Ski Nautique Tune-up Question

[n2mynautique]

I have a 1998 Ski Nautique with a 351 carbureted engine that has a strong hesitation upon applying the throttle. Last year the boat would not start and thought it was a fuel separation issue which resulted in a new carburetor, fuel pump, spark plugs and ignition coil. About mid way through the year the strong hesitation appeared.

I am going to change the plug wires and probably install a new rotor and cap. The boat has around 400 hours on it.

Any thoughts? Would a new carburetor need adjusted / tuned? I ordered it direct from Nautique.

[Mikeski]

I have the same boat with the same carbed motor. Mine had a hesitation too, I bumped the timing up to 12 btc and it has mostly gone away (now running premium fuel). These motors like more timing advance and I don't mind paying a few bucks for better performance. It still hesitates a bit when it's cold but it runs strong when it is warm. For some reason these Holley 4160 carbs sometimes have one of the air passages blocked by one of the metering block gaskets. I have seen this on two of my previous carbed boats and during rebuild of the carb I punched out the carb gasket when I rebuilt it and they both ran great. I will be rebuilding the carb on my boat possibly as early as this weekend.