Another BFN Rebuild

TRBenj wrote: Dollars or hours? I guess it doesnt matter since we're not keeping track of either. Id be scared to know the real numbers!

I know what you mean! I have a stack of receipts from all the trips to Ace, Harbor Freight, Lowes, HD, Oreilly, Advanced, etc. One day I might add them all up, but right now it does not really matter and I don't want to know. As for the hours.. lets just say that it was a lot more than 200, but I did a lot more than just stringers. I could maybe do a second boat in 200.

How much invested so far? Awesome!

Tim,
What weight matt and cloth did you use and did you have to use more or less than with wood?

Also, how does the composite campare to wood weight wise?

Beautiful Tim,truly a labor of love. What I'd like to know is where are you getting the time to do all this

All I know it's time to quit goofing off and get it finished someone has to get close to Joe's beast at the east reunion's speed runs

ok I didn't notice the angle pieces and thought most had the half raised area like the 79 did. It'll stay dry as long as the seam between the top deck and hull doesn't leak or the bilge hose does spring a leak, If I recall your pretty tight and rigid where the air tubes are located under the scoop so that should stay good and seal up as well.

Tim regarding the air box, area under the helm, but from memory it looks like yours is straight up and down from what I recall, wasn't it sloped before? If so why the change? I'm just recalling I always used that area on mine as a foot rest more than anything else, and was wondering if maybe you added more vents/tubes forcing the change or it was moved back further thus not needed to be sloped any more.

Chris, can you see the pictures or not? Your first comment about the valvestems indicates that you cant, while the comment about the motorbox and pylon indicate that you can.

We did blue (sharpie) the valvestems, install the rockers (with preload) and roll the engine over by hand a bunch of times. The picture I posted shows where the roller tip travelled across the stem. I didnt break out the calipers, but you would need them to tell how far off center we are- it is very close. I think we're good here.

The narrow gap at the pylon was done on purpose. The original set up was actually so tight to the pullies that there was a notch out of the floor so the RWP would clear. There was zero clearance, which was a major PITA. We decided to move the pylon forward a bit, and bring the floor right up to the flange. Thats a 5" square base, so with the 2.5" diameter pylon and the 1/4" of floor we left just past the flange, we still have 1.5" of surface for the box to rest on. You can see the wear on the flange where the box sat previously- it was essentially right up against the pole. We have tons of clearance up top due to the straight pylon, so no issue there (we had a boom clamp and a SDBM installed last year, as seen in the first post of this thread).

Where we are actually anticipating issues is on the motorbox width- the EMI manifolds are quite a bit taller and wider than the previous cast irons... we may end up having to split and widen the box.

Ha, I guess nothing is impossible, but dont count on that happening Larry!

Thanks guys!

I know the finished product will be well worth the effort. It is nice not having to rush this project... but if you asked me last fall when I though we would be done, I guarantee that I wouldnt have told you August.

There's jet's flying over your head that don't have that kind of craftsmanship in the repairs. WELL DONE TIM !

Very very nice job Tim!!

Wow.

Thanks Chris!

Its been a full month since the last real update- which means Ive been slacking on pictures (again). Progress has been pretty slow- without any sort of deadline, I guess that can happen. The weather here has been exceptionally nice- easily the warmest July I can remember. We might have had one or 2 days of rain, but really not very many good "garage days". So, Ive been spending my time on the water, and chipping away at other projects that keep me closer to the lake. The good news is that my newest lift is finally in- so now theres a Correct Craft at my dock.



Lets see now, where was I... oh yes, the BFN.

Like I mentioned, the airbox is finished- all taped in and sanded. The battery box lid is in decent shape as well.



We test fit the cradle, then dropped the engine in for a mock-alignment to see if we were in the ballpark with our cradle construction. No pictures to show that step, but it came out really close to where we thought it should.



Once the cradle location was finalized, we cut the pylon hole in the floor, then trimmed the rear edge of the front floor section. Hopefully this will give us a bit more clearance between the pullies and floor... you couldnt sneak a finger past them, let alone an arm- which made for an interesting reach for the drain plug.



We also glassed down the pylon cup.



Here is the bottom side of the removable panel. It needs some final sanding and smoothing, then its ready for paint.



The top got 2 layers of cloth and one of mat. With just the 3/4" supports on each side, it had minimal deflection with one person standing on it... nice.



In the meantime, engine assembly has been ongoing. This picture is old (it is nearly all dressed at this point), but you get the idea.



Dad removed the inner valvesprings to lighten up the pressure during cam break in. I anticipated needing shorter pushrods with the new cam (which has a larger base circle), but the roller tips appeared to be centered on the valvestem... bonus.



The majority of my time recently has been spent sanding and fairing the bilge in preparation for paint. No up to date pics, but theres not much to see anyways. I think one more coat of resin and a quick scuff should have it in decent shape. Here are a couple quick shots after the major grinding and sanding prior to fairing.







During the mock alignment, we ended up using 2 thin SS washers under the rear to get the shaft centered in the log. That would explain why the shaft was riding on the bottom of the log for who knows how long. Also as it turns out, the rear end of the strut was out of round, causing the shaft to bind with the bushings installed, so its currently sitting in the freezer so we can pull one of the new XPC bushings back out and fix the strut.

Getting closer!

You're reading the wrong side of that ruler eric...that's 8 cm