I left out a lot of the details, but basically I did play with the LS settings a bit and think I found a sweet spot at about 1 and 3/4, and the plugs evened out but never got them right to where I wanted them. I'll upload some pics here in bit. on my second series of break in I was varying between 1.5-4k rpm, when I hit 4k it bogged, didn't die just bogged. so to see if it really was lean I pulled the choke and sure enough right at about 1/8 (just a smidge) the ski ran like a dream.
so def was a lean condition. I was running 40:1 plus OI, and super low revs while testing in 50 degree water. I reallllllly don't want to have to pull the motor out, but I also reallllllly don't want to buy a new one lol.
Ended up pulling the carbs beach side (that was not fun) and found that one of the hoses on the MAG side wasn't fully clamped, also checked the bolts on the manifold and was able to hand torque almost a full rotation on each, HOWEVER, manual says 5lbs of torque, so I also am not confident the leak was there. unfortunately once I pulled the carbs I fell down the rabbit hole. first I stripped the brass fittings for the choke, then the Oil pump spring came off, and then I noticed my throttle cable had frayed badly. but I really wanted to just get the dang thing back together to see if I had found it.
Ultimately after putting around for about 20 minutes for the day, and 4 hours wrenching. I threw in the towel. Ordered a new cable today, and going to retread those fittings for the choke.
Is it possible to do a leak test while the motor is in the boat if I pull exhaust?
did I mention I reallllly don't want to pull this motor lol.