Project "Wasted Income"

[yellowfiero88]

Well my dream of having a I/O enchanter came true yesterday with the purchase of a 1986. It looked ok, I knew it needed some work but boy was I wrong. I picked it up around 9:45 pm at a motel where we met. I looked it over quick and he fired it up. Not with the key but with a remote start, he said the key switch went bad and it could be replaced for cheap. No big deal. It fired instantly and damn did it sound good. Nice tone, no weird noises. Only ran it for a few seconds since we had no water hooked up. We traded my cash for his boat, hooked up and headed home.

Now I was told it had a small soft spot in the floor that could wait till winter and the right manifold was not flowing water. fix those two things and it would be ready to go. The rear seat was in bad shape also.

Well in the light I found the alt was locked up and the belt slung off a while ago. The starter solinoid up on top of the motor was bad. All the fuel hoses were rotten(filler hose was through). The floor was not even there, except under the cubby. So I went to advanced then to the local mercruser dealer for parts. I spent $170 at advanced and $191 at the boat dealer. What I found was no good. The water pump in the outdrive was week. There was fluid leaking out of the seals and needs rebuilt. and the worst news........... the block has freeze damage on both sides. Yes the block is cracked. From there I went to lowes for some PT plywood. I came home and a few buddys came over to help throw a floor in and maybe a stringer. What I found got worst, The balsa core was rotten under the ski hole. Not my ideal of a good buy. So I cut into it and will be replacing it also.

I did get some water hooked up to it after the new mechanical parts got installed and I fired it up and ran it for a few. It does sound very healthy. It leaked very, very little out of the cracks and the oil did not show any signs of it leaking internaly into the motor. The water flowed freely out of both sides of the exhaust unlike what the guy said and it has good oil pressure. It goes into forward and reverse with no issues.

The guy did a bunch of work to it but did not finish the boat. I think he started the mechanical side of it and found the block was cracked and said screw it and sold it.. Either way I am stuck with it now and I am just going to have to make it work.

I will get some pics up tomorrow of the boat and the work. way to tired now

 

[mikestrobe201]

Sorry to hear about your engine. Cracked block??? the guy who sold it deserves some cracked nuts.

 

[81 enchanter]

yea that sucks bad, gotta love ebay, i saw that one on there and it didn't look
very good for the price he was asking. at least your willing to work it over. i would
definatly give that guy a shot in the pills!

 

[yellowfiero88]

That was prob the boat I bought. It had a BIN of $4000 on it. I got it quite a bit cheaper than that tho. I should have about $4000 into it by the time its ready for the lake.

 

[daren34]

if the compression is good i would fix the cracks and go on

you can drill, tap set screw the cracks

daren

 

[yellowfiero88]

I am not sure what to do with them. They dont leak but a drop a minute of water. Hardley worth pulling the motor to fix. It does have great compression. And the hour meter reads 192. It has not been on the water for atleast 10 years so the meter could be true.

I want to build a wild stroker motor for it down the road. I guess I will see how it runs and if its leaking water into the oil (so far no water in it) and go from there. I plan on leaving for cumberland tomorrow for a test run weekend. One thing is for sure, its going to go or blow! If it goes then it will be welded, if it blows, then a new motor is in store.

I got the core repaired today. The stringers and bulkheads installed. The locker carpeted. The floor installed. Gas tank re-installed. So far, so good. I will finish glassing in the seat mounts tomorrow and install the carpet, seats, and new rear seat frame. Its far from a show piece, but it will work for testing. I ordered new front barrel seats and material to cover the rear seat and the rest of the pieces.

 

[yellowfiero88]

 

[yellowfiero88]

So I got the floor all done, recarpeted, temp seats installed(mis-matched junk) and took it to the river for a test run. This was done at 5:00 pm on 7-17. We were leaving for cumberland at 6:30 pm on 7-17 and the plan was to take the boat. Well it fired right up so I took it up the river, starting out slow at about 1/4 throttle. Running good, I opened it up to about 2/3 throttle. still running good no major problems! So I turn around and crank on it! 1500,2000,3000,4000rpm climbing right through its paces as it should with the sound of the small block loving it! All of a sudden it goes bad. Not real bad but bad. The motor turns into a water sprinkler, spewing water out of both sides of the motor. I backed it down to around 3000 and it stoped spitting water but now the motor is hot, real hot. So I shut it down and drifted for a few till I got close to the trailer where I fired it back up and put her back onto the trailer. From there I went home and dropped the boat and hooked up the waverunners. Oh well I didnt let it ruin my vacation.

We all went down to lake cumberland and had a blast. I even saw a nice old checkmate at the dock. He was to quick because I wanted to say hi but by the time I got near, he was idleing off.

Well I am back now and I am trying to get the boat together. I bought a new hose from the water pump to the thermo housing, thermostat, gaskets for all of that, water pump, manifold gaskets and riser gaskets. Hopefully with a little effort tomorrow, I will have a new cooling system and no problems. I am going to try to JB Weld the block and make it last the rest of the year when it will be scraped and replaced with a 383 stroker motor.

I started buffing the exterior also. It is coming out alot better than I thought. I also started buying all new exterior hardware, cleets, fuel fill, vent, hinges, vents, lights, and so on. I am going to remove the grab rail and change the windshield to update the looks. I am also buying a new ladder!

Front buff job

New floor and carpet (covered in dirt from who knows where!)

A little acid to clean up the scum.

 

[boatman4021]

Looking Good! I feel your pain! I bought a 1983 Enforcer for $7500 and had to spend another $3000 to have the transom replaced! And besides that, the trailer was JUNK so I bought a new trail. Now that I am into this thing for around $15,000, it is just sitting with no lower unit. I guess we learn as we go who not to deal with. boatman

 

[Big Red]

Never buy a boat without a lake run. You would not buy a car without driving it

 

[yellowfiero88]

Looking Good! I feel your pain! I bought a 1983 Enforcer for $7500 and had to spend another $3000 to have the transom replaced! And besides that, the trailer was JUNK so I bought a new trail. Now that I am into this thing for around $15,000, it is just sitting with no lower unit. I guess we learn as we go who not to deal with. boatman

I thought I was pretty safe since he had a 100% positive feedback with 499 score. I did talk to him and he sounded like he did not lie to me about it. He told me to take it to a welding shop and let him know what they say about it. I guess boat really does mean Bring Out Another Thousand!

Never buy a boat without a lake run. You would not buy a car without driving it

Like I said the right side manifold was not flowing water so even if we could run it in the water I would not do anything more than idle speed for a few minutes to prevent it from overheating and ruining the motor. Also it dont leak untill the rpm's are up high. Sides I have bought 95% of my cars without driving them, but they are salvage cars i rebuild! But all joking aside, yes, I do agree with you 100% if this was a ready for the lake boat, I would have stayed at the motel and taken it out before the final transaction took place. Heck I drove about 12 boats local and said no to them after I drove them. Its amazing what junk there is out there. I dont think this is a junker but its more of a project then I wanted to do at this stage in my life. I was looking more for a "weekend fixer-upper and take it to the lake by sunday boat". Heck I still got to finish my outboard enchanter!



I did get to spend almost all day working on it today. I got the exhaust , water neck, hoses, and so on removed. I also got some of the buffing complete. I got everything on top back to the engine compartment done. It turned out ok, but its still not 100%. There is areas where the jell-coat has turned cloudy and there is nothing I can do about it. What is buffed, is very slick and smooth. I really cant do much more with it. Tomorrow, I am going to finish the rear around the motor and also the hull sides. Not much of the stains came off so I will have to color sand to get rid of the white scum.

 

[yellowfiero88]

Got the new validation stickers on.

A little sanding with 1500 to get the white off.

I am still going to do some more sanding/buffing and see if I can get more out of it.

I also found a motor today. Its just not worth messing with the block in the shape its in. It will be a stock 350 with upgraded heads, cam, intake, carb. I am hoping to have under $1000 into it with all parts.

 

[Mr. Buss]

lookin' good!!

 

[yellowfiero88]

lookin' good!!

Thanks.
The hull(above waterline) is perfect. Below the waterline, needs some help. I am still not 100% happy with the light hazzing on the top either but its alot better than what I started with. I think I am going to let the blisters (all 6 of them) heal up on my hands before I buff anymore on it!

 

[bbrad]

BUMMER!!!!

 

[yellowfiero88]

Well I tore into the lower unit this afternoon to replace the water pump assembly. What I found was kinda disturbing. The impeller was completely dry rotten and one of the flaps was torn off. Also found alot of silt/sand in and around the housing. This was prob part of the reason the motor was overheating.

The fluid did look good with no metal shavings. This was the first time doing this and was supprised how easy it was, took me less than 45 minutes to do. I did not put the new fluid in yet as I am going to wait till the new motor in installed.

 

[RevmanII]

The fluid did look good with no metal shavings. This was the first time doing this and was supprised how easy it was, took me less than 45 minutes to do. I did not put the new fluid in yet as I am going to wait till the new motor in installed.

Depending on how long that is, you may not want to wait. I've been told it's not a good idea to leave them empty because of possible condensation/rust issues. Hopefully somebody else can confirm or de-bunk that one for you, just something I was told a few years back.

 

[yellowfiero88]

Depending on how long that is, you may not want to wait. I've been told it's not a good idea to leave them empty because of possible condensation/rust issues. Hopefully somebody else can confirm or de-bunk that one for you, just something I was told a few years back.

It does make sense, I would have to agree with that logic. I am hoping to pull the motor this week and start building the new motor. I hope to have it back together in 2 weeks, depending on funds and time.

 

[yellowfiero88]

Well I finally got to meet up with my buddy to get the new(to the boat) motor. It is a 86 4 bolt main motor. It had a rod knock and the truck was not worth the cost of rebuilding the motor so he scraped the truck.
I ripped the motor down to nothing last night and today took it to my engine builder today. It was very clean inside with no sludge at all (6x,xxx miles).

I am getting the crank turned, rods reconditioned, new forged pistons, bearings, Comp marine cam, gear drive, lifters, full roller arms with girdles. I will be doing the port matching & porting on the heads. This guy did all the work on my 300+hp 3.4L supercharged fiero motor and has done several other motors for me, none of which I have had problems with.

I bought a ton of stuff like aluminum oil pan, timing cover, intake, valve covers. After all the machine work is done and the motor is assembled to a long block, I will also paint the engine.

As for the purest out there, there is only minor internal differences between marine and auto. -head gaskets, cam, brass freeze out plugs-*info from Hern marine, local mercruser dealer*

 

[hotdaddy27]

Real nice work!

I looked at the builds in your signature....VERY impressive!

My girl says that I have major issues because I am always playing with some sort of toy (tweeking/cleaning/fabbing, but you are far worse. You must never sleep!

Congrats, you are one talented dude!:cheers

HD27