'98 SRL MerCrusier 3.0L Fuel Pump gasket questions

[St.Drewcifer]

Howdy-

Still working on this engine trying to get it running properly. Todays feat is the mechanical fuel pump. It actually started as a simple replacement of the water separator. I could not get the nut to spin so I took the whole pump off. The nut was tie wired on. This seemed to mean to me that no one had ever replaced this filter and the wire was a factory placement as it was painted black like the rest of the pump.

Now that I have the pump off, I see that there are two gaskets. One that is thin and a second that is a brown fiber material, about an 1/8" thick. This didnt seem to be "factory" at all, but I dont own a manual and the YouTube videos were not helpful.

Do I need to put the brown fiber gasket back on?
Any insight on why the tie wire? Should I safety wire that nut back on?

Here's a link to the pictures:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7pyxpqth6fNpsW6L7

Thanks!

Drew

[St.Drewcifer]

Replaced the fuel pump without the fiber gasket. Now that fuel is properly flowing to the carb the engine is flooding. I took the carb off and apart, and the needle valve is missing along with a couple other parts in the flow control (your terminology may vary).

My guess is that with the bad water separator filter, the engine was being starved for gas, so the previous owner took these pieces out. I took the carb to be rebuilt. I should have another update next week. Fingers crossed.

[mmwjr]

I missed your first post the other day, the manual for your engine can be found under Documents of this site. Yes it seems the PO did things without really knowing what to do.

[donald]

The things that stupid people do still amazes me!
Don