Assuming that you can see the timing marks on your harmonic balancer, you'll need a ratchet wrench, a short extension  and a 15/16 socket to fit the bolt holding the balancer to the crankshaft, so you can turn the engine in the normal direction of rotation.(in your case, clockwise while you're looking at it from the front)

If you take all the plugs out, it will be a lot easier to turn the engine over (and you can check their condition at the same time)

Then you turn the engine with the wrench and put a thumb over the #1 spark plug hole and eventually you'll feel some pressure building up against your thumb. While this is happening, look at the timing pointer and the timing marks on the balancer As the pressure continues to build, you'll see the TDC mark on the balancer line up with the pointer and you're now at TDC on the compression stroke..

Now that you're at TDC on the compression stroke, you can install the distributor 

Damn what? I guess we both figured that somebody had to clear up Pete's info a little bit 

Thanks guys!  I hate asking stupid questions, but after everything I was reading said to "find TDC" and it has been a few years since I have had to time my Vanagon, thus a few years since I have read my manual and really gotten into an engine :) 

I really appreciate the help. 

On to putting in the distributor... :)  

Erik

The kit you bought comes with a complete engine side wiring harness to replace what's there now (or at least it should have).

Are the instructions hand scribbled on a dirty napkin or maybe something a little better?

You must have a diagram or instructions for hooking up the Mallory MBI distributor  and ballast resistor that comes in the kit I assume.

The fuel side consists of removing the throttle body, installing the carburetor along with a mechanical fuel pump and new fuel line to the carburetor from the pump. It'd be good to check the fuel line from the tank to the pump too, if it's the original. 

There never has been much of a writeup on the carb swap that I can remember and lots of pictures have disappeared from CCF due to "issues" last summer.

If you need some directions or a diagram for the ignition side of things, something could be posted 

Didn't you get any wiring diagram with it? Here's Tim's that may help.:

The only breaker of the 3 that you keep is the 50 amp breaker for the conversion.

The other 2 go into your "spare parts" collection.

If you go to the thread in the link below, when you get to the last post, there is a good explanation of the wiring.

http://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/forum/nautique-topics/maintenance-technical-discussion/11439-protec-ignition-conversion-to-mallory-electronic-ignition" rel="nofollow - link

And here's a slightly different diagram than what Pete posted, it's been corrected to show how the choke, ballast resistor supply and alternator excitation are connected under the tape in the harness and not at the ballast resistor.

It also shows the correct wiring for the solenoid and the starter assuming you have a PMGR starter which PCM started using in 93

You'll have to figure out how to enlarge it and rotate it  or print it and enlarge it. 

If you combine the linked thread and the picture, things will make a lot more sense.

PS If anybody is wondering about the changes to the TRB diagram, they're based on a completely untaped wiring harness I have hanging on the wall. The TRB diagram gets the point across, but the connections are buried in the harness and you'll get confused just like the guy on Planet Nautique in the linked thread

So, I just took off the throttle body, but is the riser (1" thick riser that the breather tube from the port valvecover attaches to, and was under the throttlebody), is this part of the throttle body, and thus gets removed? Or does it remain, and the new carburetor goes on top of the 1" ... it looks like the new carburetor could go on this, or straight on the engine without it?  These are the little things I just dont know, that I dont want to make mistakes leaving behind, when it should be removed. The studs look like if I removed the riser, the studs would be much too long for the carburetor, but I am just not sure. 

Thanks for the above links, pictures and advice. And thanks again in advance. 

Erik

If you look at the colors on the diagram and the colors of the wires in the harness, you'll know for example that the light Blue wire goes to the oil pressure sending unit,Tan goes to the water temperature sending unit, Orange is the output from the alternator to the 50 amp breaker that you're reusing. Just label each temporarily and it'll be easier to  get it all wired right. Pay attention to the pin numbers for the 8 plug connector also to help figure things out.

You have extra wires on the harness you removed because it was more complicated with the Protec and throttle body. People who have replaced the protec with a DUI distributor and didn't get a kit with a new harness, have usually cut and taped over the extra wires and had to add things like a wire for power to the choke..

Your new harness works and is easier.

The spacer should stay in place, it gives a spot for the PCV hose to hook into. Some carburetors will have a spot for the hose to hook into and some don't.

Even if your carburetor has a spot for the hose, keep the spacer and cap the extra hose connection, otherwise you'll have a giant vacuum leak.

http://www.myinboardmarine.com/products/retro-kit-protec-pcm-ford-left-hand-351-factory-original-pcm-rk107025a" rel="nofollow - link

Since you're replacing a blocking plate that's a lot thinner than a fuel pump, if you're using the original bolts they're too short to make your life easy 

The bolts should be 1 1/2 inches and with a lockwasher under the head, that leaves enough bolt length to get a good push on the pump with one hand and get one bolt started, then go to the other bolt, get it started and then tighten evenly a little on both bolts till the pump is tightened down.

You could use a stud or longer bolt for the first bolt to make it easier and then put in the right length bolt in the end.

Some people have used studs and left them installed.

It like a lot of other things.............it's not too hard to do after the first time you do it (but the first time can be a killer)

Do you mean, "what do you do with the old fuel return line from the throttle body?" 

Or do you mean "where do you hook the hose from the 1/4 inch tubing fitting on the fuel pump to?"

The ProTec with throttle-body fuel injection used an electronic fuel pump with a return fuel line to the tank.  That return line is no longer needed with a mechanical fuel pump.  When I did the ProTec-to-carburetor conversion, I cut the return fuel line near the tank and then inserted a plug and used a hose clamp to ensure a good seal.

Installing mechanical fuel pump -- yes, getting the actuator arm to "seat" in position can be a p-i-t-a at times.  Rotating the engine in small increments may enable you to engage the actuator arm a bit easier.  Take out the spark plugs and put a large socket on the harmonic balancer up front.  Then, using a breaker bar or large ratchet, you can turn the engine to find the "sweet spot" for installation.

The threaded stud option may also help.  Try using just 1 threaded stud as a guide and to hold the pump while you install the bolt in the other side.  Then you can remove the stud and install the other bolt.

JQ

Carb sealing plate from Jegs - Part Number: 555-15442

QuickFuel carb gaskets - Part Number 8-102QFT for open style and Part Number 8-1105QFT for the 4-hole style

Here's a picture of a Carter marine fuel pump and a Holley carburetor.

Along with hooking up whatever you decide to use for a fuel line from the pump to the carburetor, you also should be running a piece of clear tubing between the nipple on the fuel pump and the nipple on the carburetor. In the picture they both have a Red cap to show where they are.

That line is so that if your fuel pump diaphragm cracks and fails, fuel will be visible in that line and it will be dumping into the carburetor instead of the bilge.

It'll make the engine run like crap or stall due to being flooded, but it's safer than blowing yourself up.

Older Holley's don't have that nipple and you run the hose to a nipple like that on the flame arrestor.

Your flame arrestor on a ProTec engine doesn't have that nipple but one can be added or you can get another flame arrestor with the nipple fitting.

Not knowing what your Holley has, I figured I'd throw that info out there.

If you have any questions about the fuel line between the pump discharge and the carburetor, just ask away, there are choices .

I think they're performing some kind of mating ritual on my workbench 

The distributor kit you already mentioned and I figure you bought the Carburetor and fuel pump kit complete with fuel line and a new flame arrestor like what's in the link below

http://www.nautiqueparts.com/product/fuel-system-retrofit-kit-protec-engine/" rel="nofollow - link

Roughly 1400 bucks on 2 PCM conversion kits and all you get are some "not so good" instructions.

You'll get through it though 

PS.........hope you got the 10% discount

Besides whatever it's real purpose is, a secondary unwanted, undesired  purpose of that little sump section is to make rudder, tiller arm access next to impossible without removing the tank 

The picture in the link below is the kit you bought from Nautiqueparts.

The bracket is next to the black plastic cover and has a couple of black wires laying on it in the picture 

It mounts using the top two bolts holding the bellhousing to the block and the starter relay bolts to that.

The little bracket above it in the picture bolts to the bigger bracket and holds the breaker and resistor

Well, why didn't you say so? 

The Red breaker button fits in the hole in the plastic cover

I'm just a search geek or search dork or fill in whatever word you want to..........or I go take my own pictures 

If you use your favorite search engine like say Google and type in "correctcraftfan starter relay" knowing that the relay bolts to the plate, when the results come up click on "images" and you get a bunch of photos, some pertinent, some not. In this case the picture I posted was found that way on the Mastercraft website since Google is so smart.

You can type in correctcraftfan followed by whatever you're looking for and find a lot of stuff that way.

You can also veer way off course, but you'll learn a lot along the way.

In the case of the gone forever photos from CCF, sometimes you'll see them on a Google search on the images page.

You can also type the name of the person like for example   correctcraftfan keno distributor if you know the screen name of the guy whose post you're looking for

It's a finely honed skill that I learned from a 13 year old 

PS........there are probably better ways, but this works pretty good for me

I don't think there is any reason that you can't. The filter PCM uses in their FCC's is a 10

Big cable (of some not mentioned size" with 100 amp fuse going to the A terminal on the relay lets the alternator charge the battery at 100 amps if necessary and leaving the 60 amp breaker in place with the red wires attached will protect the wiring going up to the dash which isn't big enough for 100 amps.

So.........what size is the new alternator output wire?

And, is it safe to assume that you won the battle with the fuel pump? 

In your first linked picture where you ask "what is this"..........it's the neutral safety switch. On your PCM 40A transmission, it's at the top front and you'll have a white wire from your harness coming from pin 3 going to one terminal and another white from the other terminal to the "S" terminal on the start relay.

The switch looks like this. It doesn't matter which terminal you hook which wire to. It's basically an open/closed switch, that's open when the transmission is not in neutral and when in neutral it's closed so that when you turn the key, power will be supplied through it to the "S" terminal.

The red and purple should hook to the resistor like you said.  Some resistors have spade type terminals with a little hole in each spade for a small machine screw and nut to hold the wire to the resistor terminal, others use spade type connectors, so maye you have a little modifying of the ends of the wires to hook things up.

The TRBenj diagram earlier in this thread is your best friend right now  It shows red/yellow instead of white to the neutral safety switch. PCM used both colors over the years.

I seem to think that he made his colorful diagram because the PCM was a "little" harder to follow and make sense of.

Hang in there, you're making progress 

Easiest is to leave it disconnected and tell yourself that real men use the gauges and don't need no stinkin' warning light  

Alternately, people have done things like wire the switches back to that Green wire to retain the warning light. If you want to do that, continue the green wire to each switch.

Question 2 Read the thread in the link below, you can ground it either way (Second picture didn't work, need some kind of permission to view it.)

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38633" rel="nofollow - link

Question 3  I think I'd do what they say, it provides the voltage sensing signal to the alternator.

And here's the visual example for your normal rotation 351w 

Either will work, but with your electronic Mallory .045 should be no problem at all.

Correct.   

The first thing I'd check is the safety lanyard switch.

It sounds like your engine starts with the key in Start but when you let the key go, it quits

If you have a lanyard and it's unplugged, the engine will turn over but not start if things are wired per the diagram, since the lanyard in your case kills power to the coil no matter what position the key is in unless you have some "really creative" wiring .

Good troubleshooting. I think you found the problem. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t0MHXKfbQx7aORdmjjIPzcHwW22fbXsN/view" rel="nofollow - 64287912932__130A8D16-2C0A-4F71-8984-33B14CAF392A.MOV - Google Drive

So does the sentence above mean that the engine actually ran with the key in Start  or did it just turn over but not run.

If it actually ran, I'd like to see where and how the switch is wired into the circuit 

And will ya look at that, you took a bunch of parts that came with little or no instructions and made it through the installation with a little CCF help. 

You sure you don't mean 5 degrees BTDC or even 10 gegrees BTDC?

Them southern boys talk funny, but i'd imagine he meant Before. 

Ignore the sticker, it pertains to the old system that you took off the engine.

You can time it in neutral with no issues.

You should have 10 as mentioned and if you rev it up to 4000 rpm, you should top out at somewhere in the 30 to 35 BTDC range depending on the advance weights and springs in the new distributor..

If your cutlass bearing is dry, it'll take more effort to turn the prop, spray some water on the strut to get the bearing wet and see how it turns.

You could have alignment issues too causing the hard turning.

If you're comfortable with it from your previous BYH experience, then it's your choice 

Don't get bummed yet

Not knowing what your surfaces look like, the internal leak is a possibility, not a guarantee

I'd probably get in some run time on Memorial Day just to check for any running issues of any kind with all the work that you've done..

Yesterday I took it out on Lacamas Lake (Camas, WA) to do a test run. found a good sized leak on the electronic thingy thru-hull (next to the drain plug). 

I have been searching the manual, and this forum, for details on what this is. Its a grey plastic, and on the bottom there is a little spinning wheel. What is this thing called?  It is leaking. Its leaking along the gasket. What is it?  Can I just tighten the large nut, or is it advised to apply calk or something on the outside of it? 

I think it might be part of the Perfect Pass... I have no idea! 

Thanks

Erik

Here's a link to a PP manual

http://www.perfectpass.com/sites/all/themes/perfectpass%20-%20Copy/images/wakeboardpro2005.pdf" rel="nofollow - link

It may or may not be exactly the same version but on page 13 it talks about the paddle wheel installation. I'd take it out and reseal it from below like the manual describes.

It mentions GE silicone sealant.

Some people break out in hives whenever silicone gets mentioned and they might recommend 3M4200 or maybe Loctite PL Marine sealant. They're both plenty strong but easier to remove than something like 3M 5200

You can find the Loctite stuff at Home depot in the paint department pretty easily 

Did you get to run it for a while or was the leak too big?

What's the choke position when the engine is cold?

Holley 4 barrel choke: (ignore fast idle cam proceedure)

https://forums.holley.com/entry.php?439-How-To-Adjust-The-Electric-Choke-On-A-Holley-Four-Barrel-Carburetor#:~:text=How%20To%20Adjust%20The%20Electric%20Choke%20On%20A,time%20until%20the%20choke%20performs%20properly.%20More%20items" rel="nofollow - How To Adjust The Electric Choke On A Holley Four-Barrel Carburetor - Blogs - Holley Performance Products Forums

Bench test choke (engine not running):

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+to+adjust+holley+choke&qpvt=how+to+adjust+holley+choke&view=detail&mid=F8DC6FD7BB76E9C81EF1F8DC6FD7BB76E9C81EF1&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dhow%2Bto%2Badjust%2Bholley%2Bchoke%26qpvt%3Dhow%2Bto%2Badjust%2Bholley%2Bchoke%26FORM%3DVDRE" rel="nofollow - 19. Holley carb rebuild (electric choke bench test) - Bing video

Note when cold, the choke butterfly is just slightly open. 

My ultra keen powers of perception tell me that you're young enough that you missed one of those teenage  rites of passage into manhood............ pumping the throttle 

You probably never had a car with a carburetor, but the typical routine was to pump the gas pedal a couple of times right before you turned the key. It did a couple of things, first it set the choke and the high idle cam and it also shot a couple squirts of gas down the carburetor from the accelerator pump.

Being a boat, with a marine Holley, the fast idle linkages aren't all there and connected and don't work.

But those shots of gas help make it start quickly. None or not enough makes for a tough start, too much makes for a flooded engine and a tough start.

You could have 12 people tell you their starting routine and they'd all be somewhat different, but if your choke seems OK from the videos above and you pump the throttle a couple of times and with it in neutral, you turn the key it should fire right up and you then play "human fast idle cam" and let it warm up for a minute or so at around 1200 to 1500 rpm, the electric choke will be open or most of the way open and you can bring it back to idle, then go happily on your way.

Some will have the throttle cracked a little while turning the key, others will leave it at idle speed, some pump with the neutral button pressed in so they can give it some good pumps, some pull it out but pump in Reverse, some lpull it out and pump till it hits the button, some people spend a lot of time dialing their choke into the Holley spec while some just disable the choke in the fully open position.

Like i said, you could get lots of opinions and variety so do whatever works for you.

Carburetors are like women, they can be a little..........well you know 

I'd start by a quick check of the choke operation (which should be OK as shipped) and pump it a couple of times and see what happens then you can come up with your own routine..

If the leak isn't very bad, you could join the "if it don't slip, let it drip" club for a while, so you can get all your bugs worked out, then get through the season and get it fixed or tear into it yourself.

Oil absorbent towels/socks can help keep things like your lake from getting an oil sheen from your bilge pump.

As far as your 2500 rpm stumble, I'm still doing some thinking on that.

PS buy yourself one of the many Holley books that are available, it'll be real handy

The auto bilge pump should be wired so it'll run with the ignition breaker OFF.

And like you said, you should have no power to anything ignition related with the key in OFF.

Now it's time for "the talk" 

No, no nothing to do with those teenage years, just your transmission.

I guess it's bad enough that you won't be living with it for a while based on your last comment about a short summer.

If you can figure out if it's leaking from the front or back, doing a seal on either end isn't too bad.

Assuming it's a PCM 40A, somebody here just did the rear seal with it still in the boat but it has to come out for the front seal.

You can do some searching about transmission removal, seal replacement etc here on CCF.

You can also read about damper plate replacement while the transmission is out and decide if you want to do that too. Keep in mind that your PCM 40A takes it's own "special" damper in the 200 dollar or so range.

Here's a link to a recent rear seal thread complete with a phone number for Joe at FFI marine who would have parts and probably some free advice too.

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=49789&title=rear-transmission-leak-40a" rel="nofollow - link

Meanwhile I'm gone for the next 4 or 5 days so enjoy the rest of the weekend, do some reading and you'll be able to get through a seal job.