Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration
I know this has taken a bit of a turn from working on the hull of the boat to refreshing its power plant, but its just been to darn cold to work outside.
Today I decided to remove the pistons and check out the clearanced of the bearings using Plastigage. Well I found lots of good news and a little bad, well not so bad just a little hiccup.
The good news
While cleaning up the block today I found a label where the Mercruiser serial number tag should be. It read US Engines and had a date of 2007. Looks like this boat had just been re-powered a couple of years ago. The person I bought it from hasn't used the boat in 2 years
I checked out all of the bearing clearances and they were all PERFECT. The bearings and the crank didnt have a mark on them and the gray coating on the bearings wasnt even worn at all. The cylinders still have the hone marks. This engine doesnt have allot of hours on it.
I finally got my camera charged up and snapped a couple of pics. I had already put the bearing caps back on.
Here is the cylinder.
The Hiccup
On the #1 cylinder the exhaust valve was stuck open and there was plenty of rust on it. When I pulled out that piston I found that the rings where frozen in the grooves.
Here is what it should look like (#3 piston)
I have a trick for getting the rings off without damaging them. I use an old crockpot full of antifreeze. I will soak the piston in the hot AF over night and they usually come right out.