The well traveled 1979 Starcraft 18' V5 SS

[Watermann]

It was a nice day inside the garage so I pulled the lower unit off, super clean inside. Should be a straight forward water pump kit replacement job.

The motor under the cowl is clean too with some 2 stroke oil that missed the filler that needs to be cleaned up. I'm thinking I should dump out the 5 year old oil and put fresh in the tank,

 

[coostv]

Looks very clean! For what it costs, I would empty the tank and refill with new oil. I don't think it necessarily goes bad, but may separate over time.

 

[Watermann]

New trim pump motor was DOA right out of the box... what a PITA... old one off, new one on, new one back off and now to deal with the company return process.

The old pump was froze up but I got it free and added power, at least it would then run but made some bad noises :lol:

 

[Candutch]

Crappy deal Rob. Good thing it's not boating season, you have at least 3 months to get that up and running.

 

[Watermann]

Yeah Rob I have some time left but it's getting close for me, I go walleye fishing starting in March and would like to have the motor on and going by then with the bugs worked out. Then there's the heavy duty galvanized trailer to get ready for a swap out.

Been cleaning the years of over greasing and neglect off the motor. I also ran a compression check too but forgot to add the numbers...

#1 - 140
#2 - 139
#3 - 140
#4 - 141

I believe this Merc will be a strong runner for a long time to come. The oil injection is not the first gen unreliable model which makes me happy to not have to do the pre-mix.

Next up I'm going to pull the carbs, clean and re-gasket them, repair any line leaks, replace fuel and oil filters as well as rebuild the fuel pump.

 

[ab59]

looks good . had wrote a longer post for you but got interfered with and my post scrambled for some reason. go figure huh.

 

[bchaney]

Wow nice compression numbers. PO must not have used it much.

 

[DLNorth]

Watermann,

Do you know your twin?

Dan

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=780228769010779&set=pcb.293931577977283&type=3&theater

 

[Watermann]

The FB link isn't working for me.
[h=2]Sorry, this content isn't available right now[/h]

 

[DLNorth]

It's another '79 18' SS V5 in Wash, with a 115 TOP. Looks restored.
The site won't let me post an image.

 

[DLNorth]

And it has a wide red strip down it's length.

 

[Watermann]

It's another '79 18' SS V5 in Wash, with a 115 TOP. Looks restored.
The site won't let me post an image.

If in a closed group then it won't allow sharing outside. What group is it? Thought I was in every SC and Aluminum boat group known to man on FB. You can also save the pic locally and then share it here.

 

[DLNorth]

This is a Merc in-line 6 group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/207002623336846/

(I was pushing the wrong button.)

 

[Watermann]

This is a Merc in-line 6 group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/207002623336846/

(I was pushing the wrong button.)

I've been a member of that one since I got my IL6 :lol:

Guess I missed the pic

 

[DLNorth]

Yes, there are a lot of places to play on the web.

 

[Pusher]

You'll be lucky if you're out after walley in March. This winter just keeps dragging on. Yakima just got another 4-5.
nice find! You're inspiring me

 

[Watermann]

I finally pulled the SS out of the garage and hooked it up to the ear muffs to run the motor. The 140 fired right up and as I looked on from the helm I couldn't see the tell tale spewing water, so I revved it a bit and still nothing. The problem was the muffs had slid off the lowers intake ports and of course I'm sure the impeller got ruined. It has been 2 seasons on it so it was due to be replaced anyway. On to the 115 Merc and get it on there with it's new water pump. The 140 will go on the stand and be shrunk wrapped for storage.

I've been somewhat slacking on getting the 115 Merc ready as the lower was in the workmate vise for months since it's been too cold to do any painting even in the heated garage due to the 220v heater being blocked by the SS and the admiral kept her car inside over winter too.

Yesterday I was able to finish sanding and prepping the lower, got 2 coats of paint on and let it sit over night in the garage before moving it out this morning into the sun to help cure the paint.

I had cleaned the carbs and all the crud / sealer off the motor so it's been ready but the lower is another issue as I had to fill the huge holes in the AV plate and get it painted. The original paint was horrible, flat black and chalky with wear spots.

It was a ton of work to get the motor spiffed up but now it looks great compared to when I got it.

I need to decide whether or not I'm going to leave the CMC on the transom, sure would be much easier to swap motors.

 

[bchaney]

That motor looks great man, nice work. You gonna keep the tower of power too?

 

[Watermann]

That motor looks great man, nice work. You gonna keep the tower of power too?

Thanks, it's nice to have new looking old things :lol:

Yes the 140 TOP is going to stay in my possession, I thought about selling it but decided it's too good of a motor to let go of. I may need it if the newer Merc decides to tank on me.

 

[Watermann]

A reminder of the before I went to work cleaning up the 115 Merc, the entire mount was covered in grease and some nasty sealer stuff that was a serious pain to remove.