here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvLaMIn4rHg&list=UU9CT249I05DyxqKD1RpYfpQ&feature=share&index=1

A fuse in place of the resistor?

Carefully touch your coil after a run at some rpms. If it does not have its own internal resistor, you will find it to be very hot to the touch and it will fail. If the coil does not have an internal resistor, you need the resistor. Period. If you have some sort of issue with what has worked for years and do not want to use an external resistor, then buy a coil that has the internal resistor. Generally, older Crusaders used external resistors and Mercruiser Thunderbolt ignitions had coils with internal resistors.

waybomb wrote:A fuse in place of the resistor?

Carefully touch your coil after a run at some rpms. If it does not have its own internal resistor, you will find it to be very hot to the touch and it will fail. If the coil does not have an internal resistor, you need the resistor. Period. If you have some sort of issue with what has worked for years and do not want to use an external resistor, then buy a coil that has the internal resistor. Generally, older Crusaders used external resistors and Mercruiser Thunderbolt ignitions had coils with internal resistors.

The new electronic ignition has a internal resistor built into it.

mine is a 76 and it looks like a regular old distributor, how do i know if it is electronic

Take the cap off and look inside - if it has points and a condenser, you don't have electronic.
If electronic, you'll see something like this inside:
http://www.pertronix.com/prod/ig/ignitor/default.aspx

jwrape what kind of speeds were you getting with that mariner

started engine hooked up to water and it deff starts with new carb, when i reve the engine it spiutters and bogs out. there are no float adjustments on this carb, can i only adjust idle mix?

That's about it. Idle screws. Do you have a vacuum gage you can hook up to the manifold? If so, hook it up, tell us where the needle is, and if it's bouncing around at idle. Then rev it once and watch the gage needle and describe what it does exactly.
Check your timing.
Check fuel filters.
Check the antisiphon valves.
Check the fuel tank vents.

Lake Erie Monster wrote:jwrape what kind of speeds were you getting with that mariner

Before I took out the resistor it would get up to 3500 rpm's max last season. I haven't driven it hard this season yet but it does rev MUCH faster and runs smoother. I am assuming it will run up much faster and smoother when I do take it out this season.

wow, i replaced the resistor and it runs like a swiss watch, starts easier than a cheerleader on prom night, i may not have even needed the carb... sigh