1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Hey CJ - Now that you're laughing (sorta) at what happened, what did happen? Did the jack catch or did the tongue just give up the ghost?

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Hey CJ - Now that you're laughing (sorta) at what happened, what did happen? Did the jack catch or did the tongue just give up the ghost?

Well... it's a little embarrassing. I took the boat straight down the hill the day before stopping at the edge of the driveway. I was preparing to pull the motor out of the boat per the cherry picker in the truck bed method.

The next day I changed my mind and wanted to use a tree off the back of my property. The easiest way to get it there was to keep going down hill since it had rained a little the night before. As I started down the hill, the Jeep's motor died... (it's a cold blooded thing) and the boat keep pushing the Jeep down the hill with all the tires locked up. I barely had enough time to get the Jeep's motor fired back up and get it turned a little. The Jeep has lockers in the differentials which makes it very difficult to turn on a side hill. (Lockers mean all 4 tires spin no matter what happens).

If the Jeep had not restarted, things could've gotten very bad. ... well, I guess one of those trees would have stopped me before going into the creek. I guess another bad scenario could be the tongue breaking, sending the boat down the hill.... but I don't want to even think about that one.

All is OK now, and work continued today:

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[dozerII]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Gotta love it when someone watch's over your shoulder while your having a Forest Gump moment. Nice open canvas there to start on.

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Gotta love it when someone watch's over your shoulder while your having a Forest Gump moment. Nice open canvas there to start on.

LOL Glen... I spilt a little beer with that one. Definitely a Forest Gump moment... I even had to wear those braces on my legs as a child. :facepalm:

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Don't know anybody by that name around here. But, I will say, I am painfully familiar with that LOOK!:shocked:

We're going to get up your way pretty soon to visit some of my wife's family... I'll give you a PM and maybe I can come by to see that big Chief.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

That must have been a white knuckle, wide-eyed moment. Akin to trying to get up a steep snow/ice covered hill and you lose grip and start sliding backwards. You and the Chief survived without the early splash or worse.

 

[xjdriver]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Hey man nice starcraft! I couldnt help but notice your jeeps to, nice cj8 scrambler, and user name. Im looking for an old cj7 myself. Could you guess what i drive from my user name? Lol. Good luck with the boat, did you tear into the motor? Never know it could be salvageable.

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

That must have been a white knuckle, wide-eyed moment. Akin to trying to get up a steep snow/ice covered hill and you lose grip and start sliding backwards. You and the Chief survived without the early splash or worse.

No kidding GA, I couldn't have fit a toothpick in there. No... not where you're thinking.... between my teeth.

No early splashes thankfully, but I did fill the boat with water today. Looks like there are 3 or 4 rivets missing.

Hey man nice starcraft! I couldnt help but notice your jeeps to, nice cj8 scrambler, and user name. Im looking for an old cj7 myself. Could you guess what i drive from my user name? Lol. Good luck with the boat, did you tear into the motor? Never know it could be salvageable.

Hey Xj ... I just can't figure out what you drive I've had that jeep forever and just about ready to sell it. It's a young man's sport and my body just can't handle it anymore.

I've not tore into the motor yet, but am hopeful. Maybe tomorrow??

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Good luck on the tear down. And watch those toothpicks.

 

[ricohman]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Great project!
That milkshake isn't good but a new(er) motor can't bad either.
The trailer looks easy enough to fix. I am jealous of all these projects others seem to find......

 

[InMotion]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Hey CJ --- just getting caught back up and WOW! Nice recovery job and glad that the Admiral still is ok with you "playing"! Man... no doubt that there was a change of pants after that one!

Glad to see you back on level ground --- the boat and hopefully with the Admiral too!!!

Clean out looks good --- ready for a scrub down and some gluvit.

Take care,

Jim

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

I am jealous of all these projects others seem to find......

Just lower your sights a little. Like to south of the border.

 

[barato2]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

wow, what a saga. you need to work on your delivery and your acting more; the Admiral should have been made fully aware of what Major Personal Risk you were in.....

maybe you need to move to an XJ. far more civilized to live with than a CJ/TJ, but still has that "crude and effective as a stone axe" feel, and with manual trans, pulls trailers like they're not there. i liked mine.

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Great project!
That milkshake isn't good but a new(er) motor can't bad either.
The trailer looks easy enough to fix. I am jealous of all these projects others seem to find......

Nope, not good at all. I drove a good 5 hours to pick this one up. I think all the tin is in Michigan... in Jason's back yard

Hey CJ --- just getting caught back up and WOW! Nice recovery job and glad that the Admiral still is ok with you "playing"! Man... no doubt that there was a change of pants after that one!

Glad to see you back on level ground --- the boat and hopefully with the Admiral too!!!

Clean out looks good --- ready for a scrub down and some gluvit.

Take care,

Jim

I got her all scrubbed out Jim, but this girl won't fit into my garage. The gluvit needs a day or two of 50 or 60 degree to cure? I'm not sure how that's all going to work. Any suggestions?

wow, what a saga. you need to work on your delivery and your acting more; the Admiral should have been made fully aware of what Major Personal Risk you were in.....

maybe you need to move to an XJ. far more civilized to live with than a CJ/TJ, but still has that "crude and effective as a stone axe" feel, and with manual trans, pulls trailers like they're not there. i liked mine.

My Admiral just shakes her head and asks "how much is this going to cost us this time" Those XJ's are nice. I helped my oldest son build one a few years ago.

 

[barato2]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

tarps over the boat to make a tent, with a few 500w halogen lights under the tent and aimed at the Gluvit'ed area? you may have to move em around to put more heat on areas that are slow in curing. better yet might be some of the clear 6 mil ag plastic on the 20x100' roll, so you could get a greenhouse effect going and pre-warm the aluminum. ??

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

I finished stripping the engine apart today. No big surprises except for this:

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Here's a closer shot... notice cylinder number 6:

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The PO's attitude must have been run 'em hard and put 'em up wet. According to him, the engines not ran since last year....

I think what really happened is he put the muffs on sometime in the last few months. That's when he found the motor was seized and decided to sell. I don't think this motor block would have survived last winter with that much water. The block drain **** was also closed.

Do you think this is the reason for water in the oil:

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Both of those valves are intake valves I believe.... they're the bigger ones.

 

[xjdriver]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Did it sit with no motor cover? If it did then rain could have got in the carb and seized it.

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

I'm still looking for a donor boat... the nice fiberglass 22' Starcraft guy won't call me back. I've found a motor a couple of hours away for $500 and he hasn't even done a compression test. There is also a fiberglass Starcraft American about 4 hours away for $495. There are a few motors on CL for big $$$

I am considering just rebuilding this one. We'll see.

This bearing is shot, but I've seen much worse

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The main journal on the crank is not bad either. Should just need polishing

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[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Did it sit with no motor cover? If it did then rain could have got in the carb and seized it.

It had the valve cover on without bolts, an air cleaner, and a doghouse.

It's still seized, but judging from the looks of it I'll be able to get it freed up. I'm pretty sure the cylinders are to bad to just do a garage honing / cross-hatch, but who knows? That'd be nice.

 

[xjdriver]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

It had the valve cover on without bolts, an air cleaner, and a doghouse.

It's still seized, but judging from the looks of it I'll be able to get it freed up. I'm pretty sure the cylinders are to bad to just do a garage honing / cross-hatch, but who knows? That'd be nice.

Hmm wonder if that water in #6 just came out of the water jacket when you removed the head? Not sure how else it could get there.