96 14ft challenger power loss

[rdekk]

got this thing cleaned up and in the water ran good for a couple of hours , then noticed it didnt want to get on plane ( after 1 hour slow no wake time) RPMS would come up but not much past 4500 it tried but couldnt power thru changed spark plugs seemed better sitting still so took off again now worse popping and backfiring when much throttle applied, pulled and drained water separator filter fuel was light green?? put it back on and limped it to launch wouldnt stay running smoking popping best i could get was 100 feet or so at time 2500 rpm seemed best, i noticed clear in-line filters had about 50% air in them is there a fuel pump and where is it. how do i check it for operation i did check nothing plugging impeller thanks Randy

 

[POPPS]

Start simple,,,load test the battery,,,check all fuses and fuse holders if you have any for corrosion,,,while you are there check for charging,,,they will run like crap when not charging,,check for a nice bright white spark,,,could be a coil issue,,after that it usually is carb related,,,hope this gets you going,,,eliminate the simplest and easiest items from your equations,,,carbs are a lot of work,,,inspect them last.