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Thread: WH7 blues

  1. #1
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    WH7 blues

    I got around to swapping my Varmint from dual rotary ride guide to dual rack ride guide the other day (with all NOS stuff too!) and finished in time to go for a test run on the river before heading to Alaska for work on Friday.

    I always crank up on the hose before heading out to save embarrassent at the boat ramp. Fired up as usual but didn't want to idle. Popped the cowling and silencer and fuel was pouring out of the top carb. Needless to say, no river fun for me...

    My local dealer of choice is a long time OMC dealer but carries Merc and Yammie now days too. They couldn't look up my motor in their computer but made some calls to Ma Merc and the news isn't real good. Gasket only kit is $125, needle and seats $27 a pop, floats NLA.

    What is the best solution for this dilemma? Scrounge for good used floats and pony up the $$$ for the rebuild stuff? Swap to newer carbs (IIRC the "D" shaped floats are NLA also)? Swap to Laser injection (maybe joking here but not sure really)?

    Motor is a '79 175 Mariner, PO set this up with a Holley red pump regulated to 4 psi, thru the pulse pump to the carbs. Has always worked well like this until now.

    I have an '81 150 with maybe wh1's IIRC and an '86 xr2 unsure of carbs that I could cannibalize but these have both been sitting for years and likely need rebuild also. I'm thinking it would be nice to have the primers instead of the chokes and the xr2 might have compatible jetting?

    I'm in Alaska for a few weeks and the boat and parts are in Texas...
    Josh Peterson

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    More likely then not it will be a piece of debris holding a needle open. The basic needle&seat kit will give you more then enough to fix that. If the carb gaskets are ok then may need nothing. Are your fuel hose the older black ones? The fuel line deteriorating creating little black bits of rubber(thanks ethanol) that will stop a needle from seating. On mine with w-22's I replaced all the fuel lines from the tank to the pump with automotive fuel injection hose. From the pump to the carbs I used motorcycle clear lines with an inline filter mounted above the top carb(about 6" before the line splits to feed the carbs. Checking/cleaning the needle&seat is not a big or tricky ordeal.

  3. #3
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    Have had a lot of trouble here on the east coast with obama crap alcohol laced gas causing similar carb issues. Fuel lines like coffeeguy said are a big issue. But wait, THERE'S MORE.....

    My theory and its only a theory is the crap alcohol pump gas won't lift the floats with as much force as real gas. Specific gravity of the fuel must be different. Apparently obama didn't look into the effect of this junk gas would have on thousands of older outboards. Real low fuel pressures are a "bandaid" fix but risky!

    After going nuts rebuilding a set of WH-15's I finally gave up and switched to newer 2.5 carbs and the problem went away. Later Merc carbs have one big float instead of the 2 small floats. Don't exactly know why but it worked for me! I'm back to running 5-6 psi fuel pressures and the motor runs fine.

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    Also the older black rubber tipped needles don't work as good with ethanol fuel. The newer needles will have a red rubber and work better. I would open carb up and look. More than likely an easy and inexpensive fix. Good luck hope all works out well for ya

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    Switch to new style wmv carbs...you won't regret it. It takes some modification to make them work on a vertical reed intake because the spacing is closer. You will have to sand down the bottom of the carb bowls to make them fit and it is still tight. No more dead spots at cruising speed when you punch it. I had a 85 XR2 and swapped to a set off of a 2000 XR6 with no jet changes and picked up about 200-300 rpm up top.

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    Quote Originally Posted by johnboy 88 vegas View Post
    I had a 85 XR2 and swapped to a set off of a 2000 XR6 with no jet changes and picked up about 200-300 rpm up top.
    I can already turn my 24p Turbo to 7200!

    Thanks all for the advice! Definately some good ideas to consider while I'm away. I will update once I get moving on this project.
    Josh Peterson

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    I have a modded 96 model 200 that I modded with: 7 petal reeds from a 260, old style flywheel (15 amp), exaust chest cut like a drag block, 155 psi compression and no port timing changes. I tried WH15, WH20, and WH22 carbs. None of them ran as good as WMV's off a newer 200. The WH15's were the only one that had just a little more power out the hole but went to crap through the midrange. The other two had no advantage whatsoever over the WMV's. This is my personal experience that taught me newer is better when it comes to carbs. Different applications may have different results so I can't speak for everyone.

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    1395-6452 - Gasket Kit $8.90

    1395-7624 - Inlet Needle $24.92


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  10. #9
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    Swapped to WH-29's

    Well, I finally got a chance to work on the boat. I rescued my parts motors from where they were being stored and one of them is an '86 XR2 with a couple of scuffed bores.

    I went ahead and swapped the WH-29's over onto the old 175. Good riddance to the choke plates! It starts super easy now with the electric fuel pump and the enricher. Turn on the key, prime the pump, push in the key, and it bangs right off!

    I still need to do a link & sync but I'll probably yank the carbs back off and go through them first.
    Josh Peterson

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