After some delay, finally fired the engine up this weekend. For those that might have missed my prior posts, I am upgrading my '97 Mercruiser 5.7L with vortec heads, performer intake, Qjet, and marine roller cam.
The two lessons learned, so far are:
- Exhaust elbows are not identicle, I had them swapped and only noticed during the torquing of the second. Scrap four graphite gaskets.
- Cam change in the boat is risky. Even though my engine access is relatively good, getting the oil pan/timing cover is tricky at best. I had an oil leak, and had to redo the oil pan torque/sealant again. No leaks as of yesterday, but keeping fingers crossed. My bilge has heard allot short verbs recently!
The engine is running well on muffs. Idles down nice, and sounds great revving it. While I've adjusted the initial base timing, I need to do the idle mixture. The Qjet is an electric choke rebuild from Carlos at I5 auto. The idle mixture screws apear to take a small square drive. They are recessed in the base, so my sockets would not fit. Is there a special tool or socket for these? Like to know before I get the ? look at the auto parts store. "Carb? what that?"
Secondly, even though it seems to be running well, I want to check the vacuum. Does anyone know if the Qjet choke pull-off is at engine vacuum? Otherwise, I will have to rig something from the intake port behind the carb. I can get a fitting for a large hose, such as power brake port, but didn't find one with a smaller barb for a vacuum gauge. Would have to neck it down, or build own fitting.
Hoping for a Fathers Day weekend splash. Installed the new 21" pitch prop, up from the 19". I have a 23" pitch ready to go, if I'm too much into rev limiter.
The two lessons learned, so far are:
- Exhaust elbows are not identicle, I had them swapped and only noticed during the torquing of the second. Scrap four graphite gaskets.
- Cam change in the boat is risky. Even though my engine access is relatively good, getting the oil pan/timing cover is tricky at best. I had an oil leak, and had to redo the oil pan torque/sealant again. No leaks as of yesterday, but keeping fingers crossed. My bilge has heard allot short verbs recently!
The engine is running well on muffs. Idles down nice, and sounds great revving it. While I've adjusted the initial base timing, I need to do the idle mixture. The Qjet is an electric choke rebuild from Carlos at I5 auto. The idle mixture screws apear to take a small square drive. They are recessed in the base, so my sockets would not fit. Is there a special tool or socket for these? Like to know before I get the ? look at the auto parts store. "Carb? what that?"
Secondly, even though it seems to be running well, I want to check the vacuum. Does anyone know if the Qjet choke pull-off is at engine vacuum? Otherwise, I will have to rig something from the intake port behind the carb. I can get a fitting for a large hose, such as power brake port, but didn't find one with a smaller barb for a vacuum gauge. Would have to neck it down, or build own fitting.
Hoping for a Fathers Day weekend splash. Installed the new 21" pitch prop, up from the 19". I have a 23" pitch ready to go, if I'm too much into rev limiter.
