Re: '79 Starcraft SS 16 restoration
So here's the report from the first lake test of the motor.
Last friday night my buddy called up wondering if crappie fishing was on the agenda.
I told him that all that was left was to quickly install the steering wheel and rack to the dash.
I got busy on that and of course installed it backwards again.:facepalm:
Give me a 50/50 chance I'll screw it up every time. This is why I do not gamble.
We loaded up the kids and headed out to the lake, my fishing buddy and his wife along too since we planned on fishing after testing out the 70hp.
Long story short, the beast fired on the second turn of the key, no choke needed.
I realize instantly that she is idling WAY too high and I do not even have the warm up lever raised.
I let it rev for a few seconds and it occurs to me that the motor is potentially bothering the 4-5 other boats on the tiny lake. For this reason I shut her down and we proceeded to troll for some crappie with the Minn Kota.
The warm up lever is full on basically, so I will be adjusting the throttle cable a bit and hopefully get things worked out.
So it seems that she wants to run and we are hoping to get back on the water soon.
Lots of family stuff going on lately so we have been out of town a lot.
Here's another shot of the registration stickers on the bow.
One of our trips out of town was to visit Roslynn's grandparents.
We thought it would be a good idea to bring the SS along to let him check out what we've down with her. He has restored plenty of cars, campers and boats himself so he appreciates a good project.
It's about an hour and fifteen minute drive and about halfway I stopped at a rest area. Having noticed a weird shimmy in the trailer I was a bit concerned.
I looked at the port side bearing first, inspected it and tapped it with my finger to see how warm. Not hot, just warm and I stepped over the bow and checked the starboard side.
Not using good judgement I went ahead and pressed my index finger on the bearing and it sizzled like bacon. Ouch:facepalm:
So long story short, we made it on side roads the rest of the way. Stopping every so often to let it cool down, knowing that the bearing was already shot we just wanted to get to a place to work on it.
So here's the new hub and bearing installed. For $60 at Tractor Supply, who remarkably was open on the 4th of July.
Rather than wonder if the replacement bearing would fit properly, we just got a new hub as well.
To cap things off, my Explorer now has a short in the running lights and I have no way to safely tow the boat or drive at night. Hopefully it's a failed switch and not too much $$ to fix.
