Re: Picking up a 1968 Holiday Deluxe, boat complete, all original barn find!
Re: Picking up a 1968 Holiday Deluxe, boat complete, all original barn find!
Thank you all for the complements and advice. Keep the advice coming cause I have plenty of questions coming!
Here is what I have found so far. When I hooked up a battery I started chasing the ignition wiring. I have 12x to the starter solenoid. When I turn the key to run one of the small terminals gets 12v. When I turn the key to start nothing happens. I still have 12 to the main lug and the small terminal on the one side of the starter solenoid. There is nothing going to the other side. So I used my jump box to put 12v to the other small terminal and it turned right over and tried to start on the first turn. It caught me off guard since I wasn't ready for it to run. With that figured out I pulled the plugs and put my compression gauge on the 1st cyl: 120psi, 2nd cyl jumped really fast up to 160psi, 3rd cyl 120psi, and the 4th cyl was 120psi also. All but the 2nd cyl built pressure over a few rotations. The 2nd cyl jumped up to 160 almost immediately which seemed odd to me. My first thought was a bent pushrod not opening the exhaust valve. I pulled the valve cover and was shocked to see... Nothing but oil. There was no sign of sludge or any wear at all. When I turned the motor over all the valves seem to be moving properly by eye but I haven't taken any specs on it.
The previous owner disconnected the trim rams since he couldn't get it to work. He says it makes noise like it is trying but doesn't do anything. I haven't checked it yet to even see if it has oil in it. He said he didn't know where the oil went.
The trailer need some attention though. The tongue jack broke as soon as we tried to raise the tongue to hook up the truck so the bolts were cut off and it was scraped. The winch is missing the wiring so I don't know if it works or not but it doesn't seem that the line brake is working so that probably needs to be replaced. The lights are questionable as they barely light up so they will probably get swapped out along with the wiring for a new set of LED lights. Lastly the tires are old bias ply F78-14 tires that are showing some dry rot and on the 40 mile trip home seemed to get awefull warm. They will be replaced with a set of radials once I figure out what size I need.
That is all I have learned in the first 24hrs of ownership. The boat now is resting comfortably in my carport where it will live out its days waiting for me to take it to the lake. I have a lofty hope of "splashing it for the first time in a month when I take a week of vacation at the lake.
So where should I start and what should I watch out for. This is my first inboard motor so I am a little lost here when it comes to the sterndrive and would be grateful for any advise you can give me.
Thanks again guys!!
