8.1 power issue

Thought about that. The belts are fine, just looking for a spare, so hate to take a working belt off.
 
5 minute job. 5/16" and a 5/8" open end wrench. You should always take your belt off periodically, and give all the pulleys' a spin. Those 2 plastic idler pulleys don't last forever
 
Does a v drive drop the power steering pump, water pump, etc? Could be the difference.
 
So your belt is a 99 inch belt, but Mercruiser told me 83 inches......Don't get it. You have the 8.1' s correct?
 
Yes. But there is something different on the v drive versus the b3 version. Looked up your belt and it is different.
 
so you can verify the gap BUT you dont gap a iridium plug the same they are fragile. out of the 4, 496s i have ownes and swapped plugs in, right out the box is fine normally .56-.62 ish, and raymar marine like .55 anyway.
 
Great info, thanks everyone. I have 8.1s with v drives in my 2009 330 DA? I'm going to order a spare set of AC Delco OEM plugs from Amazon, they are only $6.23 each. I see the comments about being careful when gapping them. Any particular gapping tool that is better to use with these plugs, or is just an ordinary tool the best we can do?

Also, I'm thinking of ordering a spare set of spark plugs wires for each engine too, since I think the same issues apply to the wires as the plugs, i.e., high cost from dealer and relatively frequent need for replacement. Does anyone know the correct OEM part number for the wires off hand? I would search the site, but the search feature doesn't seem to be working very well.

Thanks in advance.
 
wires going bad is not a common thing on the 8.1.

Its not the old mind set from carb/distributer engines like back in the day (plugs and wires, and cap/rotor....) with coil packs, and short wires, normally the plugs are the problem only as the tunes for the 496 are super rich. (helps those cast internals stay together no matter what load is put on them)

as far as gapping them be very carefull when gapping small thin center electrode plugs as the center electrode should not be subjected to any pressure as it can be easily damaged in the body and result in a short lived or failed plug. Carefully bending the body electrode up and down with a proper tool without putting any pressure on the fine wire center tip electrode. DO NOT use a pry type pressure gapping tool to gap these type of plugs!
Also when using anti-sieze on these plugs "a liitle dab will do you" and don't use so much that any gets on the firing end of the plug as many anti-sieze formulations will help kill spark jump across the gap and sometimes result in a dead plug.
 
Thanks, I suppose that makes sense about the wires.

About the plugs, I've seen references to the 41-983 (platinum, I think) being replaced/superseded by the 41-985 (iridium), and that being replaced/superseded by the 41-110 (iridium), and the iridium plugs being gapped at the factory and so not needing to be gapped.

Do you guys use the 41-983, or one of the others?
 
NGK for me.
As for wires, you can get the Merc OEM for $500 or Volvo OEM for $100. Personal experience - they fit the same.
 
Yeah, thanks, the consensus on the internet seems to be that the Merc OEM wires are a scam, and the Volvo or Crusader OEMs are the way to go.
 
NGK Iridiums here too (TR55IX).

I currently have Volvo wires then bought a couple of sets of spares of AC Delco's from Michigan Motors for something like $50 a set when they were on special.
 
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