Well its finally running. For those of you who have been following this poor fool from the beginning, to the explosion week before last, the last chapter was written today. For the last two weeks I have gone over and over the directions I have received here. Same problem every time. Back fire in both intake and exhaust. I was sure I did everything correctly yet the backfires prevailed. This morning again I re-adjusted the valves, made sure I was on DTC on no. 1, and so forth, still the backfires. What could it be? Finally about noon there was a mechanic working on a diesel boat in the marine. Asked him what he would charge just to check that everything was proper. $20 later I was told everything was in order and without tearing into the thing he had no suggestions. But if everything was proper why the backfires? A valve had to be open or stuck at the time of detonation. I know, I know. Setting there in a stew I happened to glance at the other engine. Lo and behold it had the same firing order stamped on the intake as the other engine. Cant be, counter-rotating engines. I didnt know the other firing order. Checking further I found Mercruiser numbers their distributor caps. Sure enough two sets of numbers on each post. Simply pulled all the wires off and plugged them on the second set of numbers. Took all of 5 minuets. Turned on the ignition and whalla, engine fired up on the first rotation. I knew the engines were counter rotating, but the firing order was right there on the intake. Seems like either mercruiser uses the same manifold for both engines or somewhere along the way the manifold was replaced and nobody bothered about the number. Again I would like to thank all that have helped me in this endeavor. Its been an experience.
I knew it would start after I found out I had the wrong engine firing order. But deep down inside there was this little feeling, in case it dont, now what.