1981 18 SS

[dozerII]

That is a shame on the manifold and elbow. Hopefully you can find a cheap replacement. Also check you inbox, pm sent.

Thanks for the help Willy, I felt a little foolish after I realized what I had done.:facepalm:

That's a shame Glen. That's the way my 18' SS was and added around $400 to my build budget. I need to change the manifold on my chief and it's around $550 :faint2:

Thanks cj, yup it is going to be expensive, with our dollar only being worth 84 cent U.S. I found a new one up here in Canada for the same price it would cost to get it from below the 49th.

 

[dozerII]

Okay I gotta give cj8 a big thank you for giving me a kick in the butt to try my aluminum spool again after following his top build. I played around with it Sunday morning for a couple hours, turns out I was using the settings for the wrong model listed in the manual and had everything set way to high.
The fuel filler on the SS was made out of plastic and was broke into many pieces.



So I pulled out some aluminum sheet and proceeded to make a new one, it is far from perfect and I may make another one after some more practice but it is better
than what was there.

 

[Alumarine]

That fuel filler looks good. Where do they mount on the Starcrafts?
Mine mounts on the top of the transom deck (if that's what it is called) on the port side and needs to be fixed up.

 

[dozerII]

That fuel filler looks good. Where do they mount on the Starcrafts?
Mine mounts on the top of the transom deck (if that's what it is called) on the port side and needs to be fixed up.

Thanks Marc, on this SS the filler is in the transom on the port side just below the rub rail, my Holiday has the filler in the rear deck as well on the port side.

 

[cj8mule]

That looks great Glen. It's really hard to mig that thin stuff!

 

[64osby]

looking good Glen,

I think I can the hear the wheels turning from here.

 

[dozerII]

That looks great Glen. It's really hard to mig that thin stuff!

looking good Glen,

I think I can the hear the wheels turning from here.

Thanks guys

 

[InMotion]

Nice Glen! This will open up a whole world of possibilities for you in terms of how things can be rebuilt....

 

[dozerII]

Nice Glen! This will open up a whole world of possibilities for you in terms of how things can be rebuilt....

Thanks Jim, it's going to take a bunch of practice, for sure.

 

[jbcurt00]

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Get a little more practice on them, and I could see them being bought on ebay, craigs or kijjii

For glass or tin boats, complete rehabs/re-fit or just to replace the carp plastic ones

 

[dozerII]

Yup a whole lot more practice, but ya there is a need for them, thanks jb

 

[dozerII]

The Tool Fairy showed up, after seeing these in some of the other Starmada members hangers I had to have them.



And because of the issues with the 140 in this SS I had to pick up one of these.



So last weekend Darcy and his family came out for the weekend and we went to work on the SS, we accomplished quite a bit.

New manifold and elbow installed, shutters and some reassembly



This week I finished the tune-up

 

[dozerII]

Once we had all the mechanicals done we could, we went to work to make the aluminum a little more presentable.







We just did a quick polish with Sonus, the last photo is the set-up for running the motor, cut down plastic 45 gallon barrel with a small submersible pump to provide the cooling water to the motor.

I'm uploading a video of the test fire.

 

[Tnstratofam]

Nice a visit from the tool fairy. That elusive elf who pays homage to those struggling with a rebuild by bringing goodies we can work with. Looks like the hull is shaping up as well as the mechanical side of things.:encouragement:

 

[dozerII]

Nice a visit from the tool fairy. That elusive elf who pays homage to those struggling with a rebuild by bringing goodies we can work with. Looks like the hull is shaping up as well as the mechanical side of things.:encouragement:

Thanks tns.

Video finally uploaded. After running the motor for 30 minutes, I redid the compression and leak down tests.

Compression, #1 120 #2 125 #3 105 #4 118 Leak down #1 17% #2 28% #3 38% #4 38%

 

[budski]

Looking good Glen motor seems to run decently as well.

 

[cj8mule]

Compression, #1 120 #2 125 #3 105 #4 118 Leak down #1 17% #2 28% #3 38% #4 38%

Those aren't real bad numbers. I wonder if hole #3 will come up a litte after the motor has ran for awhile. It'd be worth a try.

Where did you hear the air escaping from? The carb or exhaust?

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Yea, your numbers are not terrible for the hours on the engine. But still I consider 38% a considerable loss as 15% is usually the acceptable limit. So the question therein lies - where did you hear the air escaping? I certainly assume some is going through the rings but more importantly how much is leaving via the valves. It is pretty simple to lap in valves with some compound but of course it comprises of pulling the head but the procedure to lap the valves is very easy. Doing a dry compression test will give you a good reading of the rings - then add a squirt of oil in the cylinders and repeat. Compare the results and it will give you an idea of how much loss you have through the rings.

 

[astor]

Love it when the tool fairy arrives!! Good advice so far on the leakdown numbers. If/when you see how much is from the rings, valves, guides, etc... I would run a half can of seafoam through the carb and redo the test - it'll clean the carbon off the rings and valves, then see how much your numbers improve.

 

[dozerII]

Looking good Glen motor seems to run decently as well.

Thanks John

Those aren't real bad numbers. I wonder if hole #3 will come up a litte after the motor has ran for awhile. It'd be worth a try.

Where did you hear the air escaping from? The carb or exhaust?

Thanks cj, the leak on three and four can be heard in the valve cover vent.

Yea, your numbers are not terrible for the hours on the engine. But still I consider 38% a considerable loss as 15% is usually the acceptable limit. So the question therein lies - where did you hear the air escaping? I certainly assume some is going through the rings but more importantly how much is leaving via the valves. It is pretty simple to lap in valves with some compound but of course it comprises of pulling the head but the procedure to lap the valves is very easy. Doing a dry compression test will give you a good reading of the rings - then add a squirt of oil in the cylinders and repeat. Compare the results and it will give you an idea of how much loss you have through the rings.

Thanks Willy, neither if the bad ones leak into the exhaust, or intake, # two is leaking into the intake, and yea a wet test does bring the numbers up considerably.

Love it when the tool fairy arrives!! Good advice so far on the leakdown numbers. If/when you see how much is from the rings, valves, guides, etc... I would run a half can of seafoam through the carb and redo the test - it'll clean the carbon off the rings and valves, then see how much your numbers improve.

Thanks Astor, that's exactly what we are going to do, put her altogether and as soon as soft water gets here put her on the lake and run it, do a deep decarb and run the test again.