Re: 1990, 225 Sundowner 5.8L, 32mph??? is this right?
jason, You can never get too much, knowledge, theory, and hands on exp. Apparently your no rookie at this either, probably thats why we butt heads with our opinion. If we could do it in a constructive way we all could benefit.
A long time ago, when I got my 62' Impala SS 327/300hp 4spd, a clean used car with only 40k miles on it, I didn't know much about cars, but learned a lot along the way over the years, this car would rev to 6K thru the gears, but ocassionally not, due to breaking up, because of point bounce or, being out of dwell range, and poor O.E. wires, & spark plugs. I never had a problem with the lifters, even back then, although my friends with Fords of the era, did. Research, and visibly checking, this engine, and vehicle revealed a few pleasant surprises, it had the 61' Corvette 283 (double hump) fuely heads, with 1:94 intake valves, 1:58 exhaust, and either 58, or 62cc chambers?, delivering 10:0X1 compression with it's notched flat top pistons, a high rise cast iron manifold with a #4309 Carter AFB large secondaries (409 carburetor), and the large rams horn exhaust manifolds with 2 1/2" dual exhausts, and the newly designed hi-lift hydraulic, short duration cam. It had the most torque of all the new to production 327 engine versions built that year, and surprisingly kept up with the earlier 283vettes on the road back then. It also had an M21 Muncie aluminum tranny, an easy on the leg hi-perf large centrifugal clutch, and a 3:36X1 posi rear. I sold it 2yrs later at a bargain price, it was pretty tired, after being my first hi-performance car, and to upgrade.
Then, About 25yrs ago, I bought my 262V8 Monza (like a mini camaro) from a girl in Queens NY, who had taken off the cat, and had dual exhausts put on, (a girl, go figure?) anyway, I found out shortly afterward that it had a worn out cam because although it appeared to run ok, it backfired a bit thru the carb, and wouldn't reach 3500rpm! after I tuned it up, it got worse!, next taking off the valve covers I noticed a few valves were hardly opening. My cam decision at the time was either a plain vanilla Chevy stock 350 cam, or a (suggested) 327/350 perf cam, from my neighbor who was a mechanic for Chevy. I knew all the specs, and at the toss of a coin went with my quest for performance, (in hindsight, a big mistake) lotsa rpm, not enuff torque. After shoehorning it in there, with A/C, and emission controls, it sounded sweet, (just like a corvette in a bag), and had that nice groovy lumpy rythmic idle, but it was no longer an economy car. Chevy, in their infinite wisdom, decided that their V8 stick Monza's would only get a standard 2:56 rear, but their V8 auto. versions a standard 2:92rear (strict1975 emissions, & gas milage), at least the tires were short, but wide 60series tires, & mags (for that era) but, it did have positraction, go figure? The car had a stock 7k tach (I'd guess the factory never figured it would ever be maxed out,,,lol), but after break in, it would run the clock (tach) 7k thru the gears on demand, with a 2bbl, shocked the carp out of me! and it was pretty fast, but lacking torque, espec. with that rear, you had to rev it to keep it in range, surprised a lot of people though. Don't ask me the gas milage though, suffice it to say it was not good,,, lol, and that was using super unleaded regularly, I sold it a few months later, because of this, the body rusting away, tune up was a nightmare, and front end alignments often, because the V8 was so heavy., as noted in these body styles.
I have changed my opinion of bayliners because after picking one out, and going over it, then laying out the money, and delivering it, for my son to buy, I was impressed by features I found standard that a lot of my previous better built boats didn't have. I think they use cheaper materials, but they're not in any better, or worse, shape then any other old boat I had for the condition they were kept, only the price was usually better. I was impressed enough to get one for myself.
My 71' 18ft Wellcraft Airslot, with the 165hp Mercruiser that I bought over 21yrs ago was in pretty good shape, but the engine was siezed, and because the engine looked pristine, I was hoping to free it up, I tried everything under the sun, but no luck! when I got it apart, apparently some salt water got in, and it didn't take much, but I had to hammer some of the pistons out, and rebuild it completely, surprisingly, I found the exact match pistons by "Speed Pro", from a US1 Auto store, and used their rebuilding kit, it was a great kit, and a snap to do. I made sure all the parts were marine specific where required, and even gently lapped some rust off the valves by hand. When I put it all together to run it, I just used the orig. 14X19" Mercury prop that was on it, and me with my young daughter, and only about 6gals gas in the boat, a light load, and it was a perfect light chop day in the bay for testing. I was surprised to see the tach hitting 5k myself, but the engine was humming along nicely. I eventually went to a 21" pitch prop, which put me right in the specified rpm range, especially once I started to run my normal load on the boat.
I've Learned never to rev my engine too much, or too high (WOT) in neutral, a pet peeve of mine, nor never to push my engines past redline, or recommended rpm (for marine use) under load.
