Sound like the guy who built it. Sorry I'm not some jet boat guru but I do know how to drive a boat and read Gauges.
And if you think I'm the problem feel free to explain just curious
Not coming straight out and blaming you... However, every time I see someone having NORMAL failures due to improper set ups and it happens to be an Olds, that is the first thing that gets blamed.
Do you guys have any idea how many Oldsmobile jets there are out there still running since the early seventies? It would be very easy for me to say several thousand of them. I personally know of at least 10.
Your carburetor has automotive jetting, those things
do not work at all on a jet boat motor without a shit ton of work. They're horrible. Anybody who says theirs works great either has been very lucky, have no idea what they are talking about, or spent some serious time tweaking it.
Running a marine engine at 210°F, for even a few minutes, is begging for a catastrophic failure, does not matter what engine make it is. This thing should have ran at 150°F max and cruised at less than 130°F without any drama whatsoever.
If the plumbing is not correct and working the way it is supposed to, you will blow it up, again, does not matter if it is a $40,000 race engine.
Basically, and why I am telling you this, is you would have had all the same issues if you had built a Chevy. Figure out where the problem is/was before you switch flavors thinking all your problems are going to magically go away, I assure you, they wont.
Don't take any offense, not my intention, just don't blame a 40 year old engine. A 454 Chevy has more similarities than it does differences to an Oldsmobile, they were made in the same building.
Rant over...
GT