tune up how to

Shawn, have you changed spark plugs before? How handy are you with tools and what is your background. Also it would be helpful to now the year model of your boat. Many things talked about on this site are easy for some and near impossible for others.

For an engine tune-up, along with changing spark plugs, you will need to change ignition points/condenser and adjust the points with a feeler gauge first and then a dwell meter (assuming it hasn't been converted to electronic). Depending the time since the last tune-up, you may also need to put on a new distributor cap, rotor and plug wires. Once that is done, ignition timing will need to be checked....this will require a timing light and tachometer.

An oil change, transmission fluid change, new impeller would also most likely be in order.

As was mentioned earlier, the difficulty factor will depend on your experience and tools that you have available. If you do try it on your own, most around here will be willing to give suggestions and help but it could end up being a bigger project than you want to take on.

shawnmc wrote: 1986 SN Ford 351 PCM thanks

Whew!
I thought the mc in shawnmc stood for something else.

Steve

Hey now. Of the three responses you got, 1 owns an MC, and the other a Bu. Lot's of good guys with knowledge out there even if they did walk into the wrong show room when they bought a boat.

I'm no mechanical genius myself, but you can get through a tuneup if you want to. You need some basic tools, and you'll need to invest in or borrow a timing light and a dwell meter. There have been lots of guys who started out with no knowledge, and the group here walked them through it. BKH

Lets back up a little and start with the basics cause I know there was a guy on this site at one time that thought there were only 4 spark plugs on the engine and didnt change the 4 on the other side. so the first question is: you do know that there is a total of 10 plugs on the engine

do i need to just buy a tune up kit from ski-dim or do you recommend getting everyhthing from a local parts store?

that was my question.

thanks

where ever you get it it needs to be bi-directional or the correct directional pump, makes no difference being marine.

no

Price for the parts will be in the $100-$150 range.

If you don't mind getting the information from another site, check this Link
for some pretty good step by step photos.

If you get the complete distributor kit (Distributor,Coil and wires) make sure you know the rotation of you motor.

I am in kind of the same boat as Shawn. I want to do the tune up myself. I have the plugs and wires, that is no problem. The distributer is the concern. I am not familiar with dwell. I can do the timing, no big deal. I read that if you convert to electronic than you don't have to set the dwell? Converting has me concerned as well, though, because it seems just as many people are complaining about thier conversion as there are people praising it.

Boat is running pretty good right now. Should I just leave well enough alone and just replace the plugs and wires? As someone else said, I don't want to leave anything on the table, but I don't want to be messing with it for the next month. I would rather be skiing.

I, for one, have never replaced mine. From the looks of them, the PO had not in a while either.

It is completly possible that mine are original. And trust me, they look like they are. Both the plugs and the wires look as though they have seen better days. They are in pretty bad shape.

My biggest question was, if the boat is running pretty good (starts right up, runs strong, no misses or backfires) should I mess with trying to upgrade/rebuild distributer? Again, this looks as though it has not been done in several years.