1976 22' Starcraft Islander Rebuild

Watermann

Starmada Splash of the Year 2014
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Super! Hey not leaking fuel is always a good thing! So is the choke working properly, thinking about the soot issue? There's a starting sequence for carb'd motors, mine likes two full pumps of the throttle, then slightly advanced... bam! fires right off otherwise lots of grinding when cold.

The prop may be just about right as you said the RPMS were under 4000 and they should be close to 4800 at WOT. Dropping 4"p should net around 800 RPMs. It matters what you're going to be doing the most on how you want the boat propped, I only cruise my Chief and have got the RPMs to match the speed almost identical ie: 3000 RPMs = 30 MPH. My speedo is light .5 MPH from GPS and that cruise speed and RPM was what I was shooting for. You could prop more but it puts a strain on things.


Here's a pic I took of the Chief's gauge cluster last weekend.

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jasoutside

Supreme Mariner
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Dec 20, 2009
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Well guys I continue to struggle with this V6. I cannot believe we haven't been able to nail this down yet.

On the positive side of things, wherever I go guys are always there to compliment and ask questions about the boat. The old timers who know these Starcraft's are like "That's an Islander? Huh? Yah, I guess I can kinda see it. You say you got that out of a scrap yard? Really?"

That kinda makes a man feel good while he's yet wrestling to get this motor running right.
 

GA_Boater

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You'll get her sorted out. Jas. Then she will have the power to match the looks.
 

jasoutside

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So we spent a week on South Manistique Lake up in up in the Yooper Peninsula, had a great time! The Islander ran perfect. Slow, fast, cold start, warm start, tubing, fishing, cruising, didn't miss a beat.

Here's what my GPS looked like at the end...
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Can you tell we had fun!

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I know I built this for family fun stuff but man it fished great too. The rod locker was awesome, plenty of storage for tackle, shelves on the sides were great for catching sweatshirts, water bottles, and what not. The doghouse was perfect for the boys to stand on and cast for pike and bass. The fishbox was perfect for the catch of the day.

The boat sat in the lake all week and didn't leak a drop. Great bow storage for the anchor, life jackets, tubing stuff, and space left over too. Jen loved the bow seating for slow cruising, she thought is was super comfortable. She lounged up there with her book while the kids and I were fishing. Awesome boat all in all!

Now, I ran 4K RPM's or less the whole time I was out, plenty for everything we needed to do. I did push it to WOT once and have my buddy drive for a sec so I could check out the inline fuel pressure gauge. The engine stumbled at 4400 just like before but fuel pressure didn't drop below 5#. There are still a few theories out there why this V6 has trouble at that RPM range, I'll see what I can do to sort through this.
 

dozerII

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Oct 25, 2009
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Awesome Jason, by the looks of the pink lines on the GPS, she got more than a few miles on her.:peace:
 

Watermann

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Man it's been a long time coming for you, this motor issue wasn't deserved at all. Although on my outings I don't usually nail it WOT, 99% of the time I cruise 30 or less. If you do run your motor over 4k do it only for a few minutes as it will seriously shorten it's life if you always run WOT all over like your hairs on fire. Your 4.3 probably is pretty decent on fuel like mine unless you open her up so that's another incentive.

Great pics, thanks for sharing some of the good times!
 

Patfromny

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Dec 2, 2012
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That is one nice bass. Great to see you and the family enjoying her. Now fill us in as to what you found. Banana in the tail pipe?
 

Watermann

Starmada Splash of the Year 2014
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That is one nice bass. Great to see you and the family enjoying her. Now fill us in as to what you found. Banana in the tail pipe?


Yeah that's a nice bass, the boys been taught well. we've seen that technique before :lol:

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GA_Boater

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Jason - Which one of the kids scribbled with a pink crayon all over your Lowrance? :eek: Was this part of the trip bumpy?

bumpy.PNG


You and the kids had a lot of fun judging by all the squiggles. :D

Hope you get rid of the stumble soon!
 

jasoutside

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Well fellas, I did not find out what the problem was with the V6. But, I did find what I believe could be a great solution...

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jasoutside

Supreme Mariner
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Dec 20, 2009
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And yah, just for the record, I think it took me like three years to go from a OMC Stringer to a Mercruiser. Then, it took me a day to go from a Mercruiser to a Mercruiser.
 

jasoutside

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Dec 20, 2009
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There was an issue with the V6 and I couldn't find it to fix it.

If I were hanging out on inland lakes only, I wouldn't sweat it. If something goes bad with it, no problem, inconvenient but we can get to shore safely. But, having something go bad out on Lake Huron, with the kids, that's a whole different deal. The consequences of the motor not working correctly out there could be quite great.

Plus, that motor was sitting right there in the garage, ready to go. Done! :thumb:
 
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