1980 Ski Nautique Total Restoration

Dub Deuces with spinners?? Curb Feelers??

Everything is looking Great, very nice work!!

Not sure who you're using for skins, but if you're planning to go original (Christine's did the diamond pleating on my '80 after I asked real nice) then you may want to order sooner than later- there's usually a few month backlog.

Turning the corner here and moving to the engine work. I was planning only on replacing the exterior seals and gaskets, and the timing chain and gears, but it looks like i have opened the proverbial can of worms.

I started by draining the oil for 24 hours. When I removed the oil pan there was around 1" of slude in the sump. I removed the oil pickup and pump, then moved to the timing chain cover. Here is a picture of the chain and gears and they are in the shape I expected. I am surprised the chain did not jump off the gears. This engine has 1,200 hours and was running fine.



When I removed the carborator I saw rust inside of the manifold. The boat has been stored inside so I assume the rust was caused by condensation perhaps. I decided to remove the intake to get a better look and happy to see the rust was contained in the intake, the deck, pushrods, lifter, rockers look good. The pistons and bores look good from below, but I haven't removed the heads yet for a better inspection.



I guess I need to go ahead and pull the heads and send everything to the local shop to get inspected, or do you motor heads suggest I totally disassemble it before taking it in for inspection. Do you have a suggestion on a particular Summit rebuild kit?

I did my final cleaning yesterday and dropped everything off at the machine shop early this morning. There wasn't anything nice about removing the rubberized coating on the oil pan. After taking a quick look they advised boring 30 over and a new cam as well. I suspected the new cam requirement but was a little surprised in the boring.

Here are a few questions for the GP motor heads.
Is the Melling 24209 the correct cam for the 351w RR engine? Summit Cam

Is this the correct lifter? Summit Lifter

And finally, I assume I will not be able to determine the correct pushrod length until reassembly?

Arklie,
Very nice build very informative and detailed. Boat is looking good and getting close to being ready for the water. I hope to see you this year on Watauga lake , it's our primary lake.I live close and would be glad to assist or be a go-fer if you need an apprentice. I have picked up several things just from reading this build. I think I will need to do some extra polishing to be the best looking 2001 on the lake this year. I have the name of a local upholster if you need one.(Nice signature)

That's a nice ride, Doug! I always liked that color combo. You can usually find me at Fish Springs Marina, where we keep our boats, or in the Cove Ridge area, where we hang out while out on the water.

My family have always been Watauga lake rats; pretty much grew up on Watauga including working on the lake for almost 10 years. I think that Watauga is going to suffer from more pressure this coming summer because of the issue over at Boone Lake. Unofficially I have heard that Boone will remain at a lower level this year which will result in more folks coming over to Watauga. If that happens I will concentrate on more week-nights and sunrise Saturdays for footin' and skiing on Watauga.

We have a trip to Watauga penciled in around the end of June to visit family down there. They have a house on the water by Lakeshore Marina. Beautiful lake and area there, looking forward to it.

Arklie,
Hope to see you this year we usually put in at Rat Branch and hang out in the cove near Cove ridge or the cove by Butler campground. I have heard from a good source that Boone will be down this entire year and possibly 2016. TVA is not sure how to fix the sinkhole at area near the dam and still determining best way to fix it. It will definitely be more crowded on Watauga this year.

One thing about having friends help you on engine machine work is the time it takes for their "help" to actually materialize! I have been promised that I can pick up my block this Thursday, hopefully that is true.

In the meantime I have finished cleaning up my seat brackets after the acid-wash. and preparing the seats for the new upholstery. I pretty much have them ready, all new stainless hardware, cleaning and repainting the slides on the drivers seat, etc.

I also reinstalled the boarding platform. I cleaned it with Starbright and so far have applied 6 coats of Golden Teak oil, top and bottom. I think I may need to apply a few more before it is ready for the lake. I cleaned up the stainless brackets, used new stainless hardware, and used 4200 on the penetrations when I installed it. Me installing it by myself was quite comical.

I have not checked on you in a while. You are making nice progress. The flowers will be blooming soon tho. Keep up the good work.

Clark

Great progress can't wait to meet you, see ya in spring.

My double roller did that too. I ended up putting a stocker since it isn't hi-po.

I ran into this same problem 30+ years ago on my Sunbeam Tiger's 260 (SBF). I just made a shim to get the sprockets to line up.     Funny that the problem still exists after all this time!

Great find on that airguide

Progress Progress! I like the black airguide beside the electronic speedo. Speaking of which, could you use any extra electronic speedo parts? We have on on a parts boat I could probably get to you cheaply.

Correlation with the double roller not working? Maybe we were trying to use parts for an 83 and older engine?