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

[kcassells]

Whatever floats the boat!

 

[ACon977]

Haha hopefully the boat is in the floating stage now.. but quick carb question. I'm rebuilding the Holley 4160 out of the boat

between the main body and the bowls are these guys.. d(know the name) one of which does not look stock.

The Jets are also different. Out of the purple came the 64s and out of the stock came the 60s. Do you know if it's ok for them to be different? If not, what number should they be?

 

[ACon977]

Forgot the pics

 

[archbuilder]

The jet size is going to depend on the engine specs....that is hard to say with out playing with the engine to see how it runs or without an O2 sensor or dyno. I would just stick with what it has and see how it runs. Up at your altitude it is going to want to run a bit leaner. I would see how it runs and check the plugs after your run it for a while. Fat is always better than lean!

 

[ACon977]

The jet size is going to depend on the engine specs....that is hard to say with out playing with the engine to see how it runs or without an O2 sensor or dyno. I would just stick with what it has and see how it runs. Up at your altitude it is going to want to run a bit leaner. I would see how it runs and check the plugs after your run it for a while. Fat is always better than lean!

Ok right. I thought it would be a standard spec for a 351. But yea. I'm not a huge engine guy so whatever recommendations you can offer.

I'll put back in the Jets as they were. Just hoping that I don't have to pull the carb back apart for jets

 

[ACon977]

Also. GOOBERED up the screws getting the butterfly valves out. I remembered someone saying that they are pinned from the back after you out them in. I was hoping to reuse, since the kit didn't come with new ones. But that was a fat joke.

I took my roto tool and ground off the mushroomed ends. And on the one Phillips that I stripped, I cut a flat head slot into it.

Pics for your amusement. This carb was in real need of work. Everything is stuck

​​​​​​

 

[archbuilder]

There might be a factory spec, you might research that. I am not a holley expert or carb expert, but I know Holley's have a lot of adjustments built in for tuning them. So it wouldn't surprise me if there are a lot of combos, I am sure you can write a book or two on tuning them. Hopefully someone else on here will pipe in with some info. If it runs good,id just stick with it!

 

[ACon977]

Thanks arch, to be honest. I don't know the last time this boat ran, but I know that it doesn't run now so it can only get better

 

[kcassells]

Gosh it always looks easy when you see some of these awesome motor guys tear into their projects. Good luck. Looking forward to your progress. Maybe soak the whole component in a lube for easier take apart. IDK?

 

[archbuilder]

Speaking of, I soaked my in bearingman's carb cleaner, you can get a 1 gallon bucket with a strainer built in. Works great. I also put mine in the ultrasonic cleaner for a while. Seems like I used both vinigar and simple green....but it has been a while!

 

[ACon977]

Gosh it always looks easy when you see some of these awesome motor guys tear into their projects. Good luck. Looking forward to your progress. Maybe soak the whole component in a lube for easier take apart. IDK?

haha no kidding. thats the truth of it. Either all of my projects have bolts that are in worse shape. or those guys are absolute beasts. Glad to be making some progress though!

 

[ACon977]

Speaking of, I soaked my in bearingman's carb cleaner, you can get a 1 gallon bucket with a strainer built in. Works great. I also put mine in the ultrasonic cleaner for a while. Seems like I used both vinigar and simple green....but it has been a while!

Nice, this is a good recommendation. as of now I had a big bowl I sprayed a bunch out of a can into that has been working ok. But will have to keep bearingmans on the list. looks like you can get it from any auto parts store.
and I also heard of the ultrasonic cleaner working wonders. heard you can get a decent one from HF for like 40 bucks. That may be an eventual move if the grime proves difficult.

 

[ACon977]

Hey All, another day another day in quarantine! Hope everyone is staying sane.

Last night I got the rest of the carb components cleaned up. Not going to say they are perfect, its still a 40 year old carb. But when I got inside it was about a 50/50 split on components that looked pretty decent, and ones that needed a LOT of TLC.

Basically got everything cleaned up but noticed my butterfly valves were a bit pitted... Do you think that these are bad enough to replace? I dont think they are supposed to form a perfect seal anyways.








Since I have about 3 screws that arent stripped to hell or had the end cut off of them I dry fit the valves and everything is turning without major binding.

 

[archbuilder]

I guess you could try it but I would lean towards replacing them if possible. I would for sure make sure you clean anything loose off of them and make sure nothing can fall down into the engine. I would hate to see some rust flake off and damage something.

 

[ACon977]

I guess you could try it but I would lean towards replacing them if possible. I would for sure make sure you clean anything loose off of them and make sure nothing can fall down into the engine. I would hate to see some rust flake off and damage something.

Yea I got them cleaned off pretty well but where I removed the rust some of the material actually came off as well. which resulted in some pitting. The edge is still complete but one side is just a little chewed up.

 

[mr300z87]

Here is my carb story and what I started with looked way better then yours. I put an engine in my Sea Ray Sundancer a bunch of years ago. The engine came minus a carb so I bought a used MerCruiser Weber carb and a re build kit. After doing a full rebuild we go out of for a sea trial mid October and she runs great no issues. Bring her home full winterization and she sits until spring. During re commissioning she fire right up and runs great. Come launch day again she fire right up at the ramp and run great across the river to the marina. After setting the lines we decide to take a shakedown cruise up river into the bay, couple miles out the engine starts coughing to I turn around push the throttle full open which got us all the way back to the no wake zone 1/2 mile from marina. As soon as I back off the throttle the engine died. Fuel was pouring into the carb. After that I purchased and brand new Edelbrock marine carb (they own the rights to build a cloan Merc weber) so it was bolt on. The moral to all this is you might want to bypass trying to fix a the crust old carb and buy new. I think Holly still makes marine carbs. I know pre FI Volvo engines used holly carb for a while. I am certainly no expert when it comes to carbs as I grew up in the FI age but thought I would share my experiences. Good luck looking forward to some skiing again this summer if we ever get out of this quarantine. I live in NJ its bad here right now

 

[ACon977]

Here is my carb story and what I started with looked way better then yours......

Thanks for the story, definitely a tough go around since you bought an old one and still had to invest in a new one at the end of the day. At the moment, since i bought the kit and have the carb that came with the boat, ill probably just put it back together and pray that I dont repeat your frustration. although, you could have a good moemnt to say "I TOLD YOU SO!".

Which, a few people on here may be able to say haha

Good luck looking forward to some skiing again this summer if we ever get out of this quarantine. I live in NJ its bad here right now

Really looking forward to getting out on the water.. we had a few days of 70s in Colorado and it was such a tease. Although its now 30 and snowing 1 day later so never quite sure what you'll get out here.
The whole state is on house arrest until the end of April for the time being, but I assume itll be longer than that. Quite an unprecedented time we are in at the moment.

 

[ACon977]

And speak of the devil. Guess what UPS just dropped off

 

[Timr71]

Hopefully, you can make yours work. But, if you do have to replace the carb, Peter Biever on FB is the carb jedi master and he has refirbed Holley 4160s for sale.

 

[ACon977]

Hopefully, you can make yours work. But, if you do have to replace the carb, Peter Biever on FB is the carb jedi master and he has refirbed Holley 4160s for sale.

Great note Tim! Putting it back together gives me hope, as everything is moving easily and the channels seem very clear, but time will tell.