My Chieftan project

[Weep'n Willy]

Re: My Chieftan project

Well not a whole lot to report on progress wise. Been a busy couple weeks. I went the route that Jas did and took a different job. I went back to a golf course that I had previously worked. They wanted me back there and a deal was struck money wise and the workload now is just one golf courses' equipment and carts vice the 3 that I was maintaining. Finished up all my projects at the other course and started with the new job Monday......loving it!! Pretty easy week so far, only 1 engine rebuild, mower deck spindle rebuild, and a pto shaft carrier bearing job. My ole bones appreciate the lighter workload. Now I am a happy mechanic.

On to the Chief::: Outdrive is now completely installed, hooked up, hydraulics filled and tested. All systems go. Put the Eagles Feet for my downrigger board on and test fit the board. Will work out perfectly. Now got to seal the board and mount the riggers. Couldn't find any vents that I really wanted that were the cowl type so opted for some that are flat, they will work out good. I did get some new bling though.. Picked up these deck cleats from Iboats and found these sweet bow chocks on ebay that were original vintage NOS Starcraft chocks - identical match to the old ones. Pretty easy to pick out the old from the new in the pic.



Kinda cool and rainy today so no work done on her but supposed to be almost 80 tomorrow so will get back at it.

 

[Watermann]

Re: My Chieftan project

Good deal on the new job and that nice looking SC bling.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: My Chieftan project

Congrats on your new spot man!:encouragement:

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Re: My Chieftan project

Well it was a good and not so good weekend. The good is I fired up the engine. Some tapping from the valves so pulled the valve cover, fired it up and reset the valve lash. Now she is purring nicely without the tapping but unfortunately you get some oil spray......clean up aisle 2.

So now on to the shift and throttle cables. Hmm....wouldn't you know it the cables from the early 70's style and the ones from the late 80's/90's are vastly different. Something I just didn't think about. Although they all fit on their respective places there is not enough room to fully engage throttle or completely shift from forward to reverse. Big time bummer. So grabbed the control unit from the donor boat and hooked those cables up and voila, we have success.........well partially. I now have to remove the seat box and side wall to get at the old shift control and see if these cables will hook up to it or if I have to tear it out and install the other version. Waterman, I know you went to a newer alpha 1 also so if hopefully you don't have the same situation.

So then I proceeded with applying the Nautolex I received for doing the board over the engine that supports the back deck and then do the dog house. Oh boy.... Got the board covered and installed with the appropriate trim. All looks good. Started on the doghouse, covered the top, and front face and then realized I didn't order enough Nautolex to do the sides. Doooh. Well that 2 yds cost me $50/shipping and didn't complete it and not going to spend another $50 so guess it is a trip to Joanns to see about some marine vinyl for the sides.

So after 2 days of success and not so successful I decided to give the girl a bath and get all the shop dust off her and give her a coat of that polish in the orange bottle.....yea,,, pretty good stuff. Easy to apply and wipe off and a great shine to boot.

Now with the afternoon rain storms coming through no further work is able to be done. Sorry no pics but will get some up soon.

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: My Chieftan project

Sorry to hear about the cables! Sounds like I might have that problem when I go to have my engine installed then... '74 pre alpha to a '85 Alpha 1.

I have several spare yards of some blue nautalex you could have if you want. Dont know if the color would be what you want, but PM me and I'll send ya a pic.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Re: My Chieftan project

Thanks for the offer 73 but I don't believe blue would fit the color combos. Take a look at your cables and test them out before you cover everything up. Could be a big time saver.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: My Chieftan project

I used filler primer after a coat of etching primer, building it up, then sanding down to bare metal, and repeate until you get a smooth surface, then paint!
time consuming but it worked well for me so far

 

[pckeen]

Re: My Chieftan project

New job - bonus. Pity about the Nautolex, but marine vinyl will look great on the sides.

 

[Watermann]

Re: My Chieftan project

Yeah a few little set backs here and there keep us on our toes and it sounds like your working yours out as you come across them as am I. I don't have to worry about much with my alpha set up, I had the complete donor from the controls to the prop. It all should go back together with ease, all of the wiring harness for the motor, instruments and controls are simple snap together plugs. The lengths of the cables is my only source of concern. A tape measure only gets a guy so close.

You should be ready for a splash here real soon now that the six is purring away.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Well where to begin?? The forums under construction mode surely put a damper on posting and then a weeks worth of post were lost and numerous other errors so let me try to catch back up.

The shift cable problem has been solved. I used the cables from the donor boat and got everything adjusted properly, at least on dry land. The cables hooked up well to the old shift control unit although it was a bit of a pain to get it out, hook the cables, and reinstall.

Filled and bled they hydraulic steering system. First impression . . . wow. Smooth turning easily with one hand and light pressure. Jumped out of the boat and pushed on the outdrive to see if it would move ..... no movement by pushing as expected so no more wandering boat when I take my hands off the wheel. Then I fired up the engine to see how the steering was with the assist of the power steering. This impression ..... outstanding!!! One finger steering nice and smooth, super easy. No stiff spots like I have experienced with cable steering systems. Although this system is a bit pricey I am really liking it.

Been working on the wiring and installed the 5 oceans 6 gang switch panel. Good lord the flimsy pattern that they give you is worthless and the panel itself does not have a lot of room for error so I roughed out the square and then spent over an hour hand filing the dash to get it to fit in. But at least now it is mounted and I can get the wiring finished up.

I posted these 2 vids before but they were lost in the forum deletion so will post them again for the inquiring minds.

 

[cj8mule]

(double post) new forum is getting to be a pain

 

[cj8mule]

Awesome WnW! Let's go! I'll meet ya down at the ramp

 

[Watermann]

Oh man this forum mess is getting to be annoying after what seems like a month of Sundays and it's still not working right.

Looking good Willy, your six purrs like a kitten and sounds real healthy out the pipe. Looking forward to seeing her on the water skimming the waves!

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Getting really frustrated with this forum. Errors, errors and more errors. Make a post , all seems good then nothing. Another post lost. By the responses and post in this forum there has been a severe loss in participation......most likely due to frustrations.

Cj, getting closer but not quite there yet.

Water, thanks and yes I believe she sounds good too (but she is a 4)

So for the latest. Ordered some vent cowls from a place in Florida. Shipping info shows it was shipped from a town 25 miles from me here in Michigan.....interesting. So from there it goes to Ohio 108 miles from origin, then to Saginaw Mi 146 miles, then down to me 67 miles. Good lord almost 350 miles from start when originally only 25 miles from me. No wonder shipping cost are so high.

So here is a shot of the cowls in place on the back deck along with the new deck cleats. Still have to install the cowls midship for the fuel tank vents.

 

[Watermann]

Oh yeah, jeez a 140 is a four and the 165 is a six. Those globe trotter vents look great, it's actually difficult to find decent ones online that aren't fake chrome plated plastic or pot metal and they're expensive for what they are.

That 140 sits down so low you didn't even have to cut out the cross member board. Were you able to find cleats that fit in the original holes? I thought they were somewhat of a industry standard but the ones I ordered were off.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Still plugging away on the ole girl. Got some more wiring done. My new seat pedestals arrived yesterday, I like them. Now I see the price is up and the expected shipping time is now 20 days. Glad I got mine before that. Did some trim work on the seat boxes today and decided it was time to rig up the downrigger board. Ordered the pedestals from Iboats just before the price went up.

Couple pics to keep the restless natives at bay.

 

[GA_Boater]

Looks like you're planning on some serious fishin' with all the gear. Your old gal is gonna be fun!

 

[Watermann]

Wow your Chief looks like a commercial offshore trawler! Love those pedestals, man there's going to be some serious coin under your rear end. :lol:

 

[Watermann]

Willy I forgot to ask which pedestals you got and if they're AD rated for helm seats? I can't find anything under 150 bucks for AD rated and everything else will come with a sticker saying rated only for 5 MPH. Last thing I want to do is end up on my backside looking at jet contrails while going 40 MPH across the lake.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Water, this is the link to the ones I got. http://www.iboats.com/Wise-Adjustab...0501084--session_id.047093484--view_id.375736 and yes they are AD rated. Mine came within a week but I notice under the shipping tab that they ship within 20 business days now and cost a few bucks more each. But if you're in no hurry, no biggie.