1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

so i did some tinkering today in 20 below farenhiet weather. fired up 3 sunflower heaters in garage and tried a compression test. first i took out all 4 plugs and set carbs full open with a pliers (pic1) then i pulled fuse to the remote start (pic 2 ) and jumped battery cable direct to starter to crank over (pic 3 ) next was fog oil in cyinders and in both carbs while cranking (pic 4 ) then i did my compression tests and 3 holes came up 95 and 1 hole 85. pretty even numbers , but seems to be on low side.my plugs looked good and no metal shaving on or about them. i did not get real good cranking power ( due to cold,or poor cables or dragging starter? ) and am wondering if this would affect my numbers. do you think i would get better numbers with better cranking ( makes sense to me ) and should compression be done a different way? ( i.e warm engine , regular fuel flow...ect ) my thinking is to be sure i got good compression before moving on to other items ( spark,wires,fuel pump, decarb, water pump,lower unit ect..) if compression is poor i dont want to spend the time or money to get it running. ( it does not run as of today, but have not tried either ) pics in next post, and thanks for any insight any of you may have.

 

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

90 on an old 4cylinder looper isn't to bad, however they do need to be within 5% of each other, most likely it will come up some after you run it and seafoam it.


Ideally a warm engine will give better compression numbers, as would better cranking power, I do think that the compression in your motor is worth trudging on.

My next check would be to go to autozone, and get a $6 dollar spark tester and make sure you have a fat blue spark that jumps a half inch gap on all four cylinders. If not then you need further diagnosis, (electrical parts are pricey).

Pull the gear oil and check for metal shavings, and the gear lube color.

If all of that checks out then move on.


I never even try to start an engine until I break down the carbs, clean em and put them back together its simple on the V4 loopers as they use fixed jet carbs, I automatically rebuild the fuel pump as well.


Last but not least I immediately change the water pump, as far as I am concerned all of that is basically standard maintenance for an outboard anyways

Rebuilding the carbs, water pump and fuel pump is only around $150 anyways and worth the peace of mind.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

Yah CC not the best conditions to do motor work, but I think you'll be fine with moving forward with repairs since you don't have a cylinder that's way off.

 

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

thanks sig and h20. thinking the same , need to wait for warmer weather or heat up the garage for a day or two, and try a good direct cable instead of old one to try get better cranking. and then i think i will try another compression test, hoping for better numbers. i did buy a spark tester and that is next step. lower unit oil looks good, and am planning on doing carbs, fuel pump, and water pump if compression and spark test out. just thinking ahead and lets say i got no spark on any cylinder, any ideas as to wear to start to solve that? thanks

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

thanks sig and h20. thinking the same , need to wait for warmer weather or heat up the garage for a day or two, and try a good direct cable instead of old one to try get better cranking. and then i think i will try another compression test, hoping for better numbers. i did buy a spark tester and that is next step. lower unit oil looks good, and am planning on doing carbs, fuel pump, and water pump if compression and spark test out. just thinking ahead and lets say i got no spark on any cylinder, any ideas as to wear to start to solve that? thanks

Those compression numbers are fine. Cant really think ahead when it comes to no spark as there are to many different variables. Dont create problrms where none exist.

 

[jvanhees]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

Hoping this motor works for ya. Good luck on the spark test!

 

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

thanks guys, on another note my plan was to use marine board or kingboard for my new dash panels and wondering if any of you have good or bad comments to this plan. 3/4 inch thick would fit in aluminum trim nicely, or was thinking to epoxy marine board and attach 1/4 inch to it ( for cost reasons ) but have heard some comments about hard to get any glue or silicone to attach to it properly.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

I'm not sure about using that plastic cutting board stuff? I know that exposed stainless fasteners look great, well at least to me they do so you wouldn't have to use glue to put it together. Personally I would stick with plywood all sealed up since you have trim for it and put on the face material like you want.

 

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

Merry Christmas to all!! thanks for all your input and know i am in a bit of hibernation here in Mn. for awhile. hoping to tackle the trailer thru out this winter, and will keep you all abreast of progress.

 

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

need some advice fellas. a couple of things. first my trailer is a combination of rollers and bunks, and wondering what you all think, is it a good plan or should i switch to all bunk, and if so any ideas? i plan to paint and am wondering what rollers will do to paint job . also i started to wire wheel trailer a bit after stripping it down of wiring and rubber rollers n bunks. but this is gonna be a huge project and am throwing around idea of sand blasting it. gotta be easier and quicker, and if i am gonna wire wheel it it is gonna take a lot of man hours and numerous wire wheels ( twisted wire seems to last a bit longer ) looking for ideas and advise from you all, any past experience or good advise for a guy scratching his head. see pics below of trailer set up, after stripped down and how i am going about stripping now. thanks

 

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

 

[jvanhees]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

I power washed mine a few times and sanded down some flaky areas and it turned out pretty good. I would definitely sand blast over wire wheeling! Yours looks to be in pretty good shape over all.

 

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

yeah, been thinking that way also. it is in good shape as far as rust but po painted it, and it is a real rough finish and i was hoping to smooth it out. maybe i should try some sanding before going to far with sand or wheel. maybe 60 grit on a palm sander and see what kind of results i get. also got alot of areas that cannot get at real well, like inside of channel iron and nooks and cranys that blasting would do a better job on. thanks jvan

 

[Landof9000lakes]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

need some advice fellas. a couple of things. first my trailer is a combination of rollers and bunks, and wondering what you all think, is it a good plan or should i switch to all bunk, and if so any ideas? i plan to paint and am wondering what rollers will do to paint job . also i started to wire wheel trailer a bit after stripping it down of wiring and rubber rollers n bunks. but this is gonna be a huge project and am throwing around idea of sand blasting it. gotta be easier and quicker, and if i am gonna wire wheel it it is gonna take a lot of man hours and numerous wire wheels ( twisted wire seems to last a bit longer ) looking for ideas and advise from you all, any past experience or good advise for a guy scratching his head. see pics below of trailer set up, after stripped down and how i am going about stripping now. thanks

Supposedly a roller trailer is rough on aluminum boats since it concentrates the boats weight in very small spots.....I have no experience with roller trailers.
If a roller does make a boat easier to launch like I think it might then I would take where you fish into consideration.

If it were MY trailer I would remove that rear bolt on cross member and the rollers and have a weld shop install a rear crossmember. And then I would convert it to bunk only. But that because bunk launching/loading is what I'm used to. Bunk trailers look nicer too. Maybe that isn't even on the list of important things though.

FOR SURE have it sandblasted. You will use up a ton of wire wheels and your clothes will be full of wires....It will take forever too and not work as well as sand blasting.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

The rollers won't do anything to your paint and even it did you would have to lay on your back under the boat while on the trailer to find the ugly spot. The thing about a trailer, it's like the frame of your truck, you never really see it until everything is removed, ie: the boat. It also happens to be the worst part of the restore process. I have one to do as well here in the future and not looking forward to it.

Once you decide on bunk, roller or hybrid my advice would be to completely rewire and replace the tail lights, you won't be sorry trust me.

 

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

thanks all, thinking i will try some sand paper and palm sander to see if i can smooth out old paint, if not look into blaster. deffinently going to rewire as suggested by h20, as when i took out all old it was in tough shape and pretty brittle. still on fence about bunk roller or hybrid , keep the ideas and suggestions coming they are all much appreciated.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

Palm sander heck with that, use a belt sander with an 80 grit diablo belt.

When you rewire a trick I use to pull the new wires is to block off the tubes and use kite string with a cotton ball tied to it. Then use your shop vac to suck the little ball through the tubes and then pull the wires with the string.

 

[crankbait cowboy]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

great idea with the threading of wires, using vac and string. yeah am on same page with belt sander, but gonna have to use the palm and maybe other ideas for some of the nooks and crannies. if i cant get it smoothed out nice gonna go with blasting it i think

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: 1973 starcraft ss restore in progress

Honestly I am shopping for a new trailer at the moment and that is after I am 80% through with restoring mine, I just don't like the rollers. I prefer more meat under them for support, and its alot harder to do a premature launch on a bunk trailer. Where I boat at a bunk trailer just makes more sense.