1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - First Time Rebuild - Floor, Engine, Dash, etc.

[Timr71]

Looking good! Nice work.

 

[Mad Props]

Looks good!

 

[ACon977]

Hey all! Back from our volunteer week, such an amazing 6 days helping give hope to kids with life threatening diseases. We even had 2 hours to hike highlands. Quite the push, but always my favorite view from the top!

 

[ACon977]

Hey-a! Got out to the boat last night and turns out I didnt actually scrape off all of the old silicone or residue from behind the old rail. There was a section which was blocked by where I had the seats leaned up against the boat that I forgot about. Since I only had a little bit of time I decided to run a bead of silicone between the cap and hull where it was all cleaned up and pretty.

 

[ACon977]

Hey All!
Got repairs at my rental property finished early, cooked up some steaks for the admiral, and then hobbitted myself in the garage last night. Not huge picture progress but it felt good to get things cleaned up.

I forgot that there was stuff in the way for me to full buff out the boat before so I started there, and cleaned up the rub rail all the way around.

That black paint looks a little better than the scraped and scuffed black/aluminum/dirt look it had before.

 

[kcassells]

Looking Good Acon! SpAAALashhh!

 

[ACon977]

Looking Good Acon! SpAAALashhh!

Getting closer every day!

 

[oldrem]

Looking good!

 

[ACon977]

Hey all! Had an old friend come to town last minute and turns out, he had worked on a 351 in his old Supra!

So of course I asked him for his help diagnosing my wiring issues. Turns out the wiring that was on the engine ignition before didn't actually work. So we got the wires hooked up and got it cranking. But it was cranking really slow. And we had a significant voltage drop in the battery (down to 11.4v)

Any idea what could be causing such a large draw?

 

[Mad Props]

Have you actually load tested the battery to confirm its good?

 

[ACon977]

Have you actually load tested the battery to confirm its good?

I actually purchased the battery new about 6 months ago. Its been sitting at 12V for that time.
The battery is rated for 1000 crank amps so i dont see why its experiencing such a large draw.

 

[Mad Props]

"new" could mean sitting on a shelf for 2 years...

In my opinion, its worth the 10 minute drive to autozone or advance auto to have it bench tested for free... Just an easy thing to rule out.

 

[ACon977]

"new" could mean sitting on a shelf for 2 years...

In my opinion, its worth the 10 minute drive to autozone or advance auto to have it bench tested for free... Just an easy thing to rule out.

valid point! ill have to look back and see where I picked it up. potentially autozone.

 

[ACon977]

I may also just grab my battery out of the jeep and see if that makes any sort of a difference.

I want to say that someone on here mentioned that the starter doesnt crank correctly under 11.5V? or something like that.

 

[Mad Props]

Torque is proportional to current, and current through the starter is determined by the available battery voltage.. If the voltage is too low (under load), then there won't be enough current (torque) to spin the motor. It will either spin really slow or just make a clicking noise (which is the bendix kicking out gear to engage with the flywheel but not enough to actually turn the motor over).

 

[ACon977]

Ok, I understand enough of electricity to know the V=IR deal, but very helpful to know that the torque of the starter is actually based more on the current than the voltage itself, although it would be indirectly proportional.

All good info! Ill try and get the battery checked and see how the starter works with the jeep battery. You all are the best!

 

[mr300z87]

You might want to take the starter off and bring with you and have it tested to. Most auto store can do it as well.

 

[ACon977]

You might want to take the starter off and bring with you and have it tested to. Most auto store can do it as well.

ok thats a good call as well. I did buy it new about a year ago... which, im now realizing that I may be putting too much faith in "new" components lol.

When I was jumpering it before to get it to crank over it was turning just fine. But I was using the jeep battery.

 

[kcassells]

hey A, just hoping its the battery. Why cant that be tested on a home bench?

 

[Mad Props]

If you have a big ol' wirewound power resistor you can lol.. it needs to be load tested... A battery can have 12 to 13 volts but as soon as you put a load on it, it might drop down to 9 or 10 volts or even lower if it doesn't have a good charge or damaged plates. Just probing with a voltmeter ain't gonna tell you much.

EDIT: sorry, just realized you were talking about the starter lol