I'm back with a 1994 Islander 221V!

[Gibbles]

The next thing I get to work out are block and manifold drains.

Is there any reason why I can't just use some brass ball valves?
I have two "boat" block drains on order, but I'm thinking a couple ball valves and some hoses to make later season fishing much easier on me...

Leaning towards the ones that have built in threads vs the solder ones, usually those have a male on one end, and a female on the other side.
Making it easy to attach a hose bib.

 

[airshot]

Fram, that was the error.
Lame for them to rule out on some bs related to running a different filter...

I'm curious how that happened, however having a tool designed to dissemble oil filters is an eye opener!

And these warranties ran out back in the 90's I'm sure.

There is another cross-reference chart that I use to find a larger capacity oil filter for various uses.
One spec outside of the general base and thread stuff is the bypass oil pressure.

Pretty much when pressure inside of the filter reaches x psi it will allow the filter element to push out of the way and oil will bleed past the filter.

That said, I have had a fram filter separate internally and it tried to plug the whole thing up.
I refuse to use their products.

That said, the boat came with a single fram filter with the merc one installed.
I used it knowing I was changing the oil again before the next/first outing.

And its use was to just get fresh oil flowing through the contaminated everything in the engine.

FDFUFF (friends don't let friends use Fram filters).

The threads let go, according to Fram the threads were not to Kohler engine specs even though the cross reference matched. There comment was " the cross reference charts are not actual Fram charts". And of course Kohler stated the threads were not a match even though the filter tightened to the tightening specs. Have not touched a Fram filter since !!

 

[Gibbles]

well today I'm spent some time letting the boat run on muffs.
I pulled the oil fill tube on the valve cover, and both of the valve cover vents and let it steam out the remaining water.

Once done I pulled the two block drains and the manifold drains.

the block drains had some soot, almost like they haven't been drained.
I have to wonder if this was "winterized" using some other method...

Working up the motivation to pull the manifolds and the intake manifold.
Crossing my fingers for a clear cause.

I'm going off of the assumption that a bad head gasket would show a clear leak into the lifter valley.

And I did notice a slow drip coming down from around the front crank pully.
I don't see a clear source, or any sort of rust trail.

So, either coming from that seal due to the water intrusion or maybe the intake seal (crossing my fingers for that).

I won't try too hard to save this engine, I was very clear with the seller that I don't want a project.
I see several ATK marine 4.3's for sale, they run from $3500 - $3900
I just get the fun of figuring out what one is compatible with what I have.

A "smoking gun" showing where the leak is coming from would be very much preferred for the seller to know I'm not full of it.

 

[Gibbles]

Well, bad news for the 4.3l
I'll have some pictures soon, but I found a crack in the block right above the starter motor.

For a moment there I thought the head gasket was just rusted (assuming it was a MLS).
but then I noticed the head gasket above that.
Looks like it cracked along the block deck.

Block crack as discovered.





Did some paint removal via a razor blade to confirm it's not just some peeling paint.


I can almost get the tip of the blade to stick and stay in there...
I'm 100% sure it's a crack in the block...


I'm researching what engine I have so far, but chatting with the seller we came to an agreement of about $3300 he will return to me.

The bad news, I think the engine that's a match (ATK long block) is about $4100.

I told the seller they seem to be right around $3500 - $3900, and I'm not going to correct myself.

The fact that he is willing to refund me money shows how awesome of a person he really is.

 

[Gibbles]

and a set of new manifolds to go on.


I also got excited and saw this, Hoping it was the cause of the water in the oil.


On the one side, the riser gasket was failing, and just a little water would sit in there.
I don't see any signs that this actually made it into a cylinder.

 

[Gibbles]

for now, it's going back together.
Waiting for $$ and then a new engine, and for my mechanic to decide if this is a task he wants to take on or not.

 

[Gibbles]

I have also been researching marine 4.3's during the week assuming the worst-case scenario.

What I found was that they started doing roller cams a few years before this 94.
I didnt pull the intake yet, but I'm expecting to find a roller setup in there, also because we know it's a balance shaft engine.

Now as I'm looking at ATK marine engines on summit racing, I see a few that's in line with the others price wise, but going off of the intake manifold bolt count, it looks like it's a true vortec head.
Where my 94 is marked Vortec, but it's not a true vortec as the intake has "Extra bolts"

I understand that I would need to find a matching intake manifold for it if I decided to go that route.
I assume I wouldn't have any other issues, like needing to swap to a different carb?

 

[Watermann]

The next thing I get to work out are block and manifold drains.

Is there any reason why I can't just use some brass ball valves?
I have two "boat" block drains on order, but I'm thinking a couple ball valves and some hoses to make later season fishing much easier on me...

Leaning towards the ones that have built in threads vs the solder ones, usually those have a male on one end, and a female on the other side.
Making it easy to attach a hose bib.

Only issue I see putting ball valves in is you have to poke the drain holes after removing the plugs since debris settles in as it drains and all the water won't come out. If that happens you'll end up with cracked manifolds come spring.

 

[Gibbles]

Only issue I see putting ball valves in is you have to poke the drain holes after removing the plugs since debris settles in as it drains and all the water won't come out. If that happens you'll end up with cracked manifolds come spring.

I was kind of thinking the ball valve (full port) would make it easier to get the crud out, but I dunno for sure.

I was also thinking to keep the hoses off but give me an option to run a hose to them via a thread in attachment.

 

[Gibbles]

and future things,
I noticed that there is a highly recommended intake manifold upgrade available via Edelbrock.
It's about $500 but it's designed to allow an easy upgrade to vortec heads and to flow a little better than the $300 stock marine manifold.

I think it's worth just 10hp, but that's 10hp more...

It might be available in Nov, so it's on my "maybe" list.

The engine might not happen until spring, but at this point I'm thinking I'll run the current engine until it starts knocking, or until early summer/late spring.

And if I go the "build it" route,
I'll need to figure out what camshaft to run, I found a melling "marine" camshaft for roller lifters.
PN: 22119

But I thought the marine camshaft did .500 lift, this one just lists .400?

 

[Gibbles]

And last night I got the water pump replaced in the outdrive.

the old one had a mold date of 2013!
There was just a little burning on the bottom of it, probably from running out of the water for a few minutes.

The seller told me it was last changed about 5 years ago.
I can confirm the water pump impeller looked great for it's age!

Maybe another year or two before it started affecting the cooling.



I have some VERY detailed records for this thing, the original owner put out a good 1k +/- every year just for basic stuff.

Makes it pretty easy to get some history and to do some detective work.

I am curious about the cracked block and how it might have happened but doing some reading up on 4.3s with cracked blocks, it's very possible he had been running it for several seasons' w/o any sort of clue.

 

[Watermann]

I was kind of thinking the ball valve (full port) would make it easier to get the crud out, but I dunno for sure.

I was also thinking to keep the hoses off but give me an option to run a hose to them via a thread in attachment.

Yeah you could use a hose with a funnel and still be able to poke the crud out. I still would prefer the brass petcocks with the removable wing nut center. My luck that lever on the ball valve would get bumped, open up, flood the boat and starve the motor of water.

 

[Gibbles]

Yeah you could use a hose with a funnel and still be able to poke the crud out. I still would prefer the brass petcocks with the removable wing nut center. My luck that lever on the ball valve would get bumped, open up, flood the boat and starve the motor of water.

lol, yeah probably.

I have two of those ball valves on my brand new manifolds to make it easier to winterize this thing there.
First thing I did was to install two plugs in there for good measure.
Having a 3/4in ball valve facing the front of the engine, I started imagining bent rods if one of those things got bumped open while running.

 

[Gibbles]

And I received my refund check from the seller today.
Awesome guy, I think a lot of people would have just blocked my number.

I told the seller about this thread and how to find it, if he was interested in seeing this thing get fixed up and enjoyed.

If you're seeing this; you're awesome.
Thank you so much!

I'll try to be gentile as I go through this boat.
So far, I only see a few things that were wrong.


As for the history, I'm the third owner.
Original owner looked like he absolutely loved this boat.
Records show that.
I'll go over some of the little things I noticed here soon.

One thing I loved was a little sticker on the windshield.
Apparently, this was the official boat of Disney world in 94?!

 

[Gibbles]

Well I spent a little time last night cleaning the hull.
I hit it with some mild rubbing compound and got some shine back to the old paint.



A pretty good-looking boat that has been well used over it's many years of life.

Also last night I bought a couple tubes of 5200, and began work on the front hatch/vent.
The glass had come free of the frame.
There is a clear seal where the glass fits, so I'm thinking something is missing like a piece of trim or something.

Whatever, I filled the void with 5200.
I know that should hold it forever and ever.

Hopefully it will be dry enough for some fun this weekend.

 

[Gibbles]

Getting the boat ready for a little test this weekend, I was having some issues with the horn.

At first I figured it was something with the switch since I can see curent draw and a clicking sound coming from the horn when activated.

then last night it started honking, then it would stop working.
So, I decided I would pull the fuse panel off to take a look at it, figuring I probably needed to either take the horn a part to clean, or the switch needed some cleaning.

I was told there should be screws at the bottom of the cover, but I couldn't find any.
So, I decided to give it a little tug, popped right off!

Greeted with this!


Not the worst looking fuse panel, it has some order, and then chaos mixed in there.

Also, I see a wire nut in there.
The horn also has some of those blue crimp connectors that they sell at the dollar store.
I hate those...

and sure enough, a little wiggling of the wires and I have a horn!!!

While I want to jump in there and go after the obvious with a soldering iron, crimper, and marine grade shrink tubing, I see so much that needs to be done.

Thinking I'll go after the horn with a quick disconnect for now, and then put the rest on the "next spring or early summer" project list.

I also want a radio with a Bluetooth connection, so that's going to be a black Friday/Christmas purchase.

 

[Gibbles]

I also happen to have a couple very nice marine fuse panels on hand, something I bought for the Jeep.
I got several different sizes to figure out what would work and decided to keep the rest as spares and tossed into the box i have for marine wiring.

Good news is most of the boat looks great, I do need to figure out wtf is happening, and if there is a wiring diagram somewhere for this boat or if StarCraft just used a generic "marine" wiring identification.

 

[Gibbles]

Found a Starcraft brochure for this boat.
Notice the amount of Disney they included.

 

[flashback]

I put ball valves in mine 2 years ago and they did fine last winter, can't comment on the longevity but at least you can reach them easy enough and still rod them..

 

[airshot]

My Islander had the 140hp, 3.0 ....easy to work on and winterize. Easy reach to everything. 34 mph by gps with two adults and fishing gear. Great boat!