Boat dies when i put in gear

Hi, I just got new plugs and wires put om my 1974 Skier.The boat sounds good until i put it into gear in the water...then it dies. The firing order on the engine plate does not seem to work (anyone know the firing order?). Can anyone help please? My boat is a 1974 Ford 302 engine.

Do different states have different firing orders?

'74 was pretty close to the time they changed from the 302 to the 351 FO, what does the plate say? A pic showing the marinization would help. What size/type spark plugs does it take (5/8" or 13/16" wrench?)? The 2 FO's are 18456273 (351) and 18736245 (289/early 302).

Hi! Thanks for everyone's responses. I am in GA and I usually boat on Lake Lanier or Allatoona. I have had my boat for about 12 yrs and let her sit last year. Won't do that again. The firing order I used is one of the ones that you suggested. 18736245. But when I put in gear boat dies. (Someone described it as putting load on) can find out plug sizes etc later when I get home. I am not sure what marinization means tho. Thank you!

LisaO wrote: Hi! I am not sure what marinization means tho. Thank you!

The company that took an automotive engine and added marine components so it can be used in a boat. It's the reason Tim asked for pictures.

Sounds like your carburetor idle mixture isnt adjusted properly. Put a vacuum guage on full manifold vacuum and adjust the 2 screws equally 1/8th turn at a time at idle. You want to achieve the highest vacuum reading. Google adjusting idle mixture screws and it will give you a step by step on how to do it.

Nautiquehunter wrote: What state are you in?

TRBenj wrote: Do different states have different firing orders?

   

Welcome Lisa and yes Pictures of the engine would help determining what Motor you have and what the firing order should be. What was done to the engine since you last ran it? A little more details on what's going on will help us help you fix the issue. There are several of us CCFans that play on Lanier and try to hang out with each other on the weekends. Usually around Bald Ridge Marina.

I'm not so sure... I've seen engines idle remarkably smoothly on 7, 6 or even 4cyl. They don't take a load very well though. Using the opposite FO will get you 4/8.

Keno you're a true lifelong learner. Who else would perform that experiment and report back!

tryathlete wrote: Keno you're a true lifelong learner. Who else would perform that experiment and report back!

And on top of that, I get to report back that my experiment was done over again cause it was bugging me that it didn't start at all.

So now it's time to eat some crow and say it ran pretty good on the early firing order like Tim thought

A little voice in my head told me that I may have tried it the first time with the coil wire disconnected, so back out to the boat, rearrange wires, make sure the coil wire is connected. Double check everything turn the key and .........

It fired up and sounded pretty good, low idle a little lumpy but not bad.

It actually went into gear and kept running, but I didn't go for a ride to see how a v4 would run.

Thanks for questioning my answer and providing my entertainment for a little while this morning Tim

It sounded remarkably good in the water, much better than I expected putt putting around a little above idle speed

I didn't try to get on plane and go for a ride though.

It was smooth enough to fool you into thinking the firing order was OK at idle with no load..

Thats what happened to mine years ago when I rebuilt the HM Ken. No Correct Craft Fan then all on my own. Bought a Crane RR cam they put the wrong firing order on the cam card. Started up fine but when I tried to run it at cam break in rpm it ran lousy. Finally pulled the valve covers and watched the valves. Lucky I didn't ruin the cam.

Keno that is impressive commitment and follow up.
I put you up for forum member of the year!
Nice follow up. I hope your power valve survived.
Mark

Lisa,
Who is "they"? A supposed mechanic?

Are the pictures coming so we can ID the marinizer of the engine and help with the FO?

Lisa - the profile pictures do need to be approved, but you can upload photos to the thread by using the post reply button and clicking on the tree icon.   you will need to save the photo in a size that is small enough to go on the server, i am not sure what size that is anymore, but if you can save it to the "email" setting, that is small enough.   there is another way to load pictures, but it'snot as easy to explain.   btw, the server keeps track of the photos you have already loaded and requires that you use non duplicated names for each one.