mark in new jersey
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2011
- Messages
- 167
Not trying to sound dramatic, but this voyage might be coming to a rapid conclusion.
Earlier this year, I had the chance to buy a 14' Century SeaFlyte in AA++ condition for an extremely-reasonable price. This was a driving motivator in restoring my Grandmother's old engine.
By the time I could pony up the $$$, the owner had decided to remove it from the market. Certainly it's not the "only old boat in the world", but it was what drove me, no doubt.
Anyway, this is about my 15th thread about the restoration of an old 15012, and as noted in my most recent thread, I've gotten it to the point that "it runs"...
...if only it were that simple.
- Undetected until now, the intake manifold is cracked at the 1/8"NPT pressure port, so oily gas is spewing all over the place.
- the main crankcase halves (which I didn't disturb during the refurb) are "wet" along the seams. Both sides. That will require a major tear-down, with no guarantee that it "only" needs a gasket.
- There's a oily ooze around the top of the swivel bracket, telling me that there's a bad seal at / near the lower end of the crank.
- it really doesn't run all that great in the first place, so there's a lot of tweaking left to do. Add to that the oily mess of "an old 2-stroke" [I can see why some lakes have banned them!], and I'm faced with......
.....with reality: I've already sunk a lot of dough into this "labor of love", and I don't even own a boat. How much further down this rabbit hole do I want to go?
I'm strongly leaning towards cutting my losses & calling it a day. And until / unless I can find a new intake manifold, I'm going "nowhere fast" anyway.
I think the time has come to strongly ask myself how much further do I want to go, and I think I already know the logical answer.
This is not a "pity post", and I am not looking for a pep talk. What I'm looking for is a cold, hard reality check: Engines do, indeed, die...blow...and when they do, they enter the world of "parts donors". Is that what I have in my hands?
Sure....with enough money I could do a complete, 100% re-manufacturing of the whole thing. Likewise, with enough money, I could put the great pyramids on the moon, too...brick-by-brick. But (in each case)...why?
Unless someone has a compelling reason to the contrary, I'm pulling the plug on this project.
Earlier this year, I had the chance to buy a 14' Century SeaFlyte in AA++ condition for an extremely-reasonable price. This was a driving motivator in restoring my Grandmother's old engine.
By the time I could pony up the $$$, the owner had decided to remove it from the market. Certainly it's not the "only old boat in the world", but it was what drove me, no doubt.
Anyway, this is about my 15th thread about the restoration of an old 15012, and as noted in my most recent thread, I've gotten it to the point that "it runs"...
...if only it were that simple.
- Undetected until now, the intake manifold is cracked at the 1/8"NPT pressure port, so oily gas is spewing all over the place.
- the main crankcase halves (which I didn't disturb during the refurb) are "wet" along the seams. Both sides. That will require a major tear-down, with no guarantee that it "only" needs a gasket.
- There's a oily ooze around the top of the swivel bracket, telling me that there's a bad seal at / near the lower end of the crank.
- it really doesn't run all that great in the first place, so there's a lot of tweaking left to do. Add to that the oily mess of "an old 2-stroke" [I can see why some lakes have banned them!], and I'm faced with......
.....with reality: I've already sunk a lot of dough into this "labor of love", and I don't even own a boat. How much further down this rabbit hole do I want to go?
I'm strongly leaning towards cutting my losses & calling it a day. And until / unless I can find a new intake manifold, I'm going "nowhere fast" anyway.
I think the time has come to strongly ask myself how much further do I want to go, and I think I already know the logical answer.
This is not a "pity post", and I am not looking for a pep talk. What I'm looking for is a cold, hard reality check: Engines do, indeed, die...blow...and when they do, they enter the world of "parts donors". Is that what I have in my hands?
Sure....with enough money I could do a complete, 100% re-manufacturing of the whole thing. Likewise, with enough money, I could put the great pyramids on the moon, too...brick-by-brick. But (in each case)...why?
Unless someone has a compelling reason to the contrary, I'm pulling the plug on this project.
carry on with the project bud.
