A few weeks ago I found a 1968 Holiday-V 18 foot with a 120 Mercruiser I/O. When I visited the previous owner to try and make a deal he bumped it over by pouring some gas down the carb and for me that was enough to take a little chance on it. It had been stored since 1996. The overall shape is about a 6 on a 1-10 scale.
Next spring or this fall it is definitely going to get re-decked due to a few soft spots. It could use paint because of the "touh-ups" the P/O did to the paint job but I can live with ugly paint. I'd rather enjoy the spray of the lake at W.O.T. while people point and laugh and say "look at that ugly boat go!"
So when I was looking at it the P/O was proud to show me that he had replaced the cap, rotor, points, condenser, and coil. Nice except for the fact that they were A, automotive grade and B the plug and coil wires (original Kiekhafer) didn't seat fully into the contacts of the cap. I didn't say anything about using automotive grade or worse yet mixing auto and marine. No reason to hurt his feelings and the price of $475.00 was firm anyway.
A couple of weeks ago I tried to get he started as is. I poured some fuel down the carb and dropped the cut fuel line into a gas can. I know it isn't the safest way but I was trying to start it, not trying to go boating. No dice. Cranked well and bumped a couple times but no starting.
Last night I went on Napa auto parts site and reserved a cap, rotor, wires, points, condenser. All marine grade but at NAPA prices. $45.00 later I have a running Merc 120.
I do intend to switch over to the electronic ignition instead of the points but for now I wanted to make sure she ran before laying out $120.00 for the kit plus whatever the higher power coil will set me back. I also want to covert to an internally regulated alternator but that will likely wait until I need to replace the existing alternator. At idle I was showing +25 amps on the guage. When I saw the water temp climb near the edge of red I figured the impeller was shot. When I looked back at the guage and saw it had dropped back to the middle of the green I was pleasantly surprised. The t-stat must have opened and water must've been flowing. I'm still going to put a new impeller into her and a new t-stat. I'm one of those not going to push my luck kind of guys over less then $50.00 worth of parts. I have the impeller kit and I'll order the T-stat and alternator belt when I order the transom re-seal kit from iboats.
So as far as maintenance items I'm already going to replace the bellows, lower shift cable, gimbal bearing, impeller,T-stat, and carb kit. I'll inspect the u-joints when I have the drive off. Should I be taking apart the manifold and replacing the gaskets as well or should I leave well enough alone if there don't seem to be any issues in that area? What else should I be looking to replace outside of what I have listed?
With a little money and a little work she should be in the water on Independance day. My master mechanic buddy is going to rebuild the carb for me.
Next spring or this fall it is definitely going to get re-decked due to a few soft spots. It could use paint because of the "touh-ups" the P/O did to the paint job but I can live with ugly paint. I'd rather enjoy the spray of the lake at W.O.T. while people point and laugh and say "look at that ugly boat go!"
So when I was looking at it the P/O was proud to show me that he had replaced the cap, rotor, points, condenser, and coil. Nice except for the fact that they were A, automotive grade and B the plug and coil wires (original Kiekhafer) didn't seat fully into the contacts of the cap. I didn't say anything about using automotive grade or worse yet mixing auto and marine. No reason to hurt his feelings and the price of $475.00 was firm anyway.
A couple of weeks ago I tried to get he started as is. I poured some fuel down the carb and dropped the cut fuel line into a gas can. I know it isn't the safest way but I was trying to start it, not trying to go boating. No dice. Cranked well and bumped a couple times but no starting.
Last night I went on Napa auto parts site and reserved a cap, rotor, wires, points, condenser. All marine grade but at NAPA prices. $45.00 later I have a running Merc 120.
I do intend to switch over to the electronic ignition instead of the points but for now I wanted to make sure she ran before laying out $120.00 for the kit plus whatever the higher power coil will set me back. I also want to covert to an internally regulated alternator but that will likely wait until I need to replace the existing alternator. At idle I was showing +25 amps on the guage. When I saw the water temp climb near the edge of red I figured the impeller was shot. When I looked back at the guage and saw it had dropped back to the middle of the green I was pleasantly surprised. The t-stat must have opened and water must've been flowing. I'm still going to put a new impeller into her and a new t-stat. I'm one of those not going to push my luck kind of guys over less then $50.00 worth of parts. I have the impeller kit and I'll order the T-stat and alternator belt when I order the transom re-seal kit from iboats.
So as far as maintenance items I'm already going to replace the bellows, lower shift cable, gimbal bearing, impeller,T-stat, and carb kit. I'll inspect the u-joints when I have the drive off. Should I be taking apart the manifold and replacing the gaskets as well or should I leave well enough alone if there don't seem to be any issues in that area? What else should I be looking to replace outside of what I have listed?
With a little money and a little work she should be in the water on Independance day. My master mechanic buddy is going to rebuild the carb for me.
