VP 4.3L New boater, Multiple issues

[Phantom_II]

Greetings! Long time reader, first time poster (and first time boat owner)

I just purchased a used 2000 Reinell 180 with a VP 4.3L GS engine (43GS PWTR), Holley 4V carb and a VP-SX drive.

It appeared to be a "creampuff", garage kept, engine, hull, upholstry all immaculate. Seller started it in his driveway, and it fired right up (cold engine) and purred like a kitten. Looked good so I bought it.

A week later I finally got the chance to put it in the water. I was proud of myself... First time I've ever done it, I did it alone, and in under 5 minutes, without getting my feet wet. Thanks to all the fantastic information on this board.

OK, so the boat is in the water, drive is down, disengage transmission and pump the throttle one time to set choke and prime. Turn key, it fires right up, purrs like a kitten at 750 RPM.
Untie from the dock and head out... So far, so good. No stalling as I put it in gear, putt putt out through no-wake zone into open water.
Being mostly new to the game (I've rented I/O boats many times, but never owned one... BIG difference) I'm very cautious about things as I'm discovering how whe handles, and whatever little quirks she may have. I slowly increase the throttle, and fiddle with the trim settings watching what happens. I get her up to around 35 mph @ 3000 RPM and everything seems just peachy, so I go ahead and open her up... She tops out at about 53mph taching at 4700. Temp around 130, oil pressure about 75psi. All appears to be sweet!
Now, I throttle back to idle, trim all the way in and look for the hole shot.
Move throttle from idle to wide open. Engine ramps up to just over 2000, bow pulls up... and thats it. It just hangs there. No backfiring, no appearance of stalling out, but no more acceleration either.

???

I idle back down, and bring it up slowly again... Tops out at 53 mph @4700 RPM

Back down to idle, goose it... 2000 RPM and holding!

Weird! Anyway I putz around for a while longer looking for other problems and finally head back in. Tie up to dock, go get the trailer, back to the boat, fire it up (purrs like a kitten) idle it onto the trailer. All goes smoothly again (thanks iboaters!) and head for home.

Two days later, I take it back out to look more deeply into it and get some numbers... Everything is essentially a repeat of the first time out. Starts up and runs nicely, no acceleration out of the hole.

Next morning, I go out to the boat to see about troubleshooting the stall issue. I open everything up, check the oil... looks good, clean, not milky. Disconnect the carb linkage, pump it a few times... Good solid acccel pump stream from primaries, nothing at all from secondaries. Drop the bow down so I can lower the drive to pop the throttle a few times. Hook up the muffs, turn water on, go to start engine.

Water lock!!! What?!?!?

I pull the plugs, right bank clean, dark brown color. Left bank, same color but entirely saturated with water.
I disconnect the coil primary wires and with the plugs out, crank the engine a few times. Water is GUSHING from the left bank!
Stop cranking, no more water. Crank again, water gushing.

I come back and dig through the forum... Hmmm... Running with bow down can put water in the cylinders. Weird, but OK... raise the drive up, raise the nose up, lower the drive as far as I can and try again.
Crank the engine, still pumping water, but less. Crank a few more times, water flow appears to slow to a light mist. Residual (I hope).
Dry off the plugs, put 'em back in, reconnect coil, and turn key... Engine hesitant, but starts up... All is well... Sort of... I hope.

Anyway, I let it warm up a bit and then give the throttle a good pop. Backfire through carb (one time) but it seems to spool up OK... No load of course.

So I go to check the timing. No degree mark on block, just a little bracket with a single notch. Get out VP owners manual to look up timing specs. It says DEALER ONLY!?!?

Anyway, that's where I am right now and I need help. I do some wrenching on car engines, a lot of wrenching on aircraft turbine engines, but I know next to nothing about boats.

My questions... First off, how does one set the timing on a VP engine?
Second, what are the probable causes of the acceleration problems?
And third, How does putting the bow down get water in the cylinders?

A have a shop manual on order, but with the vagaries of the US Postal system, I don't know when I'll get it, and I'd like to get a head start on the game if I could.

Thanks for being there.

Update: After I came in to type this post, I went back out to start it again and it's water locked... Left bank full of water. Actually No. 1 appears good, Middle cylinder was damp, but the aft one is flooded. What do I look for as the source?

 

[Don S]

Re: VP 4.3L New boater, Multiple issues

As far as your water problem, I would drain the manifold, then pull the riser and see what the surface of the riser and manifolds look like. If they are good, get new VOLVO, (NOT Aftermarket) metal shim gaskets and install.
The manifolds and engine were drained during the winter weren't they?
You might even put some water in the water passages of the exhaust manifold and (with the riser off) see if any water gets into the exhaust chamber.
It shouldn't hurt to run the engine with the bow down, have never had water get into the engine that way. The exhaust still blows the water out the transom shield and drive.
You have a Delco EST distributor, you will need an advance timing light and a shunt to put the distributor into service mode in order to set the timing. If you haven't moved it, that's not going to be your problem. If you have already moved it, you will need the shunt (or make one) like this.

 

[Phantom_II]

Re: VP 4.3L New boater, Multiple issues

Oooookay...

I pulled the port riser and it looks like crap.
Light rust on the mating surfaces and water inside the manifold.
I'll order some gaskets (may as well replace both sides while I'm at it) and go from there.
Kinda puts the kibosh on any further troubleshooting till then.

Thanks for the pointer though!

 

[Phantom_II]

Re: VP 4.3L New boater, Multiple issues

Success! I finally got the chance to get out with the boat today after cleaning up the mating surfaces between the exhaust manifold and riser, and putting in new gaskets.
The gasket that was in there was decidedly NOT an OEM gasket... Much scraping involved.
Anyway, she now purrs like a kitten or screams like a banshee depending on throttle setting.

Still a few minor electrical bugs I gotta chase down and figure out what to do about the speeder meter peter so I can install some smart tabs, but mechanically, she's just fine.

Thanks for the help, Don