18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

cj8mule

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 7, 2012
Messages
660
Nice car Gibbles. The boy obviously was telling lies because he still wanted the car :joyous:
 

Watermann

Starmada Splash of the Year 2014
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Jan 12, 2013
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13,747
Oh boy a new ride! Sweet!!! :biggrin1:

I got a new tow vehicle too just last week. :lol:
 

Tnstratofam

Commander
Joined
Aug 18, 2013
Messages
2,679
Sweet set of wheels! Always wanted a Corvette. I'm still stuck in cheap Mustang mode. Maybe when I grow up I can get a real muscle car. She'l look nice pulling the Chief, or at least interesting.:D
 

dozerII

Admiral
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
6,527
Pretty sweet looking Glasser Chris, did you check the stringers and transom:rolleyes:
 
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Gibbles

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
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haha thanks guys, it's a fun car for sure.

And yeah I have a strong suspicion the guy and his grandfather (it was in his grandfathers barn), were trying to botch the sale.

Luckily I had his mother and father on speed dial on the payment day, they came down and whipped everyone in shape, turns out his mom co signed on the loan, and instead of letting the bank take the vette, they got the grandfather to get a cheap loan so they could pay on it until it sold.

During the whole process I got to know more about that family than someone buying their car should :lol:

The vette is a hoot, during these past few weeks it's been super warm, I got a bunch of maintenance done, it looked like it had the original brake fluid ect, flush and new brakes all the way around, tires were pretty shot, so I wreaked havoc on the neighborhood a bit. :lol:

I spent the last few years with a neighbor that thinks his Honda Civic is a race car, so one day pulling into the culdesac I see him in the drive way, so I punch it and did a power side up to my house. :D

I did the same thing semi accidently in an intersection, turning I punched it to hard and went through it sidewards, for a moment I thought I was going to do a 180 and flip around going the wrong way, but out of dumb luck I pulled it off... until I found out my fuel gage is not accurate... :facepalm:
Stalled in the middle of the intersection for a sec, apparently on this year, when your low on fuel, it lets you know when your taking a hard turn... :laugh:

And yes, this thing would make a fantastic tow vehicle, being my other tow vehicle has a 4.3l V6, the 5.7l V8 would be a nice upgrade ;)
 

Gibbles

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Messages
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and the stringers and transom appear to be solid, transom (back of the car) is aluminum and the stringers (frame) is some fancy alloy steel :lol:

(It's a very cool car, not counting the way they installed the tail lights)
 

Gibbles

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Messages
1,845
Getting time to pull the boat out for some fishing ect.

I have to take the vette down for a good month to have the rack and pinion rebuilt (no cores out there), and I found out it's a Z51 with the sport/fast ratio steering.
Making it even harder to find a core :facepalm:
Turns out in this vintage GM made a mistake and built it with the tolerances to tight, when it hits right about 100k the internal seals start to leak, the driver notices some lack of power steering when the car is cold, and as it warms up it starts to work normal.
Power steering fluid turns silver as the internal parts grind against each other ect.. :rolleyes:

Anyways the vette got me to work and back as I paid some needed attention to my tow vehicle, rear end has all new bearings and seals, new U joints, new shocks, new brakes, fresh fluids, ect.
First time I have ever rebuilt a rear axle, and it went pretty smooth, next I'll try a new pinion and ring gear... lower the ratio just a tad for those canyons. ;)

Anyways, over the weekend I worked to get the Chief started up only to find my water tap on the back of the house froze over the winter, and now leaks inside of the house... so I spent the weekend cleaning that up...

This weekend I'll move the boat and try the other tap, and get her fired up, and start thinking cabin while I wait for the rack and pinion to return from the rebuilders... :car:
 

Watermann

Starmada Splash of the Year 2014
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Jan 12, 2013
Messages
13,747
Morning Gibs, Ah yeah lovely warm springtime with everything needing fixed repaired or cleaned up.
 

GA_Boater

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
May 24, 2011
Messages
49,038
See Gibs, those glassers are nuttin' but trouble! :D Springtime honey-dos move to the top of the list.

Hopin' ya get back on the Chief!
 

Gibbles

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Messages
1,845
the new project has been keeping me busy, this winter I'm doing a hp upgrade on the vett, new heads, cam, intake, ect.
it should be fun. :joyous:


and it's been a nice extended summer for us, all last week it's been in the 80's, just this week I'm hearing rumors of 60's...

the chief has been doing very well, just on my last outing I had a primer bulb failure and ended up drifting onto the shore after my father in law backed the trailer to far out before I was able to get it started.
I think the engine sucked up some mud and I ended up finding out that my overheat alarm works fantastic!

I was very glad that my springing for a brand new buzzer for it paid off, my tale tail was also clogged full of mud, funny because i was working so hard to not drift into other boats and to get off the shore line with out screwing up my new prop, I totally forgot about the tale tail...

I have not had a chance to drop the lower yet to see what happened, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to find mud everywhere, and I'm expecting to find a clogged thermostat since I'm pretty sure i was still pumping water.

pretty much minutes before the buzzer went off i noticed the engine was giving off more steam than usual, usually there is a bit of a steam/fog but it was more than usual...
anyways, so far it looks like no damage done, no discoloration of the engine, and it still starts and idles great...

I also have a new neighbor, he has offered to help me out with the cabin, he use to make cabinets and has a hobby making furniture. I fully plan on taking him up on the offer. :D
 

jbcurt00

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
24,829
Check out Glens Starcraft garage project. Might be a good place to drop vett pix

Congrats on a long summer and getting a new neighbor w cabinet skills

Hope the mud is a minor affair to get fixed

Welcome back
 

GA_Boater

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
May 24, 2011
Messages
49,038
Hey Gibs - Good to see ya. Don't forget to flush the ice maker in the dorm fridge or you will have bad looking ice. :blue: LOL

Hope the mud is easy to clean out. Sounds like you are gonna have a spiffy cabin.
 

dozerII

Admiral
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
6,527
Look what the cat dragged in. Good to see you back Chris. Hope it's easy to clean out the fridge.
 

Watermann

Starmada Splash of the Year 2014
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
13,747
Hey Gibs, sounds like you have some fall maintenance to do this year. Us I/O guys are taking off our out drives every fall for u joint greasing and it's nice to see OB guys having to do some of the same work. :lol:
 

Gibbles

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Messages
1,845
Long time has passed, i feel much older.
Too many projects!
that old C4 has been totally transformed from what it was.
HP upgrades, new brake system, suspension, exhaust system.
It's now loud and pretty fast.
Fun to drive as it sits, however it still needs a paint job.
Recently i tooled up with a 2 stage Quincy air compressor, and an elaborate air system to dry out that air.
(Thanks to a neighbor that works hvac, he snagged me a bunch of 1in copper AC lines)
and a bunch of tools to help the job, including a decent hvlp paint gun...


The old StarCraft has been doing well, however due to some issues with my trucks transmission it has not seen water in about 2 years.
I'm currently working to fix that. :D

First on the list is a fuel system makeover, and to redo the wiring.
this time with some color coordination following some standard colors this time... :rolleyes:
On the side, i also have a motorhome project that has my garage hostage... :lol:
 

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Gibbles

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Messages
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Over the weekend i started the wiring redo...
I had some 4 gauge and 8 gauge spools set aside for the old vette for some cooling fan installs.
but after reviewing my hack job of a rushed wiring install, i decided it was time to spend some money and do it right once and for all.

Last time i had her out, i found that adding a 25lb bag of sand to the front helped out a ton.
so i decided, either battery or fuel tank should be in the front.
Since i was replacing the battery anyways, there is a solid 90lbs!

I'll get some pictures this weekend, but the install has started, and i have a proper power distribution/fuse box this time around.

Now as for the 4 gauge wire, what i have is some high quality pure coper welding cable with fine strands.
the run will be about 25ft to allow for slack, going straight to the starter.
I would not have any issues with this if the battery was right below the engine..
I'm debating if i should shell out the $300 needed to run 0 gauge..
 

Fpscabs

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
May 31, 2020
Messages
37
I like the idea of moving the battery or batteries up front. I might have to look into that on my gal. I enjoy all your hard work. It is helpful on my new project
 
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