Ok, marine stuff is largely foreign to me so not sure what all crosses over and what is different between regular automotive and marine. Brother in law just bought a boat with a real good sounding 302 in it. Got the old crappy fuel cleared with a little Sea Foam, so now the idle issue went away as I expected.

He was asking me about the fuel requirements. He already made a little bit of a mistake, as it called for 93 octane and it now has 87 in it, although 93 is tougher to find these days. Heck, 91 isn't that easy to find...It also calls for leaded fuel, not exactly a surprise considering the build date.. So, am I correct thinking that we could maybe back the timing down a bit if it has any pinging issues? I already advised him to get octane booster and lead substitute in it. Any suggestions on lead substitutes to use? Also, any kinds that really should be used on marine engines as in not just motor but environmental reasons?

You could retard the timing a couple of degrees Roger and i'd put in a set of colder range plugs in as well ...... out here we use a morey's upper cylinder lubricant kit on lpg fueled older vehicles and i have seen them on older vintage cars as well to help with the lead free fuel.

Is there anyway you can get hold of avgas to run it on Roger - that would solve a lot of issues and as it's in a boat the extra expense probably wouldn't matter too much.

Octane booster and lead sub should work fine..... that motor ran on some old school fuel back in the day, and seems to have turned out fine.

Hey Roger, sounds interesting. Is this a fiberglass boat? Is it the same era?

Ryan

It is a fiberglass, original motor. Could be a fun toy. He is ex-Navy too... I am not a big boater as motion sickness tends to plague me.