Re: Timing ?
Absolutely. American outboards have their idle speed controlled by the timing and not by the opening of the butterflies on the carbs. In fact the butterflies need to be closed. They have holes in them that allow a controlled amount of air in. That takes the place of cracking them a bit for idle. I couldn't tell you why they decided to do it that way, but Johnson, Evinrude, Mercury, and Chrysler all did it that way. The Japaneese motors have idle screws on the carbs just like every other motor on the planet.
