Speedster 1st Time On Water...Few Questions/Concerns

[Hefty14]

The last 3 weeks I've been working on the port motor on my new (to me) 1996 Speedster. This form has been a wealth of information and an enormous help in getting things back right on this boat. Finally gotta hit the water today and was pretty dang happy with the outcome. Boat ran about 42 mph top speed but it does need wear rings. Starboard looks pretty good visually (haven't gauged it)but is gonna be replaced; Port side has like a 1/4" gap so I know it's really dang bad and this repair should vastly improve torque and top speed.However, I have a few questions and concerns... Ur input would greatly be appreciated!

1) As soon as I put it on the water I was getting a lot of water flooding through the drain hole under the driver seat. What could cause this much water coming in? The black rubber flap on th back of boat is intact. It was enough that it filled up the storage compartment in the floor.

2) Speedometer started to work and I think with more use it will be fine. Port tach doesn't work at all and starboard would seldom jump around. Loose wires maybe? Just trace em back? Fuel gauge is working but not reading correct amount. Waterlogged float?

3) Port engine will not start unless I give it half throttle. Once it starts n runs for a few second I can back it down n it idles perfect! If more than a minute before I start it back I hafta give it half throttle again. Maybe another 1/2 turn on low speed jets?

4) Port temp sensor sets off the solid alarm. The motor on top is literally cool to the touch. Jugs get warm but not any hotter than the other motor. Sensor bad?

Once this is all lined out boat should be good to go. Thanks in advance for ur input n advice!

 

[Hefty14]

Is it bad to ride a couple times with this much gap in wear ring?

 

[Hefty14]

Also I been looking into scupper valve... I have the flap n it floods my boat... Wonder if I could stick a ping pong ball behind the flap n screen? The hose narrows down about 3" inside and its tapered... I think it may go right in there n seal with the back pressure... Any thoughts?

 

[Coastiejoe]

The engine is designed to protect itself. So,, it will not exceed safe RPMs regardless of the wear ring condition.

That said, if the wear ring is too bad, the engine will be at or near max RPMs just TRYING to get onto plane. It isn't good to be maintaining max RPMs consistently..

 

[Hefty14]

It sounds like it's struggling to get on plane... Those should be here Monday I'll take it easy til then. Thanks! What about the starting on port engine? Have to have half throttle to start but then idles and runs fine?? Is that low speed?

 

[Hefty14]

Would love to hear some more input... Had it out second time today. Scupper valve solved, PO had it on upside down and had two flaps... Took one out n flipped it around right.... No water in boat. I did notice oil lightly running from cyl 2 plug on starboard motor?? Dunno what that could be. Also port motor surged a little which I thought may be due to bad wear ring (Should be here Tuesday.) I also have temp sensor on the way n I can search to find gauge troubleshooting procedure. My biggest concern right now is why the surging in port motor and also y do I have to be at half throttle to get it to start?? Please give me a lil input on that n I can manage the other small problems through the search engine

 

[100dollarbill]

2) Speedometer started to work and I think with more use it will be fine. Port tach doesn't work at all and starboard would seldom jump around. Loose wires maybe? Just trace em back? Fuel gauge is working but not reading correct amount. Waterlogged float?

My port tach doesn't work either. I just found one on Ebay. The guy might have another. I searched the part number 278000744. The seller is seadoobill17. All the others I found say our # is discontinued.

 

[Hefty14]

I'll check it out right now... Thanks for the input