A long post, but would really appreciate any thoughts you might have...
I picked up a new toy / project yesterday (pics below) and would love some advice / input if you have any. I've never touched an I/O drive boat before, but have built or rebuilt cars, street bikes, and outboards in past lives as well as done some paint and body work and a little glass work. One of the reasons I felt comfortable taking this on was the great information I found while digging around on here - Thanks to lots of you for taking the time to explain things so clearly. There is a lot I wouldn't have had a clue about that now seems pretty clear how to proceed.
Background: It was apparently kept inside for a good bit of it's life excet for sitting outside for the last 8-10 months. The upholstry is in fairly bad shape, but the foam is still firm and complete and although the wood is a bit soft in places. It's a 1988 Diplomat I/O that came from the factory with Chevy 4.3 L v-6. I bought this boat for little more than a new prop would cost, but had to deal with changing tires and redoing a wheel bearing under the watchful eyes of the guy's pit bull - growling at me through an awful thin-looking chain length fence. The original engine is in pieces but, but everything seems to be there. The Alpha one drive turns freely, goes into and out of gear easily by hand, doesn't feel tooo sloppy, and had reasonable looking lube in it (no chunks of scary looking metal, etc...). The boat was run last year and was serviced by a local mechanic at the beginning of the saeason. The owner apparently ran it until it died, tore it all apart and then parked it behind his garadge thinking he was going to put it back together. From what I can tell the floor wood, hull, etc... are all structurally sound. I was looking for something to play with on the weekends and that I could start teaching my 12 year old daughter to slalom behind, maybe take up wake-boarding in the afternoons, etc... Way too much water here to go much longer without another boat...
First priority is power. This is a place I could really use some input. I've had a bunch of outboards, but never in I/O drive before. I'm thinking crate motor from one of the shops that does marine engines. The heads I have were redone last year and look fine, but if I can get a long block without spending too much, I'd rather not mess with a rebuild. Moving things around and going with a 350 is tempting, but it'd be more work than I want to do right now and I gotta be reasonable about the budget (have a daughter that would probably like to be a ble to go college in a few years). Would also like to get it put together and enjoy time on the water this summer. At this point with the looming reality of $4 and higer per gallon for gas, seems to make a lot of sense to go with a consergvative 4.3 and the factory heads, cam, intake, carb, exhaust layout, etc. for starters. Any recommendations on Engine shops to check with? Mods / upgrades I should consider? Anything to watch out for? I'm in Eastern North Carolina.
Biggest worry / question beyond engine is the exhaust manifolds. One of them was cracked on the outside and was brazed (we're talking 5 or 6 inches -maybe owner let it freeze?). From what I'm reading a water leak can be a major problem. Would be easy to imagine that if that bad on outside, might also be cracked on the inside. Given that the engine weas blowing headgaskets and getting water / piston damage to one or two of the cylinders on that side (twice apparently and once even after new head was installed. Owner was told after last time that there was probably a casting flaw in the block that was causing the problem???), seems like it might not be a bad idea to replace the cracked one at a minimum. If I'm gonna do that, I'd also consider making any other modifcations that make sense to exhaust now as well.
I've got a good sense of what do do for the badly oxidized gelcoat from previous posts. Played with it a little last night with some standard rubbing coumpound and then polishing compound. Even though there some significant oxidation, it's probably never been touched before and can still find areas with facotry orange peel - Lots of clear coat left and metalflake looks miles below the surface. Plan to gently wetsand with ca. 1200 grit, then go to Aqua-Buff and once happy that oxidation is all gone I'll try using Starbright w/Teflon marine polish. There are a few dings and scrapes that I'll seal with epoxy for now just to be sure (will have ot reread to see which type is best), and then worry about doing anything more involved on the bottom half of the hull This Winter.
Finally the upholstery: Once I get the power figured out, I'll see what new skins from checkmate would cost (have the phone number from previous posts. based on comments from others, this seems like the best option). If they fit in the budget after ordering an engine, I'll do the wood myself (realy like the idea of coating marine plywood with resin). The foam is in pretty reasonable shape from what I can see so far and should do fine. If the skins don't fit into the budget, I might try my hand at making them myself (yea, I got a sewing machine and ain't afraid to use it...). I haven't found any soft spots in the floor yet and the carpet looks like it'll clean up pretty well so I'll avoid tearing into that this year.
Assuming ya got this far, thanks in advance for any input / direction!!
I picked up a new toy / project yesterday (pics below) and would love some advice / input if you have any. I've never touched an I/O drive boat before, but have built or rebuilt cars, street bikes, and outboards in past lives as well as done some paint and body work and a little glass work. One of the reasons I felt comfortable taking this on was the great information I found while digging around on here - Thanks to lots of you for taking the time to explain things so clearly. There is a lot I wouldn't have had a clue about that now seems pretty clear how to proceed.
Background: It was apparently kept inside for a good bit of it's life excet for sitting outside for the last 8-10 months. The upholstry is in fairly bad shape, but the foam is still firm and complete and although the wood is a bit soft in places. It's a 1988 Diplomat I/O that came from the factory with Chevy 4.3 L v-6. I bought this boat for little more than a new prop would cost, but had to deal with changing tires and redoing a wheel bearing under the watchful eyes of the guy's pit bull - growling at me through an awful thin-looking chain length fence. The original engine is in pieces but, but everything seems to be there. The Alpha one drive turns freely, goes into and out of gear easily by hand, doesn't feel tooo sloppy, and had reasonable looking lube in it (no chunks of scary looking metal, etc...). The boat was run last year and was serviced by a local mechanic at the beginning of the saeason. The owner apparently ran it until it died, tore it all apart and then parked it behind his garadge thinking he was going to put it back together. From what I can tell the floor wood, hull, etc... are all structurally sound. I was looking for something to play with on the weekends and that I could start teaching my 12 year old daughter to slalom behind, maybe take up wake-boarding in the afternoons, etc... Way too much water here to go much longer without another boat...
First priority is power. This is a place I could really use some input. I've had a bunch of outboards, but never in I/O drive before. I'm thinking crate motor from one of the shops that does marine engines. The heads I have were redone last year and look fine, but if I can get a long block without spending too much, I'd rather not mess with a rebuild. Moving things around and going with a 350 is tempting, but it'd be more work than I want to do right now and I gotta be reasonable about the budget (have a daughter that would probably like to be a ble to go college in a few years). Would also like to get it put together and enjoy time on the water this summer. At this point with the looming reality of $4 and higer per gallon for gas, seems to make a lot of sense to go with a consergvative 4.3 and the factory heads, cam, intake, carb, exhaust layout, etc. for starters. Any recommendations on Engine shops to check with? Mods / upgrades I should consider? Anything to watch out for? I'm in Eastern North Carolina.
Biggest worry / question beyond engine is the exhaust manifolds. One of them was cracked on the outside and was brazed (we're talking 5 or 6 inches -maybe owner let it freeze?). From what I'm reading a water leak can be a major problem. Would be easy to imagine that if that bad on outside, might also be cracked on the inside. Given that the engine weas blowing headgaskets and getting water / piston damage to one or two of the cylinders on that side (twice apparently and once even after new head was installed. Owner was told after last time that there was probably a casting flaw in the block that was causing the problem???), seems like it might not be a bad idea to replace the cracked one at a minimum. If I'm gonna do that, I'd also consider making any other modifcations that make sense to exhaust now as well.
I've got a good sense of what do do for the badly oxidized gelcoat from previous posts. Played with it a little last night with some standard rubbing coumpound and then polishing compound. Even though there some significant oxidation, it's probably never been touched before and can still find areas with facotry orange peel - Lots of clear coat left and metalflake looks miles below the surface. Plan to gently wetsand with ca. 1200 grit, then go to Aqua-Buff and once happy that oxidation is all gone I'll try using Starbright w/Teflon marine polish. There are a few dings and scrapes that I'll seal with epoxy for now just to be sure (will have ot reread to see which type is best), and then worry about doing anything more involved on the bottom half of the hull This Winter.
Finally the upholstery: Once I get the power figured out, I'll see what new skins from checkmate would cost (have the phone number from previous posts. based on comments from others, this seems like the best option). If they fit in the budget after ordering an engine, I'll do the wood myself (realy like the idea of coating marine plywood with resin). The foam is in pretty reasonable shape from what I can see so far and should do fine. If the skins don't fit into the budget, I might try my hand at making them myself (yea, I got a sewing machine and ain't afraid to use it...). I haven't found any soft spots in the floor yet and the carpet looks like it'll clean up pretty well so I'll avoid tearing into that this year.
Assuming ya got this far, thanks in advance for any input / direction!!
