[THEFERMANATOR]

85 had ALOT of problems with the 140, and 86-early 87 did as well as far as carbs go. If you run the VRO they aren't too bad, but if you pre-mix it makes it worse MUCH WORSE! I spent several days re-jetting my carbs after I swapped from the early style 140 carbs used in 85 only to those that were used in 86 and the first of 87. The domes will be loose, but it's the skirt you have to worry about. If the piston skirts are loose the engine could have decent compression and still not idle. I was gonna mention that your pistons looked awfully loose from your pics, but it's hard to judge from pictures if they are too loose or not. OMC issued a bulletin though to jet up 2 sizes in the mains on the early loopers as the aggressive porting in them caused ALOT of lean out issues.