motorcyclepilot
Seaman
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2014
- Messages
- 55
Bought a 1990 Sea Ray that needed a starter and battery for $1000. My first power boat...
One of the trailer tires wouldn't hold air because the wheel was rusted out, so I purchased two new ones figuring the other wheel wasn't far behind. Thoroughly cleaned the engine and bilge areas.
Took 3 tries at O'riellys to get the proper starter, but they worked hard to find the right one...an actual Marine starter. My brother helped me get the boat running at which time we changed the plugs and points. We set the dwell with a feeler gage. The boat started up, but just barely. We were happy with getting it running. We unhooked all the plug wires and had to verify the firing order and plug wire position on the rotor.
A few days later I bought a dwell meter and timing light. I set the dwell, which was easy using the Harbor freight meter and then set the timing. All the marks on the timing tab are worn off, so I had to find a picture online of a similar tab to figure out where to set the timing. After setting dwell and timing the engine roars to life.
In the meantime I had been working on the upholstery. It took about three weeks full-time to replace all the wooden parts and recover all of them in Marine grade vinyl. Replaced all of the hardware with new stainless, except the t-nuts that were not availible in stainless.
Upholstery complete and engine running, I reinstall the gages which I had cleaned and polished. Had to replace the bilge blower and horn switches. Verified operation of all instrument lights, but two are not working upon reinstallation. While verifying timing I notice the engine is overheating. I remove the thermostat housing and observe that the thermostat has disinteegrated with only parts of it left. I order a new thermostat and outdrive water pump, thinking that it needs to be replaced also. The blower motor had seized, so I ordered a replacement.
I now remove the trim pump to clean all connections. The tie bar is corroded and bare copper now, not brass anymore so I order a new piece of brass. All nuts replaced with new brass and new bar installed. Pump was frothy milk so all fluid drained.
I noticed that the trim sender and switch wires are corroded. I try to remove them for refurbishing, but cannot resonably remove both retaining bolts. I need to remove the gimble now, so I pull the upper drive unit. I see in the bellows that it has taken on water due to the muck and grime and corrosion on the drive shaft. The u-joints are shot, so I order a bellows kit, the gimble pivot tool, and new u-joints. When pulling the outdrive offf, I also see the exhaust flappers fall to the ground. Took me a while to figure out what they were.
I replace the outdrive water pump, mounting the lower unit in a wood stand that my daughter and me have built. I examine the upper unit and find that the lower drive seal has separated, so I order a seal kit for the upper unit and the special wrench I need to get the drive shaft out. I manage to remove all the u-joint clips and beat out the u-joints with a hammer. I had to file a couple of the 'ears' on the bearing retainer at 45 degrees to allow the u-joint cross to clear when hammering them out.
The center floor section above the fuel tank was bowed down. I removed it to find that the two pieces of plywood had been joined with steel brads that had all rusted away. I pre-stressed the pieces and screwed them together with stainless. I spent an entire day vacuuming and steam cleaning the boat carpet, removing about 20 pounds of sand and dirt.
I replaced the oem warning placards, which had cracked and faded, with replacements I had made at the local plaque shop. That went fairly well.
A SPECIAL tool arrived today so I was able to remove the bell housing so I can replace all the bellows and water hose and also get to the trim sender unit plug retainer. Toasted one 7/16" wrench while trying to make my OWN special tool and decided it is miller time. We'll give it another go tomorrow.
One of the trailer tires wouldn't hold air because the wheel was rusted out, so I purchased two new ones figuring the other wheel wasn't far behind. Thoroughly cleaned the engine and bilge areas.
Took 3 tries at O'riellys to get the proper starter, but they worked hard to find the right one...an actual Marine starter. My brother helped me get the boat running at which time we changed the plugs and points. We set the dwell with a feeler gage. The boat started up, but just barely. We were happy with getting it running. We unhooked all the plug wires and had to verify the firing order and plug wire position on the rotor.
A few days later I bought a dwell meter and timing light. I set the dwell, which was easy using the Harbor freight meter and then set the timing. All the marks on the timing tab are worn off, so I had to find a picture online of a similar tab to figure out where to set the timing. After setting dwell and timing the engine roars to life.
In the meantime I had been working on the upholstery. It took about three weeks full-time to replace all the wooden parts and recover all of them in Marine grade vinyl. Replaced all of the hardware with new stainless, except the t-nuts that were not availible in stainless.
Upholstery complete and engine running, I reinstall the gages which I had cleaned and polished. Had to replace the bilge blower and horn switches. Verified operation of all instrument lights, but two are not working upon reinstallation. While verifying timing I notice the engine is overheating. I remove the thermostat housing and observe that the thermostat has disinteegrated with only parts of it left. I order a new thermostat and outdrive water pump, thinking that it needs to be replaced also. The blower motor had seized, so I ordered a replacement.
I now remove the trim pump to clean all connections. The tie bar is corroded and bare copper now, not brass anymore so I order a new piece of brass. All nuts replaced with new brass and new bar installed. Pump was frothy milk so all fluid drained.
I noticed that the trim sender and switch wires are corroded. I try to remove them for refurbishing, but cannot resonably remove both retaining bolts. I need to remove the gimble now, so I pull the upper drive unit. I see in the bellows that it has taken on water due to the muck and grime and corrosion on the drive shaft. The u-joints are shot, so I order a bellows kit, the gimble pivot tool, and new u-joints. When pulling the outdrive offf, I also see the exhaust flappers fall to the ground. Took me a while to figure out what they were.
I replace the outdrive water pump, mounting the lower unit in a wood stand that my daughter and me have built. I examine the upper unit and find that the lower drive seal has separated, so I order a seal kit for the upper unit and the special wrench I need to get the drive shaft out. I manage to remove all the u-joint clips and beat out the u-joints with a hammer. I had to file a couple of the 'ears' on the bearing retainer at 45 degrees to allow the u-joint cross to clear when hammering them out.
The center floor section above the fuel tank was bowed down. I removed it to find that the two pieces of plywood had been joined with steel brads that had all rusted away. I pre-stressed the pieces and screwed them together with stainless. I spent an entire day vacuuming and steam cleaning the boat carpet, removing about 20 pounds of sand and dirt.
I replaced the oem warning placards, which had cracked and faded, with replacements I had made at the local plaque shop. That went fairly well.
A SPECIAL tool arrived today so I was able to remove the bell housing so I can replace all the bellows and water hose and also get to the trim sender unit plug retainer. Toasted one 7/16" wrench while trying to make my OWN special tool and decided it is miller time. We'll give it another go tomorrow.
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