1988 omc 5.7 w/ omc outdrive rookie service

[jeicher]

Hey fellas, newb here. I bought a 1988 four winns 200 horizon 2 months ago. It has a 350 chevy with an omc cobra out drive. The family and I love the boat and have had it out almost every weekend since buying it. Anyways I have some questions to ask you pros before I dive into things as I like to tinker/ work on as much on my own as possible.

1.) boat has a quadrajet 4 barrel and I put a carb kit in. It dies if you try to go over 3,000 rpm’s.
2.) it dies going into gear and out of gear. Makes loading and unloading a pain when it keeps stalling.
3.) is it supposed to grind going into gear flowed by a clunk when it engages?

Thanks for all the great info you guys share here. Happy boating

 

[Scott Danforth]

get a factory manual

your carb needs to be looked at again

your shift cables need adjustment per the factory manual.

 

[Lou C]

1) agree with Scott, the Qjet is an excellent carb when set up right, but one that age may need a REAL cleaning and a new marine grade accelerating pump. Also, my boat the same year as yours had a problem with the anti siphon valve when we first bought it causing a similar problem
2) you have a lot of reading to do concerning the OMC Cobra shift system, cables and ESA, do a search on my user name I've posted how to set these up several times. There are NO short cuts, you have to follow all the steps...
3) it can grind if you shift too slowly, or if the cable is stiff (probably causing problem #2) and can CLUNK if your idle is to high (should be 600 rpm in gear in the water)...

get ready to sit down with some light reading....once it's set up right it will be a good boat...mine's been quite good, owned it 20 years same boat except with the smaller 4.3 V6....

 

[jeicher]

Manuals have been ordered. Sounds like carb is either needing replaced or sent off. Never been a fan of the qjet on anything tho. Was considering a 350 or 500 for simplicity and reliability. I’ll get some reading done. Thanks fellas.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Manuals have been ordered. Sounds like carb is either needing replaced or sent off. Never been a fan of the qjet on anything tho. Was considering a 350 or 500 for simplicity and reliability. I’ll get some reading done. Thanks fellas.

a holley 350 is what is put on a 3.0 motor
a holley 500 is what is put on a 4.3 motor (many come with 600 CFM 4160's)

 

[Lou C]

And a GOOD CONDITION Quadrajet is far superior to a Holley. I tried the exact 4160 brand new that was set up for the 4.3s and it ran like crap. Took the time to really clean the QJet & rebuilt it with better quality parts and it ran 100 % better. The spread bore QJet when cleaned right & set up right is superior…don’t waste your money like I did….