TOPIC: 1966 Evinrude Starflite 100: Tuning Tips?

I have a 1968 Fabuglas Sea Gull (correctly identified thanks to this forum) pushed somewhat haplessly along by a finicky 1966 Evinrude Starfilte 100.

I bought the boat in pretty nice condition knowing that it was not running right. The boat and motor were sound, requiring only regular maintenance items to return them to working order. Or so I thought. I've worked on a number of motorcycles and trucks so I wasn't too worried about tackling a large 2 stroke. Maybe I was wrong about that, but that's for another day. Bottom line is I cannot get the Evinrude to make power. So far we have done the following:

Replaced:
reed valves
entire wire harness
coil
points
condensor
coil wire (all others tested good)
plugs
starter solenoid
head gaskets (one was blown)
all fuel and vacuum lines (except heat exchanger, showed no signs of carbon)
it does need a new rotor, the current one wobbles slightly (very slightly) and cannot be perfectly timed

Rebuilt with new components:
carburetor
fuel pump
prop balanced

Adjusted:
carb/distributer linkage
automatic choke
timing: checked with timing light, it's very close but cannot be dialed in due to the rotor

It starts and runs reliably but tops out at a steaming 8 mph.

There are some things that I guessed on, one of which was carb float levels. The manual describes how to adjust the "open" position but makes no mention of the "closed" position. The open position is very close to spec (I cannot find a float gauge). The closed positions are set just shy of pressing the spring pin on the back of the needle so any movement begins to press the spring pin. I previously had them further open but it would not start or run well and smelled very gassy, I assume I was flooding it.

Second thing I guessed on was setting up the automatic choke, this does not appear to be well covered in the manual. Inside the housing under the rich/lean lever is the bi-metal spring and a music wire spring. Near as I can well the bi-metel is left in its least tensioned position and hooked to the vertical choke butterfly rod. The music wire spring appears to be strictly decorative, but then why is it there?

I reset the floats this morning and it sounds way better, but I won't be able to get it on the lake until next weekend.

Check out this related thread: fiberglassics.com/glassic-forums/j-e-g-o-s-place/evinrude-starflite-100-s-ob-advice