ABCs Part II

Okay so the boat is in the water - it floats and the engine runs but it won't idle or run at all below about 1800 rpm. No good.

After checking all the linkages to make sure they were free and not binding, I decided the carburetor probably needed to be rebuilt. I got the numbers off the tag on the carburetor and headed to the local auto parts store. The parts pro found the correct kit and had to order it. I guess parts for a 27 year old engine aren't just on everyone's shelves. So now we're back to "A" again  

When they called to say the kit came in I drove right over to pick it up. Just to be sure I opened the kit and right away I knew it was wrong. This was a kit for a 2 barrel and I had a Quadrajet 4 barrel. I was frustrated at this point and decided to turn matters over to a pro so I had our marina rebuild the carb. Naturally they were busy and would work on our boat as soon as they could but probably a week would be the soonest. 

More "A"nticipation. This is getting tough. Good news - they got to it sooner that we thought. Bad news - rebuilding the carb made it better but it didn't cure the problem. Due to the age the linkages and shafts on the carb are all worn out. Time for a new carb. More expense and more waiting. Stuck on "A"!

A few days later the new carburetor arrives and gets installed. Now there is a new problem. We are experiencing a strange anomaly of no water due to high water.  Huh?  We are in the midst on yet another flood on the Mississippi and the lock and dam just below us has the rollers all the way up to let the maximum volume of water pass through the dam.  Our marina is situated behind a lateral dam.  The combination of the high water, open dam rollers and lateral dam create the weird condition of the water being literally sucked out of the marina, causing extreme low water levels in the marina.  It's bizarre.  We are in a flood and our boat is sitting on the bottom in about 10 inches of water.  Great - we are STILL stuck on "A".

We go check on the boat every night after work.  Still not floating.  Finally after another 10 days we are floating again.  Now there is enough water to run the engine and make the final adjustments to the new carburetor.  The engine purrs like a kitten.  We spruce up a bit from the aftermath of repair work and putt around the corner to our permanent slip.  Ahhh we have finally moved into full "B" mode.

We make plans for the following weekend to jump into "C" mode with both feet.

Stay tuned...