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Thinking through this string of messages, one thing I see that wasn't discussed was looking at the fuel and vacuum lines on the motor. Having old outboards, I've had more than one occasion when I thought a similar issue was a fuel pump only to find that one (or more) of the fuel hoses on the motor had deteriorated. JOZ, it might be worth a few minutes to pull the cover off the engine and just check the hoses there on the motor to make sure they are all good and have no cracks.