1969 Mustang Stringer Rebuild

TX Wind wrote: Excellent point on the kinking Tim. The silicone kinks very easily by the way. If he uses copper, he could braze a 45 in there easy enough or even a 22 1/2 or 30 if necessary. Shhhhh....I thought there was a rule on here against advocating for mufflers....especially on a boat that didn't come with them.

The manifolds exit slightly less than vertically (towards the front due to the engine angle) so he's need a 90 in there if he were to use soft walled hose. We got the corrugated over the copper on my sister's Stang though- just takes a little muscle.

"No worries on the muffler comments... my track record speaks for itself".

Big talk from you guys who have never spent some time in a HM powered boat    When your sittin on the doc with blood dripping out your ears,then I'll listen to you. Won't hear you but I'll pretend I do. Ask John or Eddie how mine sounds with mufflers

Well...If you really wanted to keep the mufflers, you could put a slight angle to the floor under the seat and then pull it out with the seat base. Getting some glass over the stringers should move you a bit closer to the edge of the seat before it hits the mufflers. It might not be that bad in the end.

TX Wind wrote: Didn't this boat come with corrugated anyway?

Vondy's? Very possibly. My '71 Skier still has the original corrugated hose on it. I would have expected a '69 H-M to have some copper in the exhaust as well.

Gary, I havent spent a *ton* of time in H-M boats, but Ive spent some. A lot of time spent listening from shore, too- there was a '70 H-M on our lake that had to have 10,000 hrs on it. It was *almost* the loudest ski boat Ive experienced... Id say Reid's '73 takes the cake, but my sister's Stang with the aluminum Interceptor logs exiting to 3" out the back with a healthy stretch of copper is pretty close too. My '90 isnt exactly quiet either:



^^This one will get mufflers before long though^^. Im curious to hear how loud the BFN will be with aluminum manifolds and 4" all the way back- Im hoping its bearable.

I bought some used mufflers for my 81, currently aluminum edelbrocks to stainless out the back. When I fired it up in the driveway this weekend I put the mufflers back in the garage...I just can't put them on yet!!

Gary S wrote: TRBenj wrote: I would have expected a '69 H-M to have some copper in the exhaust as well. Mine just had molded 90's at the manifolds and straight hose out the rest of the way

Good info, Gary. Im curious what years CC was putting copper in the exhausts- my sister's boat didnt have any copper either, just 2-1/4" hose. With all the volume the H-M's put out, I would have thought there was some metal in the exhaust... I guess the 3" and aluminum manifolds are enough! That also explains why it seems like her '69 is so loud now.

Riley wrote: If they were using copper, I would guess it was early 60's and earlier. Has anyone ever seen copper piping that was original?

CC used it in the 70's from what I understand. Tom Lawton had copper pipes in his '76 Ski Tique.

For what its worth my 75 Mustang has 3" copper tubes and it sounds great - just curious if log or riser style is louder?

I wonder why they would have used copper pipe in the later years as the rubber hose was better quality than in the earlier years? Maybe the gear head factor at the factory at the time? I think the next engine I put in a boat is going to have copper tubes rather than straight rubber, just for the extra noise.

Copper is a commodity and the price varies widely, altho rite now it is as high as I have ever seen it.

My 73 Skier has copper pipes and I love the sound tone.

I guess that is a goal, but it is pretty tough to do in practice, in my opinion. Perhaps if you just do one stringer at a time, but if you are trying to do both at once, or all four, you are going to have a really tough time. Take your time and do it right. You will have bubbles to roll out, epoxy to mix, glass to cut, and patience to run out of. I think I was able to get all the thin stuff in one shot, and then did the biax the next night.
BilgeKote is available from Jamestown, USC, and West. I think I only bought a quart, did two coats, and have some left still. Nasty crap, do it outside or with the door open at least. I used white. Looks great til you get a motor running in there and bilge water, etc. I would use gray next time.

I was one of those who had problems with the bilgekote. It never set properly even after 2 full days in the direct sun in the middle of July. I second Mike's advice- don't use white! I like the tinted epoxy idea and will be inclined to go that route on my next one if Tim is still happy with it after the boat is on the water.

David,
The tints are available from US Composites (didn't you get your supplies from them? or where ever you got the resin. It brushes or rolls on just like regular epoxy.

David,
Yes, that's the voltage regulator. Go to a decent auto supply (not Autozone! ) and se what luck you have with them having/finding one. Unfortunately with the advent of internally regulated alternators, these old ones can be hard to find. Some of the real old ones are going for their weight close to gold!!!