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  1. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Doing more research... lots of reports of bad luck using 7-way power directly for a winch (as opposed to using such to charge an auxillary battery). Even for a "small" 30A winch like this. Also, the cable used is a bit of an oddball 7/32" size. Swage tooling for such (needed to replace the...
  2. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Pictures: Winch was delivered to my boat... It does fit on the winch mount (and still allow the safety chain to work)... but no holes line up: If I drilled new holes, one option would be to use the mouse ears in the winch so I could remove it and use it on my car hauler: (My...
  3. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Got the winch. I'll write more later, but for now, it seems mechanically sound (cable has a bad spot right by the hook though) but the mount holes don't line up with my existing winch mount. That said, it does fit my car hauler, so if nothing else, I can use it there and consider this a future...
  4. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Seller took my offer. No cable included but I'll figure something out.
  5. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Powerwinch still has the manual for it. It's attached... The 235 is the 1500lb version of the 3500lb 935. Manual is copyright 1995... not exactly new, but certainly newer than 1984! I wasn't going to offer a lot for it. $100 maybe. First thing is seeing if they'll do local pickup (as it wasn't...
  6. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Funny enough, there is someone who has a used one for sale on eBay that is in my same town... A model 235 (1500lb like mine), supposedly working for $150 OBO. I may toss them an offer... I'm all about vintage stuff!
  7. ratdude747

    Cold Starting RPM: What is normal?

    Had the first outing yesterday. Not a huge change on cold idie speeds. Not a huge change in behavior other than cold starting going a lot easier. Win?
  8. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    I was able to get the trailer adjustments made during yesterday's outing. I was able to move the boat back 6.75"... which looks like this: As for the specifics, first, the transom strap angle is now correct and there is plenty of drive-to-roller clearance: The transom position on the bunks...
  9. ratdude747

    1976 Montego 16- The "Free" Puppy

    I have a theory on the oil I found. First, I check the oil level at the vent plug... just below the plug , where it was when I changed it. Oil still had some of it's blue tint, not the black/brown (no blue) seen coming from the bilge. Also, the smell was stronger of sulfur than what came out of...
  10. ratdude747

    1976 Montego 16- The "Free" Puppy

    Had the first outing today. Hit up Lake Waveland. Writing this while stopped on my way home. Mostly went well, but there's some issues. First, the shifter cover popped loose on the highway this morning (bungee cord elasticity failure) and took a chunk out of the gel coat (I have a generic gel...
  11. ratdude747

    MC1 anodes

    Considering the casing is made from aluminum, no wonder. You need a metal that is more reactive than the aluminum case for it to work... or at least less-passivating than the aluminum. Magnesium works because it is way more reactive than aluminum (anything higher on the list is the sort of...
  12. ratdude747

    Cold Starting RPM: What is normal?

    Apparently I already had the idle screw backed fully off. Guess I'll have to try it and see how it does. Doesn't act like it has a vacuum leak so short of leaky throttle plates I have no idea. There isn't a functional fast idle cam since this is a marine carb. All of that was cleaned up when I...
  13. ratdude747

    Cold Starting RPM: What is normal?

    Good point. It used to idle around 800... and it has always been a bit fussy to shift; hard to not granny shift without slamming the throttle too hard, and often it would take a slight push past neutral to get it to come out of gear. By no means unusable but a bit quirkier than youtube videos...
  14. ratdude747

    MC1 anodes

    I assume we're talking about the trim fin that also doubles as the anode. Anything that fits an Alpha (IIRC MC-1 is the same, as I'm pretty sure I the anode I installed on my MC1 is in fact an "Alpha" marketed unit). Otherwise, it depends on your application. What prop? Fresh or salt water...
  15. ratdude747

    Cold Starting RPM: What is normal?

    Seem to have fixed it. Opened both idle mix screws 1/4 turn. Started up at 600rpm, barely past idle on the throttle. At temp it's idling 800-900... I can live with that.
  16. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Oh boy... this will be a long one. Got the trailer brake system installed last night; been working on it since Saturday when parts started trickling in. First, the night before last I got the breakaway box and all remote wiring installed: Breakaway box has a solar cell on it to top off...
  17. ratdude747

    Cold Starting RPM: What is normal?

    As far as I know the unloader works fine. We shall see when I muff test it. Electric choke does have good power (I did have to close up the spade connections through, they were a bit loose). I actually did some rewiring to prevent the opposite issue which was an early suspicion; I moved all of...
  18. ratdude747

    Cold Starting RPM: What is normal?

    The bottom end has never been apart to my knowledge... and it's relatively low hours. Not to say that there isn't chain stretch, but I'd be surprised if there was anything significant. The original carb/intake is long gone (before I got the boat, at least a couple decades ago), so 4 barrel is...
  19. ratdude747

    Cold Starting RPM: What is normal?

    A quick history on this boat engine... a lot more details are in various threads of mine, but of particular note is this one. The boat, as received in fall 2023, had the original intake and carb (2 barrel) replaced with an Edelbrock Performer 289 intake and a cobbled 4160 off a 1970's Ford...
  20. ratdude747

    Cold Starting RPM: What is normal?

    This is something I noticed last season (my first season of owning a boat)... it seems I had to run the idle awful fast on cold start. Engine is a 1976 Mercruiser 888 (302) that has been swapped to a Holley 4160 (4 barrel) marine carb. It would only start if I gave it enough throttle to get...
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