1979 Cobalt w/ 260 Mercruiser

[jmorgan87]

My father took in this boat at his business shortly before he was killed in a car accident. I've always said since then, that this boat be a 'good one' to potentially fix up.. finally starting on it.

It's a 1979 Cobalt with a Mercruiser 260HP(350 c.i engine).

The story was the guy had 'rebuilt the engine', but didn't get the electrical correct so he couldn't start it. We figured that actually meant 'the motor was shot', so he basically offered what the trailer the boat as on was worth.

Shortly after my father died, I drug the boat home from the business and tried to get it started. I didn't spend alot of time on it that year, and just did the basics. Remote starter wire on the solenoid, fresh gas, new plugs, hot wire to coil. I wasn't getting any fire, replaced the coil which got fire past the coil, but not past the distributor.. I stopped at this point and didn't touch the boat for a while.

This year I decided to try again, and Saturday the beast came to life! It ended up being points were stuck and never firing. We took them out, set new ones and then we had spark. It still needs quite a bit of work, but after hearing the motor run and not hearing any type of motor noise or other concerns, i'm ready to start getting her ready for water.

It has a Quadrajet carb on it, which is not very forgiving when it comes to sitting. It'll fire up, but has to be choked with your hand manually(choke lever was zip tied open..:-/), and throttle held partially open or blipped constantly. If you work it for a while, it'll eventually idle for 10-15 seconds on it's own no choke before dying out. Considering this boat has not ran in atleast 4 years that I know of, a gummed up carb is definitely expected. I also don't know how much bad gas is in the tank to the gas I added.

The interior was scary, a good 1-2" of grass/mold growing on the carpet, everything this awful black mold looking on it. We gutted most of the boat Saturday and hosed it all down and cleaned quite a bit. Still need to wax the boat ,and further interior cleaning. The upholstery on the back bench, engine cover, and front seats is pretty bad. Luckily my mom is pretty good at upholstery and once she heard it run she's 'on board' to doing the interior as I finish the motor/electrical work. My sisters also jumped in on the cleaning.

The floor feels good, there is one 'softish' spot right behind the passenger seat. It's not bad, and the only spot that has any sort of give.

Next visit home I plan to:
Empty the gas tank
Start wiring the captain console up.. The wires are still ran, so it may be as simple as wiring the key ignition or as complex as running new wire.. not sure yet, I've been using a push button I have hooked to the starter solenoid and a hot wire to the + of the coil.
Wax the outside
Change all fluids and filters.
Either replace the carb with a reman, holley or edelbrock or try and rebuild it myself.


Engine running for the first time in over 4 years, if not longer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLStVSslvsE

interior before:
http://jmorgan.me/boat/binterior.jpg
outside before:
http://jmorgan.me/boat/brear.jpg
http://jmorgan.me/boat/bfront.jpg
http://jmorgan.me/boat/bside.jpg
interior, mid cleaning:
http://jmorgan.me/boat/cleaning_interior.jpg
http://jmorgan.me/boat/cleaning_interior2.jpg
engine:
http://jmorgan.me/boat/engine.jpg


end of day 1..
http://jmorgan.me/boat/cinterior.jpg


Still lots to do.. I'm pretty excited to get this thing on the water

 

[jmorgan87]

Re: 1979 Cobalt w/ 260 Mercruiser

Does anyone have suggestions on things I should do while we have the boat gutted? or further gutting I should do before taking it to the lake for the first time in several years. in regards to structural concerns, or 'gotchas' that a non experienced boater might miss?

I plan to do a compression check this weekend, have friends checking on replacement carb/prop for me. I am hoping, pending a good compression check, to replace the carb, install the prop and get the thing ready for the lake asap.

I've read the faqs about mechanical check list etc, and all that I had planned on doing. Changing all fluids, belts, checking steering and that it will go in/out of gear, etc. I just don't have a clue about structural concerns, or other things that wouldn't be common sense coming from an automotive/motorcycle background.

I was hoping to find some old cobalt restore threads.. are these boats just not popular restore choices?

 

[sprink56]

Re: 1979 Cobalt w/ 260 Mercruiser

Cobalts are great boats...very solid and heavily built...good "bones". Consider changing anything that is a pain to get to while you have it apart....the starter is one of the worst on a small block Chevy in a boat.

Before you chuck the Q-Jet...go to cliffshighperformance.com. This guy is a Q-Jet genious. Before you rebuild your Q-Jet, check the casting numbers and make sure you have a marine version. FYI, you can buy a marine Q-Jet rebuilt A~Z from National Carburetor (google them) in Jacksonville, Fl for $199.00 + shipping....about $20. I have twin 260's in my Formula with Q-Jets...I just replaced one of mine with a carb from National...runs great right out of the box. Staying with the Q-Jet makes it easy with linkage and fuel lines.

Look for soft spots in the floor...with all that crap you have growing in there you probably have some rot. Cut all the rot out and re-do it. Check the transom for rot. If no major penetrations were left un covered you are probably ok with a Cobalt...they are well built boats.

Check around this web site for tips on other stuff. Also check out TheHullTruth.com

Good luck with this.

 

[jmorgan87]

Re: 1979 Cobalt w/ 260 Mercruiser

That's what i've read about Q-jets, if you have a properly rebuilt one they are better than most carbs on the market. I've rebuilt my motorcycle carbs, but have a feeling they don't measure to a Q-Jet.

I have the numbers off the carb incase I decided to pick up a rebuild kit, not sure if it's a marine version:
17057298
3137

I only found one spot that had any sort of give at all, behind the passenger chair. The rest of the boat felt very solid.

Thanks for the tips, I saw their site(national carb) from another post earlier today... hadn't seen cliff or thehulltruth though. Thank you.

There is a guy in town that supposedly is a 'q-jet' god, that i'm trying to get in touch with to see if he has any carbs he'd be willing to part with that are ready to go, or possibly rebuild mine. I actually work for a large auto parts company, so the engine parts are generally within my comfort zone

 

[sprink56]

Re: 1979 Cobalt w/ 260 Mercruiser

That's what i've read about Q-jets, if you have a properly rebuilt one they are better than most carbs on the market. I've rebuilt my motorcycle carbs, but have a feeling they don't measure to a Q-Jet.

I have the numbers off the carb incase I decided to pick up a rebuild kit, not sure if it's a marine version:
17057298
3137

I only found one spot that had any sort of give at all, behind the passenger chair. The rest of the boat felt very solid.

Thanks for the tips, I saw their site(national carb) from another post earlier today... hadn't seen cliff or thehulltruth though. Thank you.

There is a guy in town that supposedly is a 'q-jet' god, that i'm trying to get in touch with to see if he has any carbs he'd be willing to part with that are ready to go, or possibly rebuild mine. I actually work for a large auto parts company, so the engine parts are generally within my comfort zone

FYI...National Carburetor is the exclusive supplier of re-built carbs to Auto Zone. Cliffs site has a section that helps interpret casting numbers. One give away clue to see if yours is marine...it will have a "J" tube bowl vent that dumps overflow back into the air horn....USCG requirement.

 

[jmorgan87]

Re: 1979 Cobalt w/ 260 Mercruiser

Ordered a QJE carb from national carb. Engine sounded great if you choked the carb by hand and held the throttle open. However die if the secondaries engaged, or idle, or you removed your hand from manually choking it. Decided a new carb, with electric choke be best.

I wired up the console this weekend with a new key, no clue on which gauges work though. a couple flick when the key turns on, so they atleast have power. Ofcourse the engine doesn't idle, but the coil wire and solenoid are properly wired. It'll 'hit' from the key at console. So once a good carb gets on there, should have a working console to crank from .. woo.

Discovered the out drive hydraulics don't do squat. they've been extended for a few years, and had plastic sleeves over the rams. When you take them out, the rams go in. Using the trim makes the motor go, but the out drive doesn't raise. I see fluid in the reservoir(It's just a big flat head screw, or is there another spot to check?). I think next step is to bleed the hydraulic lines? I didn't want to run the motor long before having a game plan. Also a bit confused on the controls, the throttle has two buttons. So one would think one is up and other is down. only the bottom one makes any noise. The top one does nothing. There is a switch though for trim on the dash (up/down). does this mean you set it up/down there and use the bottom button to do both up/down depending what the switch on the dash is on?

The humidity here is horrid, got up on the weekends by 7am to get time on the boat. After 7:30am, it's not that cool again until after 10pm. Humidity is brutal.

things left before it's maiden voyage..
belts
prop
hydraulics
interior(though, this won't stop me from a test run).

 

[fathersonproject]

Re: 1979 Cobalt w/ 260 Mercruiser

I bought the exact same boat from an older guy where i live for 300 dollars about 4 years ago and have worked with my dad on the project. If you feel a soft spot in the floor just go ahead and replace the whole floor its so simple with everything gutted.

 

[superpop]

Re: 1979 Cobalt w/ 260 Mercruiser

You do not want to run the boat with the drive up like that, you will trash the u-joints. Once you get the motor running I would rip the floor up and see how much rot you have. Rot typically starts in the stringers and works its way up to the floor, so you may have a lot of work to do to make the boat structurally sound. I would not spend a lot of money on it though before finding out the condition of the floor, stringers and transom. If those are shot then the boat quickly becomes a losing proposition financially unless you can do all the work yourself. I would start with the soft spot and cut it out, in the process you can do some inspection of the stringers around this area. i would also collect some samples from the transom.