1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

[proshadetree]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Sorry about your pistons dude. I hate when I step in it like that,which is often. On the up side heck yes I am interested. Will balancing the rod without spinning the crank offer any benefits? I always farmed this out so I have absolutely no clue.

 

[pmillar]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

That's super cool, Kawasaki would be proud of you!

TII

Wow, as a (slightly) reformed sport biker I agree - it's all Kawi. If you're interested in complimentary color combos just trot on over to a recent Kawasaki brochure to check out their sport bikes or dirt bikes. Anodized gold looks pretty good with that green. Really. Now, where did I put that fork? I need to poke my eyes out...

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

That sucks. I know how you feel. I just rebuild my newly painted remote control. Everything done. Sat it my work bech to shoot a few pics for the resto thread. Turned around to get the camera and BAM! on the floor it went putting a nice sized chip in the corner. Crapola!!!

Defineitely keep us filled in on all the engine work if you can. I am definitely interested. Thanks.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I got a couple of things done in the last couple of days. I bead blasted some more parts. Power steering cooler and bracket and the alternator cooling fan and pulley.

These have all been painted and is still drying. Pics up later.

Today at work pressed the pistons off the rods and had them all cleaned and shot peaned. They really didn't need to be shot peaned for running it in a boat but I have access to the machine so I went ahead and did it.

I put the freshly painted water pump together and temporarily put it on the engine.

I know what you're thinking. That is the sexiest water pump you have ever seen.

Tonight when I got home from work I found my rebuild kit for my carb had arrived in the mail. So I put it all together.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I almost have all of the parts I need to put this baby together. I am just waiting on the pistons and the intake. They should be here any day now. Then its time to start on the out drive. Hopefully it will warm up a bit and I can get back to working on the hull...

 

[proshadetree]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Im telling you, you and ALZO need to hit MTV up on a new show Pimp MY Boat. Man that looks good. Hope you get your parts in soon.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Please tell me your going to paint the out drive to match the engine!!!,.....

That would be killer!!

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Please tell me your going to paint the out drive to match the engine!!!,.....

That would be killer!!

I've already suggested that myself

Alpheus, great work as always. I am a huge fan of the color scheme on the 4.3

Some excellent info in this thread for anyone looking to rebuild an I/O.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

More green stuff. The brackets that I painted black have been changed...

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Today I balanced my rods and I must say that I dont know if GM,Mercruiser or US Engines got there hands on these rods but all 6 were very balanced within just under a gram on both ends. I like to balance them to within a half of a gram and it only took me about 30 minutes and only had to use a hand file to remove a little material on 5 of them. I have rebuilt many,many engines and never had a set come out of a stock engine so close.

I didn't have a camera with me today to document the procedure but I did find a video that shows exactly how I balance mine. I don't have the cool little rod hanger contraption that he has, I just use a hook and a small block of wood that I zero out on the scale.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I am not afraid to admit that I am terribly jealous of your mechanical abilities. Man, that kind of knowledge would open up a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to this game of rebuilding old boats.

Excellent Bruce!

 

[proshadetree]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Not that rod balancing is a bad ideal, with your pistons and rods all at matching weight. How much benefit will this provide to an engine if you dont do the crank? I understand it will not hurt one thing just checking. Like I stated earlier I always farmed this out and wonder if it is worth investing in the tools to do all but crank. Cant wait for the piston install. Thanks for posting this information for us Alpheus. Opening up a lot of eyes I bet.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I am not afraid to admit that I am terribly jealous of your mechanical abilities.

Yeah me too. I couldn't even drop my lower unit in order to change my impeller myself cuz they buried the damn shift rod screw in amongst lots of things I was afraid to break.

 

[fshngho]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Gee I love it when you talk dirty, (grimey engines of course). With my extremely limited knowledge I can almost understand what you are doing/saying. The nice thing is I am learning through the process....so don't mess me up.
Bruce, with your obvious knowledge, are you rebuilding to "stock" or do you have a few radical plans to upgrade?
I am one of your few brothers that can't wait until I see you around the Bay Bridge Tunnel. For some reason I think you will be easy to spot.

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Thanks for the video my friend. Keep it coming. I'll want to see as much as you can deliver.

 

[Broadcast]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

For those of us who can't draw a straight line with a ruler... that's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I am keeping this motor stock. The new Vortec heads will add more HP and the new pistons I bought have just a little more compression, not enough to notice though. The stock pistons have 70cc of dish and valve relief material taken out and the new ones have 67cc. As far as the cam and everything else go I'm keeping it all stock. I don't want to have to deal with reversion. Reversion is the one thing I learned about here on iboats that completely changes things when you are building an engine for marine use. Especially when it comes to selecting a cam.

If you are not familiar with reversion read this article.

http://www.michel-christen.com/ExhaustElbows.pdf

 

[Deadwood]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

"You, Sir, are a steely-eyed missile man!"

 

[Bondo]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

The new Vortec heads will add more HP and the new pistons I bought have just a little more compression, not enough to notice though. The stock pistons have 70cc of dish and valve relief material taken out and the new ones have 67cc.

Ayuh,... Have ya bought 'em yet,..??

If so, nevermind...
If Not,... I've got a few things for ya to Think about.....

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Yes I bought them from Summit Racing they should be here tomorrow. They are Keith Black Hypereutectic pistons and I bought the pistons that would come stock in a newer engine with Vortec heads. I went this route to keep the compression ratio down around stock so I can use cheap gas...

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/UEM-3490H-STD/Application/?prefilter=0