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95' Nautique Project ... expanded

Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Engine Repair
Forum Discription: Engine problems and solutions
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=42482
Printed Date: April-20-2024 at 5:14am


Topic: 95' Nautique Project ... expanded
Posted By: gt40KS
Subject: 95' Nautique Project ... expanded
Date Posted: March-09-2018 at 11:37pm


Friday, March 9, 2018
7:34 PM

So as it turns out, I'm not going to be doing a head swap on the ol' girl after all.   Let's clarify: I won't ONLY be doing a head swap.   The story as follows:

Started disassembly of the exhaust manifolds, then the plenum & throttle body and noticed first that the valve covers didn't match. One appeared to be from a GT40, the other however IDK, but not from the same platform for sure. Continuing with the electronics removal and fuel rails I quickly realized this was going to be a bit more involved than I had anticipated because the under side of everything was oily, dirty and gritty - I'm more of a pristinely clean engine sort of guy so all that would have to be cleaned thoroughly. Next was the dozen or so wires that had been haphazardly spliced and left long, with mismatched colors no less.   So some wiring now too.   The real eye opener came after I removed the intake and got the first head off: reddish, chunky, flaking junk restricting at least half of the flow on all the water passages and one was completely blocked. I quickly flipped the exhaust manifolds over and yes, those too. Pulled the other head and same story except 2 of the passages were completely blocked. The more I dug into the engine, the more depressing it became. I'm reminded of a line in the movie Armageddon - " It's a *** #### Greek Tragedy !"

Hmmm…. What to do.   So after a few days of mulling over the options, I've come to the decision that my winter project just got a whole lot bigger.   Now it includes a full engine rebuild, starting with an all new block - this one isn't worth salvaging. I had planned on eventually going through the entire boat, just not all at once and not this soon. But recent events, and now this seem to have forced my hand. Not really a restoration as such because first, I'm not going to go to extremes like new gel coat and all new, original vinyl. Also because I'm not going 100% original - sorry Pete, Tim.   But I have made a list of what I believe are the key points that have to be addressed while I'm rebuilding the engine.   Here's the list, perhaps not in exact order:

     • Remove engine, transmission and all accessories
     • Clean and repaint bilge - This needed to be done eventually perhaps, but after the recent work performed at that "top notch" MC dealership, I was left with a disgusting mess (pictures later)
     • Remove carpet from flooring areas - yet another casualty of the recent "dealership repairs" - and install new carpet on floor area
     • Sand blast and powder coat all accessories and bolt-on engine parts
     • Re-wire and refurbish the electrical and ECM
     • Replace all motor mounts - Hours spend with a mini sledge and what seemed like a gallon of PB while clamped in a bench vise failed to break the originals free from their rusty, frozen state.
     • Remove poorly installed Cutlass and reinstall correctly
     • Install newly built engine, install and align engine & prop shaft
     • Install new exhaust hose with Y pipe, eliminating that gigantic, ugly muffler
     • Bolt on all front accessories and starter, including new alternator
Somewhere in there I'd like to replace the rub rail as well, just don't know exactly where that one will work in.

First start-up should be sometime in June, if I'm lucky. And if I don't get swamped with business.
So, wish me luck!   I'll be updating this post from time to time with pictures of progress and more than likely with questions for the CC public to help with, so thanks in advance!   

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40



Replies:
Posted By: bwinn
Date Posted: March-10-2018 at 1:06am
Go get em tiger! I'm tuned in, still cold and snowy up here! Have you thought about your oil and filter choices?


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-10-2018 at 1:28am
PCM or Motorcraft filter most likely, unless someone chimes in with a reason to do otherwise. Oil, well I've read several thoughts on oil for your average seasoned engine. However, there are going to be break-in concerns with the new engine. Several articles, and some manufacturers I've read indicate that for the first 100 hours at a minimum I should be using either a high zinc content oil or a zinc additive to aid in proper break-in of the cam, lifters and the like.   Supposedly Rotella T4 is one of the only commercially available conventional oils that has a high enough zinc content. One way or another, I'll likely have at least another 2 months before I have to nail that one down. I figure at that time I'll have a whole lot of input from the site to draw from

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: sport1999
Date Posted: March-10-2018 at 8:53am
Guess I missed it, but what engine problems were you having? All your other work has been top notch. Post some pictures on the engine. Any indication. On why the spliced wires?


Posted By: SNobsessed
Date Posted: March-10-2018 at 10:04am
You might want to consider a roller cam design, so you can skip the whole zddp issue.

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“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

Ben Franklin


Posted By: Smithfamily
Date Posted: March-10-2018 at 10:34am
Pictures. Good luck. Block cant be saved?

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Js


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-10-2018 at 10:52pm
Originally posted by sport1999 sport1999 wrote:

Guess I missed it, but what engine problems were you having? All your other work has been top notch. Post some pictures on the engine. Any indication. On why the spliced wires?


Didn't really have engine problems, as such - well, at least I didn't think I did. After the accident last fall and the MC dealership debacle I decided to pull the engine and go ahead with swapping out all the motor mounts that were rusted solid. That would make it much easier to do all the rework on the cutlass and prop shaft and give me a chance to clean up the bilge and give it a fresh coat of paint. I had been planning to swap out the heads and do some exhaust work anyway - though not this year. So while I had the engine out, why not go ahead with the swap to the GT40p heads.   I suppose that's where the story picks up on this thread. If you missed the whole discussion about the accident and subsequent dealings with that unnamed dealership repair shop, you can read up on it and see some of their handy work for yourself.

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-10-2018 at 11:04pm
Originally posted by Smithfamily Smithfamily wrote:

Pictures. Good luck. Block cant be saved?


Well Mr. Smith .... In a word, no.   After pulling chunks and crusty debris from my old heads and then looking into the water passages in the block to find not only huge, thick flakes of rusty cylinder wall debris floating around, I decided I wasn't going to even chance putting it back together the way it was, let alone trying to pump up the power a bit. Certainly wouldn't have thought it had problems based on an external visual.

Anyway, I've been trying to upload some images for a couple days now and the site keeps telling me the 'disc' is full and won't let me proceed. So if anyone knows anything about that and can help, we can all see some photos.



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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 12:21am
Engine & interior is nearly out. Just pulled the fuel tank so carpet is next. Got down that far though and had even more surprises left me by the shop.





What a mess. And it's a good thing I didn't go out even once. That large punch could have made quite a mess really fast.

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 12:41am
So now that the photo upload utility seems to be working, I'll catch you folks up.
First, what I found when I pulled the first head:









And I hope that explains why I didn't want to even try to salvage the block. Nearly all of the water passages had at least a few large chunks of the cylinder walls floating around and there were 3 overall that were 100% blocked with that rusty sludge. Heads were just as bad, though I was going to swap them out anyway.

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 12:56am
Starting the tear-down:







And then the removal:









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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: JoeinNY
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 10:40am
I would suspect your engine looks pretty much like every other raw water cooled engine in service out there with 25 years on it. Most make it another 25 without too much trouble - I might not put it back in a boat that I was putting a lot of time and money into - but I wouldn't scrap it either. I would probably pull the plugs clean it out a bit and pickle it for a backup.

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http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1477 - 1983 Ski Nautique 2001
1967 Mustang 302 "Decoy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO5MkcBXBBs - Holeshot Video


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 11:23am
Joe (in Kansas)

Take a look at these 2 pictures, One is a real GT-40 head with casting number F3ZE-AA and the other (yours) is an imposter.

Compare the combustion chambers, especially around the intake valves

I had to clean my glasses, blow up the image to 500% and find the magnifying glass to read your casting number but it looks like E5AE-CA

It looks to me like you got some kind of mongrel engine there, like maybe a standard 240 HP 351 which commonly had those heads and somebody put the GT-40 injection on it.

At least we know the GT-40 ECM worked OK with a lower powered engine







Posted By: MourningWood
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 1:48pm
You've said you don't want to re-use the block, but your machine shop can "cook" it (which basically turns the scale and crud in the water passages) into dust. Then clean it out and either pressure test, sonic or both.
It may not be a doorstop.

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1994 Ski Nautique "Riot"
1964 Dunphy X-55 "One 'N Dun"

'I measured twice, cut three times, and it's still too short!"


Posted By: shierh
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 1:49pm
I would use the engine you have. nothing wrong with it.


Posted By: MrMcD
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 7:56pm
I agree with the block looks really good. The heads look to have been working well also.
Regardless what heads you decide to run when you build this engine that block is a valuable block unless you find it has been freeze damaged or some other major issue.
Did it use oil or smoke on acceleration?
You have it out so this is a great time to rebuild and upgrade if you wish but your block is a good core to build on not junk.
Look close at your piston heads, look for markings like 30 or .030, 40 or .040 on the piston head.   It may have been rebuilt once already. These markings would indicate what it was bored to.

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Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 11:04pm
Originally posted by KENO KENO wrote:

Joe (in Kansas)

Take a look at these 2 pictures, One is a real GT-40 head with casting number F3ZE-AA and the other (yours) is an imposter........
It looks to me like you got some kind of mongrel engine there, like maybe a standard 240 HP 351 which commonly had those heads and somebody put the GT-40 injection on it.

At least we know the GT-40 ECM worked OK with a lower powered engine


Yep, and yet another slap in the gut. Found that out when pulling the heads as well, though I hadn't mentioned it since I was planning to replace first the heads, then as it turned out, the entire thing.

Sounds like the general consensus is the block is good. Did I mention when we looked further down the water passages the cylinder wall tapered out, toward the piston? Couldn't get a mic down there at that point but it looked as if there was 1/8" or less of cylinder wall left in most places. I just don't feel good about using it for an increased HP option.
Besides, just swapping to GTp heads just isn't enough for me..... come on guys, you should know me better than that by now   
Think of me as the "Tim Taylor" of the boating world - boats instead of old hot rods    ( grunt grunt grunt ... MORE POWER !! )
Heck, my last boat was a 27' open bow runabout - small head compartment and all - and a 496HO wasn't enough. So I supercharged it & swapped the outdrive to a Bravo1 XR. 630HP and over 70mph. Not bad for a 6700 pound family boat

But in reality, I'm not going to go all out like that on the Nautique. I do however think that the boat was originally a 310hp boat, so if someone was dumb enough to toss in a std. 240 block, the least I'm going to do is bring it back up.
OK ... maybe just a bit more.     

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-13-2018 at 11:27pm
Originally posted by MrMcD MrMcD wrote:

... Did it use oil or smoke on acceleration?
You have it out so this is a great time to rebuild and upgrade if you wish but your block is a good core to build on not junk.
Look close at your piston heads, look for markings like 30 or .030, 40 or .040 on the piston head.   It may have been rebuilt once already. These markings would indicate what it was bored to.


No smoke and really tight. The PO said it had been rebuilt and only had 4 or 5 hours on it. Don't know about the 'rebuilt' part since so many of the externals were literally (rust) frozen in place, including the harmonic balancer and pulleys, and the front cover had 2 bolts that had rusted badly and someone had rounded them over trying to get them off. Thinking back, they guy had said the engine had a "refresh", which I took at the time to mean a rebuild. Could be they just honed the cylinders and put oversize rings. IDK, but the crank won't even spin by hand using the balancer, and it's very difficult with a 1/2" breakover.

Honestly, it probably is a usable engine for someone as is. I just really don't want to mess with it and definitely don't want to pump up the HP on it. But truthfully, I really HATE dirt and grime and rust and such in, on or around and engine. And especially a boat engine. So one way or another, this was going to be a lot more of a job, eventually anyway, than just swapping heads because this thing was absolutely filthy!

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: MrMcD
Date Posted: March-14-2018 at 5:07am
Sounds like a cadidate for a new 408 Windsor for you. 351w will be too small!

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Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-15-2018 at 1:22am
Now for a few before and after:







Pulled the driver's seat and batteries, then all the carpet and drove it to the car wash for a serious cleaning. Didn't think I'd ever get the dirt, grease and general grime in the bilge out of there
Next, going to use bilge cleaner and a brush to get it the rest of the way, then a couple good coats of bilge paint. New carpet is ordered (Christine's) and I should have it by early next week so that'll be at least one project for the following weekend.



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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-17-2018 at 4:40am
The last few days I've been pulling the rest of the interior, removing the carpet from the sides and painting the bilge. Also been working to refurbish some of the engine bolt ons.





.

Also did the water pump but I guess I didn't download that pic. Tonight I started on the transmission case. I'd like to go through it's internals as well, but unfortunately that'll have to wait

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-17-2018 at 8:20pm
A few more pictures of the progress. Engine cradle stripped, primed and painted and transmission stripped and primed - Finish coats of transmission tomorrow. Last, the aforementioned water pump that I did one day last week.











Carpet for the floor arrived today, the material for the sides should be here Monday. I knew this was going to be a big job and take a while, then I started counting all the separate panel pieces. Wow, I think it's going to take a lot longer to do all the extra pieces than it will to install the sides and floor!

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-19-2018 at 8:01pm
Since it doesn't appear the weather is going to cooperate with my carpet installation, I've fallen back to more paint/ rust stripping and painting. Put the final coat of paint on the transmission and started on the throttle body/ electrical assembly. They are forecasting 80 degree weather by Friday, so hopefully I can get it done by Monday.







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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: M3Fan
Date Posted: March-19-2018 at 8:16pm
Awesome. Love the silver grab rail.

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2000 SN GT40 w/99 Graphics/Gel
2016 SN 200 OB 5.3L DI
https://forum.fifteenoff.com






Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: March-19-2018 at 8:25pm
Hi Joe

While your mounting cradle is out, do you think you could measure the centerline distances between the mounting holes in the front and the rear.?

A different thread has a question of whether the 1.23 to 1 and 1 to 1 B/W holes are spaced the same and this would help with info since the B/W info is available in manuals.

So the measurements would be

distance between front holes

distance between the rear holes

and distance between the front hole for the front mount and the rear hole for the rear mount

Thanks


Originally posted by gt40KS gt40KS wrote:





Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-19-2018 at 8:39pm
Front center to center is 4" exact
Rear center to center is 3 1/4"
Overall center to center is 23" exact

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-19-2018 at 8:49pm
Originally posted by M3Fan M3Fan wrote:

Awesome. Love the silver grab rail.


Yeah, I like it much better now as well.   It had black paint (sort of, what was left of the paint anyway) and what appeared to be rust forming in various places so I figured it was merely chrome plated steel that had been painted or at least an inferior grade of stainless. Ugly, and I never liked it anyway - don't care for painted trim on a boat - but could never get to the mounting bolts to take it off.
Since I had the fuel tank out of the boat to replace the carpet I could actually get to those bolts and decided to do something about it. Took it to the bench grinder with a stainless wire wheel and was amazed when the paint and rusty looking stuff came right off with no trace of actual rust. Don't know what it really was, but it wasn't from the grab bar which apparently is high quality 316 - Beautiful

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: March-19-2018 at 8:57pm
Originally posted by gt40KS gt40KS wrote:

Front center to center is 4" exact
Rear center to center is 3 1/4"
Overall center to center is 23" exact


Thanks

We'll just call you FAST Joe from now on


Posted By: Fabcon
Date Posted: March-20-2018 at 11:45pm
looking good

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1976 Ski Nautique 351 Escort
1984 Barefoot Nautique (Parting Out)


Posted By: MrMcD
Date Posted: March-21-2018 at 4:51am
it is coming along well, nice work.
A tip on your engine water pump. If you plan to reuse a water pump always keep them in a bucket of water, antifreeze is better as it won't allow rust to form..
The seals can dry out when parked dry. Can't tell you how many times I have heard the story, I got it all back together and the water pump went out a month later.
I worked for Carter back when they had a Water Pump line, before that business all went to China.

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Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-23-2018 at 4:26pm
Finally got the carpet installed and reinstalled the engine cradle.   Now for the grueling task of recovering all of the kick plates, covers, etc.









I took my exhaust manifolds and a few other things to a place to get them sandblasted and powder coated. Should be ready today, though I won't have the engine for several more weeks. Well, progress is progress.....

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: March-23-2018 at 4:30pm
Did you install the engine cradle over the carpet?


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-23-2018 at 6:09pm
Well Tim, that's the way it came out and by the looks of the carpet it was the original, factory installation. Perhaps they didn't do it that way? IDK ... I wrestled over that decision for a while and even did a search on the forum, but as lacking as it seems I am with this forum when it comes to its search engine, I may have missed something.   Regardless, I wasn't really liking the idea of just having the carpet cut to the edge of the cradle as I figured it could easily start peeling up and fraying over time. I've seen that before with a couple of friends that had fairly new carpet and only a few years in it didn't look so good.

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: sport1999
Date Posted: March-23-2018 at 6:23pm
Just to double check. It's better to use google as a search engine. Type this as follows in google.

What you want to search site:correctcraftfan.com


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: March-23-2018 at 7:44pm
There are a lot of ways to search.

If you want to find something and you know who posted it you can type for example

correctcraftfan 8122pbrainard tube and read all about Pete's love for tubes but you still have to weed through a bunch of posts where he might have talked about fuel line tubing, muffler tubes dipstick tubes etc.

Or you can leave out the name

Just a few less words than what sport1999 used above.

So, Joe did you just buy a 50 dollar timing cover on Ebay. I was gonna post a link for you yesterday and it was just sold. There's still a 289 dollar new one from Michigan Motorz if you just gotta have one or you could check with Jody at Florida Inboards. He seems to have some every year when he's cleaning out and he doesn't charge much for them.


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-23-2018 at 9:16pm
Wait .... Pete loves tubes?   
Didn't see that one coming. Figured a pillar of the CC site would be a die-hard slalom guy

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: MrMcD
Date Posted: March-24-2018 at 4:56pm
Your interior is looking fantastic. The boat will be better than new when completed.
Mark

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Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-24-2018 at 9:23pm
Yes, it's coming along - sides and floor the last couple of days and the 10 loose pieces over the next few. I have to make new panels for the drivers kick panel and it's accompanying side panel due to rot at the bottom. While I'm at it I thought I'd make a new panel for around the controls since the original was too decayed to reuse after I installed the new control.

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: KRoundy
Date Posted: March-25-2018 at 10:19pm
You are doing a great job. Curious - was the engine cradle painted in your boat before you removed it? Mine was just raw aluminum color (1993). Everything you are doing is looking VERY familiar. While the boat is apart - I'd highly recommend purchasing and installing a new throttle cable, transmission cable and steering cable. There is no time in the future where it will be as easy to install those items as it is right now.

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Previous: 1993 Electric Blue/Charcoal Ski Nautique
Current: 2016 Ski Nautique 200 Open Bow


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-26-2018 at 12:01am
No, It was raw aluminum like yours. Looked terrible - corroded and pitted in spots. No way to make it look polished and new so I wire brushed the entire thing and coated it with Rustoleum rust reformer primer (great stuff btw) then several coats of engine enamel.

In regards to the cables, those are perhaps one of only a few things on the boat, save the interior, that any of the PO's had replaced with new. I'd say none of them are more than a couple years old so at least there's a few items I don't have to replace/ rebuild/ renew !       

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-27-2018 at 12:30am
Just occurred to me Saturday I'd better get all the wiring for the amp and tower speakers done now, before the engine and interior get in my way.



Since I had to make new panels for the driver kick panel and side anyway I extended the side out to accommodate the long amp and extended both upward to move the bolt-ons higher to help avoid future damage.





Went ahead with the installation of the #2 battery - with the switch it can be isolated so it shouldn't interfere with the engine electronics installation. That way I could check out the new amp, make sure all is well. And all is well - sounds great with my 1 installed speaker! Can't wait to get the rest in ... but that'll have to wait till after the engine is in and running   

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-27-2018 at 12:38am
YAY, I"M   DONE !!!     All ready for boating season!    




Wait,   I think I may be missing something ....   maybe a few somethings     



5 weeks and counting .....

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: Wisky Badger
Date Posted: March-27-2018 at 2:30am
It looks great. Where did you order your carpet from and what Oz. is it?


Posted By: MrMcD
Date Posted: March-27-2018 at 4:41am
Very nice progress so far.   Looking at the Stereo set up you must be planning on rocking the entire lake. Might need a portable generator to help keep the batteries up!
Just joking but this may be a good time to look at a higher amp alternator to handle your new amp draw.
We had a GMC Denali with the Bose system and I don't think it was that big compared to many aftermarket systems but if you played the stereo loud while washing the car it would drain the battery.   Gave you about a one hour play time on the single 850 amp battery.   I added a second battery in it later. I think it had a factory 130 amp alternator.

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Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-27-2018 at 1:13pm
Originally posted by Wisky Badger Wisky Badger wrote:

It looks great. Where did you order your carpet from and what Oz. is it?


Thanks ! I ordered carpet from Christine's. They have two oz options: 14 and 30(ish). I ordered the 14 because I was going to be cleaning up and reusing the carpet molding which on my era SN will only accept up to 16oz. And really, though it sounds good to have thick plushy carpet, in practical use it isn't a good idea because it stays damp much, much longer. My last boat had fairly thick carpet like that and it took forever to dry out. Didn't hurt anything really, but it was snap-out installed on a full fiberglass self bailing inner liner and it had rubber backing. But on a glue-down that's not very advisable even with my fiberglass floor - the excess moisture can breed mold and mildew in the right conditions

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: MechGaT
Date Posted: March-27-2018 at 5:04pm
Looks good. Keep it up.

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'92 Sport Nautique


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-27-2018 at 7:40pm
Originally posted by MrMcD MrMcD wrote:

... this may be a good time to look at a higher amp alternator to handle your new amp draw


Yeah, I was seriously considering swapping to a higher amp alt now. If it weren't for already having a NIB Arco replacement that I bought last fall before I knew this whole process was going to take place as soon as it has.

Having said that, my last boat was quite a bit larger and had 8 component speakers and 2 large subs with over 2000 watts.   And 2 separate amps. I ran that system off of virtually the same set-up as I have now with the exception of the alternator, which was just the stock 8.1 Merc version, I think at 70 amps vs the 55 amp Arco I have. I never saw a fluctuation with that system because the real key is the batteries, not the alternator.

Amps, especially when powering high demand speakers like subs, require a very fast response from the power source. Alternators weren't designed to provide this. They get this power directly from the battery and if it isn't built to deliver this when called on you get drain from the rest of the system and a heavy load demand from the alternator (if the engine is running) which causes the lights, etc. to dim or pulse.

Most cranking batteries won't keep up with this either, and in fact if you try it can severely reduce the life expectancy of that battery. Cranking batteries were designed to be able to supply large amounts of power very quickly, yes - but only for a very short period of time. When you push them into continual high demand service, such as with a high demand audio system, they will fail very rapidly and you'll get the same pulsing and a very short usable charge. If/ when the charge drops below 10V you're damaging the battery and reducing it's life expectancy. Do that a dozen times over the course of a summer, even with a brand new battery, and it's likely going to be toast.

Deep cycle and dual purpose batteries for the most part will do the job and there are those that are purpose built for the task. And unlike cranking batteries, they can be nearly 100% discharged time after time and never reduce their life. They can also handle the riggers of high demand for long periods of time. Purpose built deep cycles can also provide the same, or near same performance right up to the very end of their charge, unlike typical batteries who's performance would slowly decline as the charge declines.

Just a bit of research from the old boat. It's actually come in very handy many times now.

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: KRoundy
Date Posted: March-27-2018 at 8:10pm
Good work. New carpet sure makes a huge difference. How does things on the engine front while you are fiddling with wiring and such?

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Previous: 1993 Electric Blue/Charcoal Ski Nautique
Current: 2016 Ski Nautique 200 Open Bow


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-27-2018 at 9:30pm
Machine shop was back-logged 6 weeks or so at the time so it's just a waiting game now till then. I've got 85-90% of everything else done already so there's several weeks left to slowly get that to 100%. Engine bolt-ons are already back from the powdercoaters shop and half of the small brackets and such that I'm just cleaning up and painting are already done as well. I still need to apply the carpet on the kick and side areas of the observer seat and get the small interior piece around the controls to the upholstery shop. My office looks crazy ... new pieces and parts laying around everywhere and in the middle of it all is the engine cover    

-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: MrMcD
Date Posted: March-28-2018 at 3:39am
That is going to be one really fine 1995.
What did you decide to do with the 351W?

-------------


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-28-2018 at 11:03am
After much consideration and some input from a couple of mechanic buddies and my machine shop the block is indeed far beyond a salvageable state. However, the internals seem to be in very good shape. They all agree it's strange because a lot of the key components don't appear to have any wear at all - almost like they were brand new.   
So I figure I'll just part out the internals and various other extra parts when I'm done. But the block? Definitely an anchor.

-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: Jonny Quest
Date Posted: March-28-2018 at 8:29pm
Turn the junk block into a mailbox stand...

-------------
Current
2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited

Previous
2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow
1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow

Aqua skiing, ergo sum


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: March-28-2018 at 11:24pm


-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-03-2018 at 9:51pm
Well colder weather, work and the like has kept me from doing a whole lot lately, but considering I've got another 5 or 6 weeks before I get my long block from the machine shop I figure it's not going to hold the project up any.

In the mean time I continued to strip and repaint the remaining mounting brackets and the transmission oil cooler and also finally got around to making a new base for the trim around the new controls (shifter). Then took it to a local upholstery shop where they came very close to matching the black carbon fiber look vinyl that was used in the rest of the boat before I bought it. Not a 100% perfect match, but very close. Wish there could have been more padding in there but if I'd have had them make it as thick as the combing pad wouldn't have been able to shift





Also took the time to clean up the throttle body and related items and give the applicable parts a few coats of paint, then went ahead with the assembly to the plenum.



-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: Jonny Quest
Date Posted: April-07-2018 at 7:34pm
Love the RED.

KENO gives me a hard time about the red parts: distributor cap, valve covers, shirt, sunburn, bank account etc.

JQ

-------------
Current
2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited

Previous
2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow
1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow

Aqua skiing, ergo sum


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: April-07-2018 at 8:14pm
Originally posted by Jonny Quest Jonny Quest wrote:

Love the RED.

KENO gives me a hard time about the red parts: distributor cap, valve covers, shirt, sunburn, bank account etc.

JQ




I've been kinda slackin' it a bit though

I didn't say anything about the red NO on the good knee

[/QUOTE]   


Posted By: Jonny Quest
Date Posted: April-08-2018 at 1:30am
It's still "Team Red"

The knee is improving rapidly; Arthroscopic surgery is a modern medical miracle. My dad had the same injury in 1978. He ended up with a wicked 6 inch scar and a very looooong recovery period.

Kudos to Dr. Michael Holmstrom at Intermountain Health Care.

JQ

-------------
Current
2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited

Previous
2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow
1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow

Aqua skiing, ergo sum


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-08-2018 at 2:51am
Originally posted by Jonny Quest Jonny Quest wrote:

Love the RED.

KENO gives me a hard time about the red parts: distributor cap, valve covers, shirt, sunburn, bank account etc.

JQ


   Thanks, I love the red too, though I may end up with a bit more than planned. The powder coat shop got a bit confused and did the exhaust manifolds and risers in the red as well instead of black. They offered to redo them and I told them I'd see how it looked with the the rest bolted on first and let them know. But the more I look at them I'm kinda liking it. ... But we'll see what I think in 5 more weeks when I get the engine on the stand

-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-08-2018 at 3:02am
Also just noticed that the new pad around the shifter looks like it's a couple shades off of black in the pic I posted - must be the angle or the light. In person and from different angles it's almost a perfect match.




And, the original intake as well as the plenum were powder coated red, which again I love.
But then I found this and the ol' teen hot rodder in me came out and I just had to snatch it up.




Not sure how that's all going to blend with the color scheme, but there's no denying the 40 or 50 pounds of weight difference



-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 12:08am
It's been a couple weeks since the last update so I thought I'd let everyone know what I've been up to. In truth, I've been slacking a bit and haven't done much. I wasn't completely lax though - I was able to motivate myself to clean & recondition the distributor, transmission oil cooler, HP & LP fuel pumps, fuel lines, fittings and brackets and give everything a few good coats of paint. I'd share some pics of the process but honestly I find them a little mundane in comparison to much of the rest of the process.

Then this weekend I forced myself to tackle the wiring 'rats nest' that was the ECM, breakers & harness. I had at one time taken a picture of the mess that I was going to have to eventually deal with but had never downloaded it to the computer. Naturally a couple weeks ago my phone crashed, along with all my contacts & photos before I had a chance to back everything up. So no 'before' photos but trust me, it was a disaster.   I finally finished things up tonight and feel such a load off my shoulders I feel like I have to share the finished product.











-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: Jonny Quest
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 1:02am
Nice work on the wiring. Love it.

-------------
Current
2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited

Previous
2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow
1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow

Aqua skiing, ergo sum


Posted By: MrMcD
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 3:58am
It's looking great. Nice work.

-------------


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 9:08am
Hi Joe

Not knowing just what you did on the harness, here's a question for you.

Did you happen to find the diode in the purple wire between the EEC relay and your 8 pin connector?

It came up in this thread from DW SD last year and he never found it. He quit looking after he found his problem at the connector.

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=42231&title=diagnosing-no-start-gt40" rel="nofollow - this thread


It might be good for you or others with a GT 40 at some point to know where it is

You can find the drawing in the GT40 service manual in the reference section.

It's section 3F-11 and 12. on page 220 of 301

I don't know if you untaped and retaped stuff, replaced wiring etc but this seems like the ideal time to find it, instead of when everything is installed and sometime in the future you're having a problem and are looking for it.


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 4:16pm
Good question Ken - didn't know there was such a monster. I had done very little untaping because much of the main stem was still in its original braided loom. What little I encountered didn't include that section of harness. I'll have to give it another look to see if I can track it down. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if it were missing .... if the boat would even run, that is.

Most of my issues were from the excessive amount of bare (exposed) wires where the PO had bypassed various areas with his own wire - a TON of which were really too short and had to be stretched, so to speak, to reach their destination and a few that had been spliced in with a mile too much wire and simply raveled up and stuffed in a corner. As such there was a fair amount of splicing to lengthen many of those and of course others that were cut down to the appropriate length. Then as you can see I covered all the exposed wires that I could with poly braid and finished with the glued shrink tubes. Naturally I installed all new breakers, relays and hardware after cleaning and painting the ECM bracket.   Sooo much cleaner looking than the jumbled maze that I inherited.

I did end up finding a couple of cropped pics of the old mess, not that you can really see enough to do it justice.







-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 4:42pm
Joe can you post a couple of pictures of the injector harness,especially the plug where it plugs into the main harness. Do you think it is a proprietary plug? I know you can get the injector side plugs .That harness is 150 thru PCM if it even is available,if I can get thet plug I'll just make my own.

-------------
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS
95 Nautique Super Sport


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 5:18pm
No problem Gary



Injector side @ main



ECM side @ main


Let me know if you need some of the injector plugs



-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 5:27pm
And thanks for the question Gary ... because while I had it back on the bench I noticed something I hadn't seen before - a couple of wires that appear to be cut broken from fatigue.   I'm not sure what this thing is and would appreciate a little input here. I'm guessing this is a necessary item but not sure if the cut wires were intentionally cut??





I've reviewed a few wiring diagrams and can't seem to track this thing down.

Thanks

-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 9:42pm
I guess I need to repost now that I've finally located a diagram that shows that mysterious part - the knock sensor control module.   So my question now I suppose is if those two wires are critical to it's function or were they snipped by a tech as part of an update or "fix".   They look as though they've been cut for a while with all the corrosion and dirt, so I'm pretty sure it was like that when I bought the boat, ran her many times and although there were some hick-ups, I didn't feel there was a strong fault anywhere.

Ideas? Thoughts? Comical anecdotes?

-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: April-24-2018 at 10:07pm
I figure that if your engine starts to knock, the computer won't retard the timing.

The engine would run fine with it disconnected like it was, it just wouldn't have the knock detection protection.

Then again I could be totally out to lunch

And my guess is corrosion is what broke those wires.



Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 8:58am
One of those little voices in my head says that maybe the timing will get retarded 8 degrees by the computer as if it was knocking.

I don't suppose you know what your base timing was set at last year.

It seems that the boat ran 44 or so mph so wherever the timing was set, it ran OK

Yet another voice says that "Joe won't leave this disconnected" he's been plenty anal so far and it won't change now


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 3:13pm
Yeah, it's already in the process. I'm eliminating the connector and wiring it direct. A bit confusing though since only one of the wires is the same color and of course I didn't realize it till I had the connectors cut off. But the retarded timing might explain at least in part why the boat always seemed a bit sluggish to me considering how light it is. Can't say for the fuel economy since I don't have a baseline, but I do recall the plugs were just a bit dark and the exhaust manifolds/ hoses were a bit warmer than I thought they should be. Couldn't have been too far of though because it didn't have much hesitation and never backfired but still... just didn't feel right.

And yes, you're correct - more often than not I'm very meticulous (they call me anal also    ).   My family isn't sure if that's a good thing or bad. Good when I fix things.... bad when I instruct them to do things     

-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 3:25pm
Originally posted by gt40KS gt40KS wrote:


But then I found this and the ol' teen hot rodder in me came out and I just had to snatch it up.




For a 351w? Got a part number?


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 3:48pm
No, it appears all the external markings were ground/ sanded off during the polishing process. I just checked to see if there were any internal or under side casting #'s and there are none, sorry. But it is for a 351w and that is what it came off of - it's virtually identical to the original cast iron ones.

-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 4:19pm
So since the time is rapidly approaching that my engine should be shipping out, I figured I'd better motivate myself to reinstall the previously poorly installed strut and get the rudder back in. Don't remember if I had ever posted pics of the previous, terrible alignment that the MC dealer had done so that will come first. But all is good and perfectly aligned now



It was actually worse than it appears in the photo because the shaft was pressing against the shaft log.   When I was pulling it out, as soon as it cleared the log under the boat it sprung another half inch or so to the side! Honestly .... wouldn't you think there was a problem when you have to bend the shaft to the side just to insert it in the log???        Did I forget to mention they installed the strut with a thimble full of clear silicone as well??







SO CLOSE NOW ....   just need and engine to drop in



-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 4:49pm
Originally posted by TRBenj TRBenj wrote:

For a 351w? Got a part number?[/QUOTE]

Whats it worth I can get you a part number.....

-------------
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS
95 Nautique Super Sport


Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 4:52pm
For the factory aluminum 351w lower that came only on the Lightnings?

That’s a rare intake...


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 10:31pm
Originally posted by TRBenj TRBenj wrote:

For the factory aluminum 351w lower that came only on the Lightnings?

That’s a rare intake...


Yep, exactly!!   I may be new to CC and the ProBoss GT40's, but I did happen to know what a rare find this was. I did a quick check of the ports, bolt size and count and bought it a few minutes later.   Unbelievably, It had only been up for auction for an hour or so when I happened on it. Unbelievably because a guy doesn't bump into this sort of deal very often - at least not THIS guy    

You can find the standard plenums like we all have fairly easily. But another rare find is the full individual tube models. I'm not really sure there is any marked performance differences or advantages to them, but they sure look cooler. Well, to old hot rodders such as myself

-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 11:11pm
How about a good clear picture of the bottom of this Lightning manifold ?


Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: April-25-2018 at 11:39pm
How is this?

http://imgbox.com/7KwqwanC" rel="nofollow">

-------------
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS
95 Nautique Super Sport


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-26-2018 at 12:36am
Well Gary (and Ken), the bottom of mine are just a bit different from the one you posted, though the top side and runners are likely identical:





-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: April-26-2018 at 12:56am
Is it possible mine is a Ford Motorsports? I'll have to find that '91 Motorsports catalog that Ken posted at one time. Here is the part number cast into it -

http://imgbox.com/naskcnKg" rel="nofollow">

-------------
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS
95 Nautique Super Sport


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-26-2018 at 1:13am
Possibly aftermarket? I don't know, but does that circled logo say M&A?
Lets see the whole top side ... maybe more clues


-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: April-26-2018 at 9:07am
Gary

Here's a link to the catalog. It's from 2006, you probably saw the cover to a 1991 catalog while surfing around trying to figure out what you have cause I saw the same cover picture.

http://shnack.com/docs/2006-pp.pdf" rel="nofollow - Ford Racing Performance Parts Catalog

I don't think you'll find it in there.

Google tells me you have a 92 manifold with that small oil baffle sold by Ford Racing and the production one for the Lightning had the big baffle like Joe's.otherwise they were the same.other than markings like part numbers.

The Lightning was F3TE built in 93 instead of the F2TE that you have.from what I found.





Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: April-27-2018 at 11:05pm
I'm starting to think Joe has some kind of a Frankenstein GT-40. Between the different heads and the later year intake plenum it look's like the PO mixed and matched things.
I thought the intake plenum on the 95's were the individual tube style.

To benefit from the lower manifold pictured above you should track down the individual tube upper like below


Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: April-28-2018 at 10:25am
Originally posted by TRBenj TRBenj wrote:

For the factory aluminum 351w lower that came only on the Lightnings?

That’s a rare intake...


Tim they’re becoming readily available
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gt40-351w-Aluminum-Lower-Intake-F3TE-Ford-Lightning/152989790638?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908110712%26meid%3D663eadf5a3c5418bac4c96dc68963bdc%26pid%3D100677%26rk%3D7%26rkt%3D30%26sd%3D323214624675%26itm%3D152989790638&_trksid=p2385738.c100677.m4598" rel="nofollow - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gt40-351w-Aluminum-Lower-Intake-F3TE-Ford-Lightning/152989790638?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908110712%26meid%3D663eadf5a3c5418bac4c96dc68963bdc%26pid%3D100677%26rk%3D7%26rkt%3D30%26sd%3D323214624675%26itm%3D152989790638&_trksid=p2385738.c100677.m4598


Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: April-28-2018 at 10:48am
Yeah for $600! Not exactly a bargain for half an intake manifold.


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: April-28-2018 at 11:51am
You can get the whole enchilada for a mere 1900 bucks or Best Offer

Just bend over and pay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-GT40-Tubular-Upper-Lower-Intake-351W-351-Lightning-BRAND-NEW-SVT-NOS-OEM/263640363447?hash=item3d6230b1b7:g:Ge4AAOSwL3JaunC5&vxp=mtr" rel="nofollow - the whole enchilada

I'd put that in the same "not exactly a bargain " category


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-28-2018 at 12:42pm
Yeah like I said, illusive - at least at any reasonably attainable price    

Anyway, the version I have is one that actually came on many production model PCM's and while I never found out for sure when the change occurred, it appears it was mid-year in 95'. The later PCM bobtails you could buy seam to only have come with the new 'solid cast runner' style as well as later production Nautiques:






As far as the performance goes, I have done a fair amount of research on the subject and while there is a slight performance difference, the key word is slight. Nearly all the articles I combed through agree that the solid cast version performs very close to the full tube and suggest the only time you would really see any real measurable difference is if you were putting a lot more fuel and air into your engine than that of the standard GT build.

Also, the solid cast model is actually an individual tube, not just an open flow. It's just cast together as one presumably to save money on production. The performance difference, they claim, seems to come from what the one article referred to as a 'squish tube' which does limit air flow just a bit over the full round tube style.



-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: April-28-2018 at 12:52pm
Someone has to pay for the signage Ken, and advertising don't come cheap😉. My boat was built in April of 95, it has the tubular intake. But who knows how long the engines sit at the factory before they get installed. I like the looks of the tube ones,they look like the bundle of snakes exhaust used on the gt40's namesake,the original GT40

-------------
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS
95 Nautique Super Sport


Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: April-28-2018 at 3:10pm
Originally posted by TRBenj TRBenj wrote:

Yeah for $600! Not exactly a bargain for half an intake manifold.


I didn’t say they were cheap just available

I put one of these on to see if it would help with all the heat under the cover
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tfs-51520020" rel="nofollow - https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tfs-51520020


Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: April-28-2018 at 3:16pm
Originally posted by Gary S Gary S wrote:

Someone has to pay for the signage Ken, and advertising don't come cheap😉. My boat was built in April of 95, it has the tubular intake. But who knows how long the engines sit at the factory before they get installed. I like the looks of the tube ones,they look like the bundle of snakes exhaust used on the gt40's namesake,the original GT40


I agree


Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: April-28-2018 at 3:25pm
Here’s the whole 9 yards for $800


https://www.ebay.com/i/323214624675?chn=ps&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmpre%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fi%25252F323214624675%25253Fchn%25253Dps%2526itemid%253D323214624675%2526targetid%253D400468659276%2526device%253Dt%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526googleloc%253D9006270%2526poi%253D%2526campaignid%253D1028603671%2526adgroupid%253D48124585622%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-400468659276%2526abcId%253D1130046%2526merchantid%253D6296724%2526gclid%253DEAIaIQobChMI1-Dr47zd2gIVDZ6fCh1UtwPDEAQYCiABEgKqrvD_BwE%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D1513792123048%2526rvr_ts%253D0d42e0361630abc17247157efffe92b9" rel="nofollow - https://www.ebay.com/i/323214624675?chn=ps&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmpre%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fi%25252F323214624675%25253Fchn%25253Dps%2526itemid%253D323214624675%2526targetid%253D400468659276%2526device%253Dt%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526googleloc%253D9006270%2526poi%253D%2526campaignid%253D1028603671%2526adgroupid%253D48124585622%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-400468659276%2526abcId%253D1130046%2526merchantid%253D6296724%2526gclid%253DEAIaIQobChMI1-Dr47zd2gIVDZ6fCh1UtwPDEAQYCiABEgKqrvD_BwE%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D1513792123048%2526rvr_ts%253D0d42e0361630abc17247157efffe92b9


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-28-2018 at 5:59pm
Yeah, cool. But.... $800 for cool, when I already have one. I'll pass this go round

However this whole conversation has prompted me to try tracking down one of those articles and I found something a bit interesting that I hadn't found before. The comparison itself indicates that the FoMoCo cast plenum actually outperforms the tubular by a small percentage. But the more interesting part of the article stated that it isn't the plenum that creates any restrictions - it is more the lower intake. They claim a guy can pick up 10+ real horsepower by porting only the lower to the plenum, where the majority of the restriction is located in this design.   Think I might be pulling out the Dremel tomorrow.    





-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: April-29-2018 at 3:09pm
In the RPM range we use these boats (3000 - 4200) according to your charts the HP is slightly better with the tubes and the TQ is several points better.


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-30-2018 at 1:34am
Good point Paul, I hadn't really looked at it that closely. Still, I would have guessed there would be more of a performance difference between the full tube and cast plenums.


-------------
JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: April-30-2018 at 7:50pm
So I had a lazy day with not much to do yesterday. Then I remembered that I needed to clean up & refinish my swim platform, IF it was worth salvaging. As with much of this boat over the years, the teak was very neglected.

I started first on the under side, taking the brackets off and trying to sand off all the nasty debris collected over the many years as well as the thick coating of dark stain and poly that one or the other of the PO's had done in the past. When it was evident that this wasn't going to be easy at all, I decided to disassemble the entire thing and do things piece by piece.



This proved to be an almost impossible task also since the stain and poly was very thick in the seams. I suspect the teak was untouched for years before even this was done because the open grain of the planks were eroded quite a bit and sanding would only go so far, leaving almost black streaks on nearly every piece. So, not ready to junk the whole thing and start from scratch just yet, and not really relishing the tiger stripe look, I decided to plane all the pieces a little at a time till the stripes were gone. Unbelievably, I didn't have to take that much off and they turned out great, albeit about 1/8" thinner. I had to get all new screws for reassembly because I didn't want to chance them coming through the top when I put it all back together. Finally I addressed the corroded, discolored brackets, wire brushing them to raw, priming and painting them silver.



A good coat of teak oil on all the parts before assembly, and then a couple of final coats afterward and I think it turned out rather well. It still shows some signs of prior neglect but under the circumstances I'm just happy it turned out as good as it has.



Only drawback is the obvious in the pic above. Turns out I had one very dark piece, a couple medium dark and one very, very light. Guess I should have done the lightening process after all, I just didn't think it would be necessary since I planed all the junk off. Well, this is SO much better than it was and will last a while till I'm ready to either replace it with one of the new Jatoba ones from the site, or rebuild this one with Ipe (Teak is just too expensive).

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: May-13-2018 at 1:42am
Not much of an update.... Only to say the machine shop ran into a delay and my engine would be a couple weeks late. New date is as early as the end of next week, but more probably sometime the week after.    Well naturally. You know, since we've been between large projects these last couple of weeks and had some extra time to devote to spring cleaning, household maintenance and the like. OR, say installing an engine.
We start the next big project on Tuesday so .....     

Well, there's always the weekends

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: Wisky Badger
Date Posted: May-13-2018 at 10:47am
Teak looks great


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: June-11-2018 at 9:12am
It's been about a month Joe, time for an update


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: June-11-2018 at 11:37pm
Well I did get the engine, but it's in the garage - and still in the crate. As I was fearing, it was taking them so long to get to, then finish it that I've become swamped at work and just haven't had a chance to do anything with it.   Oh I opened the crate to get a peek, then right back to work. I thought I'd have at least half a day or so on Saturday and again on Sunday but as you'd know it an "emergency" with one of our projects kept me busy out of town all weekend      

Spring and summer are usually very busy for me, not only with work but family stuff as well. In May, June and July we have 12 birthdays, 4 anniversaries and this year, 3 weddings and 2 funerals. What's that line from Saturday Night Live?? "If it's not one thing, it's another!"       

This weekend???    I'm just going to turn my phone OFF !!   

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40



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