eletrical issues

[khyland]

hi, I have a 88 supra with the 351 ford in it. I can't figure out why it doesn't start good. I rebuilt my carb so fuel is not the problem. I came to the conclusion that its spark. so I put a new coil and distributer cap and new points and condenser. I tuned it all up and it ran fine. got to the lake and it ran like it was out of time, missing hitting on 6 cylinders until it finally died and I couldn't start it. When I was checking to see if my coil was good, I broke the points to see if I had spark and I couldn't get it to spark so I figured my coil was shot. so thats why i put a new coil on. but when I did, I still didnt have a spark, but my engine still ran.... how is that possible. So I am thinking that I'm not getting enough spark to start my motor because it always floods itself, even after its warm. If I'm not getting enough spark what are some of the reasons. Not a good ground??? getting very frustrated with the boat. when its warm you should just hit the starter and it should crack right off. I do know things about motors but not marine motors but to me it should be the same.

any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

[chris young]

There are 2 things that sounds like they need to be done. The first is adjust the primary float in the carb so that you arent' flooding when warm. The reason for this flooding is that the floats are set too high and the primary boosters continue to drip fuel after the engine is shut down. This is easy to check, simply pull off the spark arrestor right after shut down and look down the primary barrels and see if fuel is coming out one or both primary boosters. If during your carb rebuild, you set the floats level with the bottom of the bowl per Holley instructions, and your motor is tilted (I'm assuming it is) then the floats are set too high.

Secondly, if your starter solenoid has secondary contacts on it, you can connect a wire directly from the start solenoid to the +ve post on your coil. This bypasses the ballast resistor only when the starter is engaged, and puts a full 12V to the coil.

If you do both of the boat should start every time, hot or cold.

[khyland]

There are 2 things that sounds like they need to be done. The first is adjust the primary float in the carb so that you arent' flooding when warm. The reason for this flooding is that the floats are set too high and the primary boosters continue to drip fuel after the engine is shut down. This is easy to check, simply pull off the spark arrestor right after shut down and look down the primary barrels and see if fuel is coming out one or both primary boosters. If during your carb rebuild, you set the floats level with the bottom of the bowl per Holley instructions, and your motor is tilted (I'm assuming it is) then the floats are set too high.

Secondly, if your starter solenoid has secondary contacts on it, you can connect a wire directly from the start solenoid to the +ve post on your coil. This bypasses the ballast resistor only when the starter is engaged, and puts a full 12V to the coil.

If you do both of the boat should start every time, hot or cold.

Ok, I jumped the resistor and have good spark now. but my floats are still set to high, but my holley carb doesnt have an adjustment screw at the top of the bowl, it just has a brass plug where the set screw is supposed to be. so how can I adjust my float level without tearing the whole carb apart.

[chris young]

Short answer, you can't.

If it makes you feel any better you don't have to pull it all apart. You just need to pull the primary bowl and bend the tang on the float. But yeah, on the marine Holley, there is no external float adjustment.

BTW if you're jumping the ballast resistor, don't leave it that way unless you're using the starter solenoid to do it, otherwise you could burn out your coil.

[khyland]

I tested the coil to see how many volts it was putting out after i jumped the resistor and it was 12v to the coil and 6v out of the coil to the distributor. thats what I want right?? also I took the supra out this weekend. it was flooding out big time and wouldnt even run at an idol and would die, then i couldnt get it started because it would flood. I'm going to replace the carb with a new one, tired of messing with it. any idea on what a good carb would be to put in it? and I could bolt right in without a lot of re plumbing?

[chris young]

Your carb is probably fine, and what I would hate to have happen, is for you to buy a new one and have the same issues, carbs are expensive. You can do what I did, and get yourself a 10 deg wedge spacer, (Holley sells a complete kit with the longer studs you'll need) I bought two 5 deg spacers and stacked them and it worked like a charm. The problem you run into with that is there's no place to plug the pcv hose on the new spacer so you have to drill a hole and put in some sort of fitting, I made mine out of brass. I wanted a level carb, so I was willing to go through the pains of the wedge spacer, but really, you just need to keep lowering the front float until it doesn't flood, it's a hassle, but it's completely doable.