It lives!!!!!!!!!
So came back to it tonight after a rough day at my day job needing to clear my head. Checked all the wires to make sure they went where they were supposed to, all good there. Started it again and clicked it into gear and verified issue still present when in gear. I picked up a coil at the local marina just in case I needed it. Decided to yank the fuel filter and check that, fuel looked ok. I ran a hose to a 5 gal gas can, put a new filter on it ran it from that tank and had the same issue. At this point I am ready to throw the paddle in and plan on rowing for most of my vacation...
My buddy showed up to give me a hand at this point and we decided to go after the timing. The WSM says that the initial timing on these motors can't be adjusted without a Volvo tool to put it into service mode. I figured what the hell, if you turn the distributor there is no choice but to adjust when the rotor creates spark. We started it up and started moving the distributor to see if it did anything. At first I couldn't really see anything changing on the timing tab/balancer. We went way clockwise and tried to rev it and she started breaking up really bad at about 1500rpm, started rolling it back CCW and it started to clear up, raised the rpm more break up, went a little more CCW and now we are looking at 22-2300rpm, ok good so far, keep going, 3k, 3.5k,quick blip to 4k!!! We have a winner!!!!
She is smoother than she has ever been firing on all cylinders and ready to rip!!! I still have to swap out the impeller and throw the new serp belt on and bang out an oil change, but super psyched and enjoying a celebratory beer now that she is up and running!!!
Thanks to everyone again for the tips along the way, see you on the lake in a few days! My boat still has the old owners name on "Club Fed" so say hi if ya see me out there! Link to her running if you have FB -
https://www.facebook.com/anthony.dey...76246826/?t=60