1990 sunsport tune up gone wrong

[spudski67]

I have a pcm 351 sunsport that i put new cap, rotor, plugs and wires in today. When i restarted it idled very slow and would not go above 1200ish rpms in idle and forward. It did not run rough however. One problem I ran into in the process was when I removed the old rotor, the 2 piece plastic washer-like spacer under it came off with it and fell apart. Inside there are 8 little slots and a bunch of magnets (2-3mm) that fell out of them. I only could find 6 of the little tiny magnets and could only get 4 of them back in the slots because they repel and attract each other. What is this part if i need to get a new one? could it be causing the engine issues? My first thought was that I messed up some wiring but that all seems to be okay and I thought it would run really rough if that was the problem.... could it still be the wires? I'm lost.... any help would be fantastic.

thank you in advance!

[Hematoma]

I have a pcm 351 sunsport that i put new cap, rotor, plugs and wires in today. When i restarted it idled very slow and would not go above 1200ish rpms in idle and forward. It did not run rough however. One problem I ran into in the process was when I removed the old rotor, the 2 piece plastic washer-like spacer under it came off with it and fell apart. Inside there are 8 little slots and a bunch of magnets (2-3mm) that fell out of them. I only could find 6 of the little tiny magnets and could only get 4 of them back in the slots because they repel and attract each other. What is this part if i need to get a new one? could it be causing the engine issues? My first thought was that I messed up some wiring but that all seems to be okay and I thought it would run really rough if that was the problem.... could it still be the wires? I'm lost.... any help would be fantastic.

thank you in advance!Those magnets are the pickups if I am not mistaken. I'm suprised it ran at all with only 6. Each maganet is in relation to each cylinder/spark. I would just pick up a refurbed dist. Or you could go electronic with the ford duraspark setup like I did. P.m. me if you want details about what it takes to convert.

[spudski67]

thank you for the response.

The part i am talking about sits around the bottom of the rotor and together, the whole thing goes on the distributor shaft at the top. The magnets are inside the washer/spacer like part, up againts the plastic part of the rotor that slides onto the distributor shaft. Still sound like the pick ups? The piece appears to just be a small plastic thing so I can't imagine a new distributor or electronic conversion is the best way to go as the boat generally runs great.

[Hematoma]

thank you for the response.

The part i am talking about sits around the bottom of the rotor and together, the whole thing goes on the distributor shaft at the top. The magnets are inside the washer/spacer like part, up againts the plastic part of the rotor that slides onto the distributor shaft. Still sound like the pick ups? The piece appears to just be a small plastic thing so I can't imagine a new distributor or electronic conversion is the best way to go as the boat generally runs great.I was wrong, those are prolly the weights for the ignition advance, now that you only have 6 it cant advance the ignition like it should. What kinda dist is it maybe I can look online. I just cant get an image in my head of what it looks like. Maybe we can get someone to chime in and throw some ideas around.

[jet]

yeah, sounds like the advance weights. No big deal just try and get them back together. Jet

[spudski67]

thanks for the help guys. I can only find 6 of the weights so im guessing im going to need to be tracking down a new part. would only having 4 in be the reason the boat's running only at low rpm's but not necessarily rough?

the distributor is whatever was stock for the 1990 pcm 351. i haven't changed it. and the cap is the screw down type.

I will get some pics up later unless i can find the part at NAPA and provide you all with the precise name of the part.

[spudski67]

the little black thing on the right is what i need. that is a picture of an electronic conversion kit... so, now i am confused as to whether the previous owner converted to electronic conversion and i was unaware.

[spudski67]

Did some research. I believe the part is called the magnetic sleeve. If I have one of these, can I assume someone did an electronic conversion on the boat at some point? Eitherway, this part opened up and the magnets fell out. Any idea where to get a new one?

[spudski67]

did more reconnaissance and found a post where the old owner stated that he did do an electronic conversion on the boat... therefore, it is the magnetic sleeve that disassembled itself. any idea where i can get just the magnetic sleeve? i believe it is a pertronix ignitor electronic conversion kit.

[mapleleaf]

DiscountInboardMarine.......DIM.com????

[Hematoma]

Skidim.com


I don't know if you can buy just that part or if they sell both together. They'll be your best bet since they sell lots of parts for the PCM. Good luck and keep us updated.

[spudski67]

Called pertronix, they are sending a replacement "gently used" magnetic sleeve for free. After doing some internet searches, I found that it is not uncommon for them to come apart. Hopefully I can just pop the new one in and be running good...

My holley 4 barrel carb was having some issues with idling where the back barrells were just dripping and filling with fuel at idle and even after the engine was shut down. A good dose of carb cleaner seemed to have fixed it prior to the magnetic sleeve incident. I do wonder if there is something wrong with a float however? I guess I can't truly assess that until I get the ignition system back in working order. Any suggestions from anyone about why the back barrells would be filling up with gas at idle? i could get it to stop if i moved the little rod the plates are attached to to the closed position, and then it would run great.