my new old 1988 ss20v

[Watermann]

Check the tach pole setting it's on. then the wiring on the gauge first, it could be wired or set wrong. If those check out ok, then the gauge might be bad.

 

[ab59]

I will give that a try. Good to see that you went back and put up new pics through your v5 thread , It is just too good of a piece to let go and although you did not do it just for me I thank you anyway because I have found many things in your threads that have helped me out or gave me new ideas for my own projects so thanks and keep it goin.

 

[ab59]

whooopppiiieee , manifold got here today along with 108* weather for a few days . Looks like up at 6 am instead of 9ish and coffee till I'm ready . Oil pump and pan today and with the new intake I can finish the engine out . Will have to wait for a new starter to get here but I'm buying it in-state so should not take to long. I'm feelin better about this job all the time.

 

[ab59]

Oops I forgot to say that when I installed the pickup screen into the oil pump it kinda seemed a little like it was not set in real good to I mixed up a little JB weld and tried to stick the tube to the pump housing. I am concerned about the integrity of the JB as it will be in oil all the time. What do you guys think. Will the JB hold up inside an oil pan or should I break it loose , clean it up and get the wire feed out ?

 

[Watermann]

Oops I forgot to say that when I installed the pickup screen into the oil pump it kinda seemed a little like it was not set in real good to I mixed up a little JB weld and tried to stick the tube to the pump housing. I am concerned about the integrity of the JB as it will be in oil all the time. What do you guys think. Will the JB hold up inside an oil pan or should I break it loose , clean it up and get the wire feed out ?

Depends on how you feel about the repair. From the JB Weld website.

When fully cured, J-B Weld is completely resistant to water, gasoline, and about every other petroleum product or automotive chemical.

 

[ab59]

Thanks for the info , I feel better about the JB weld patch , I was able to run a bead on just about half of the tube so I'm good .Back at it this morning.-----

 

[ab59]

OK guys I have a couple of questions maybe you could help with. We are finishing up the jewelry on the engine for installation. I cracked the turn down open on the exhaust manifolds and found some serious rust scale , may be what killed the engine that I am replacing . I been breaking out scale with a screw driver . scraper and air gun all day . Is there a better way to get the rust scale out of these manifolds ? Also since heat destroyed the last engine I am going through the cooling lines and found an odd device that has the power steering lines as well as a radiator line going to it . So my second question is what the heck is this thing -see pictures.

 

[Watermann]

The odd thing is a powersteering fluid cooler.

I hate to say it but those exhaust manifolds in my opinion look to be rotting out and need replaced, be sure to check the exhaust elbows closely and the Y pipe that connects to the transom assembly for similar issues. Was this motor used in saltwater by chance?

Oh yeah and did you post this up in the Mercruiser forum so the gurus could let you know what they think?

 

[ab59]

I will pull the hoses off the oil cooler where water is circulated and inspect for blockages .I spent nearly 4 hrs knocking scale out to the manifolds and am fairly satisfied that I have the vast majority of the crap removed. Under the crap it looks like there is still plenty of thick cast metal left and the Y is only lightly corroded.
What would you estimate to be too thin of iron on these manifolds ??
This is my theory about the history of this boat. The trailer it sits on has decals on it from a boat rental place in Lake Havasu City so I believe that is where it spent most of it's life. I bought the boat from a kid over in Fortuna, a coastal town on the west coast of California . I believe that he used it once or twice in the salt water before the engine overheated and blew the head gasket . It appears that the salt damage anywhere in the boat is minimal, none of the wiring under the console is corroded or showing signs of salt damage. From there he let it sit until the engine froze and the upholstery continued to rot out in the weather thus loosing interest in this beautiful girl. I bought her for 600.00 cash and am preforming major surgery on her to save her and give her a new lease on life. lol

 

[Watermann]

Reason I asked about the brine is under normal fresh water use those manifolds will last a very long time without seeing that kind of erosion. I guess if the boat sat year round with those manifolds full of water it could accelerate the rusting out.

That mating surface between the manifold and the riser has to be 100% flat and not eroded away or pitted up or you'll loose that motor with water coming into the cylinders causing hydro lock and/or ruin bearings..

The part of the Y pipe that rots out is the very bottom. Speaking of the Y pipe are the exhaust shutters in good shape or did you replace them?.

 

[ab59]

a couple of pics after cleaning ---



I will have to make a deeper inspection of the y tubes..When you say exhaust shutters I hope you are not saying that there is supposed to be a plate on the rods that go through the coupling ends of the y because that is what is there, just rods no shutters . Hope this system is not shot , I've already got 3500 in this thing.

 

[ab59]

OK , I inspected the Y manifold with my inspection camera and have found that it is in very good condition.It does have just a light dusting of white corrosion that is superficial and not rot on the bottom sections of the Y. As for the manifolds themselves , I took them to my local machine shop and am having all the mating surfaces ground flat so that should take care of any problems without the cost of replacing them , Costing 65.00 per side
There are NO shutter or butterfly valves in the Y coupling ends but the rods are still there and I will find some new ones somewhere and install them upon re-assembly of the exhaust system. Fingers crossed that the surfacing job works as needed.

 

[ab59]

Read some negative things about the shutters today and wondered if you have any feedback about it. It seems that some people have had the shutters ware out fairly quickly as they are rubber and when they come loose they plug the outlets at the bottom of the Y. That seems to be logical to me but I dunno most of this stuff is new to me , that's why I ask so many stupid questions like what is the danger of not running the shutters ??

 

[ab59]

Got a good dose of Starcraft's hurry up and get it out the door today. I made new wood for the front mounts and when I looked at the existing wood it was drilled at steep angles from each side. I'm not entirely sure why they did this but guessed that they drilled them in after setting in a fully dressed engine in and could not drill straight up and down to bold it up. One out of 4 of the screws actually gripped the aluminum the rest were merely sticking about 1/4 inch into the hole not holding anything down. I just used the old wood as a pattern and made new wood with the same crooked holes and am going to run longer lag bolts.

 

[ab59]

back from shop and on engine






smooth and flat, should mate up good. Waiting on turn back gaskets . I plan on running this engine on the pallet before installation to blow out any loose crap that might still be present in the manifolds.

 

[Watermann]

You may have read that without shutters in the exhaust Y pipe that backwash from behind the boat if allowed to overtake your boat will force water up and into the exhaust system through the open exhaust valves, again hydro locking the motor. The shutters are robust enough to last just fine but what happens is people overheat the motor and burn the shutters out, then the pieces fall down in the bottom and clog up the pipe. If you don't replace them and ever have to come to an emergency stop where the backwash catches you then the motor will have a greater chance of ingesting raw water.

I had/have good shutters in my V6 but I still do not allow the back wash to overtake my stern. When I drop off a plane and just as the wash is overtaking me I give her just a nudge with the throttle and the ensuing wash can't catch up to fight it's way into the exhaust cone on the prop with the extra force coming out before the backwash just flattens out.

 

[ab59]

OK , New shutters it is then----still waiting on gaskets for the turn backs so a little longer wait wont be too bad

 

[ab59]

up and running but using a huge amount of fuel .

 

[ab59]

Shutters---got the shutters in the mail today but are too large to fit down inside the Y tube openings. Would have to grind them down considerably to use them . Is this normal . Any one know if these are meant to be " grind to fit " seems unlikely but I have no reference info to know. Part number 0765166

 

[Watermann]

I only know the shutters for Merc, they fit just fine without alterations.