Bringing a chrysler 318 back to life

Mike,
The impellers can be tough to remove at times. It's the reason pullers are made specifically for the rubber impellers.

Some of the older RWP's covers did not have gaskets. The cover and body were machined precisely enough so it wasn't needed. However, a layer of glossy paper isn't going to hurt.

Welcome back Mike,and Thanks for your service. As I have said in the past more and more Chryslers seem to be surfacing no pun intended. Ask away many here can help.

SNobsessed wrote: Pete - We need pictures!   It is time to teach your son alignment 101 too!

Chris,
It's not that easy. Your son has a "mechanically inclined" side to him and mine has zero. It seems to be just one of the things that you are born with. I have tried all my life to get my son out in the shop/garage to do some bonding and educating but it's never worked. My last offer was to make some more wakeskates off the form I made for the one I made him. This may work but time will tell. The whole story goes plenty deeper and I will PM you on that.

The skate I made was 5 layers of 1/8" ply. The next skates I want to try 3 layers of ply and two layers of carbon graphite We'll see how it goes.

Talking with Billy the other day, I got educated about OJ. Billy being one of their distributors and of course having a long time relationship with them, he knows a lot about OJ's history. Eric at OJ is actually 3rd generation in the prop business! They actually have their own foundry and cast all their props and then of course finish them. Having your own foundry these days is unusual. The EPA has put all the small guys out of business. I'm happy to hear the OJ is still casting. This means he has up graded all of the emission standards in an attempt to maintain his own quality of the prop casting.

BTW, the old dirty foundry and all it's emissions is what put down Eric's dad and grandfather.

If anyone ever wants more info on OJ, give Eric a call. He certainly is a pro that has spent all of his life on the development of our props.

I know how that goes Pete. I have managed to break some of my Dads stuff over the years! A couple of years ago he told me to drive his car to work once and awhile when he was gone for the winter. Drove in on a nice day,went to go home car won't start,fuel pump went out. I quit driving it. My 12x13 OJ runs at wot 4200,my 12x14 Federal runs 4300

Mike,
Jamestown Distributors is my source for OEM impellers We have gotten reports that the Chinese copies do not work in certain pumps. They also have a great cross reference chart with all the dimensions. They also have the minor and major rebuild kits.

PM reidp via the site and I'm sure he will respond to your needs and send you to the correct people at Race City.

8122pbrainard wrote: Gary, What prop are you running giving you the hull rash?

I have a 12x13 OJ now Pete and never had anything bigger other than pitch. The rash might have been there before I got it. Only really looked closely under there a few years ago,as I have been putting off sanding and buffing the bottom

Gary S wrote: He doesn't have a Cuda though.

Gary,
You are correct. I should have gone back to the first post and refreshed my failing memory!

I agree with Tim that the 12.5 diameter CNC would be fine. With the added aff rake that gives the hull clearance needed.

Gary,
What prop are you running giving you the hull rash?

Do you think or can you feel if the greater rake lifts the bow or is it not that much of a rake to affect it? When I brought that 542 home for Dave and got to see one brand new and close up, it looked impressive.

In my defence right now I have 1" between strut and prop and 1" between prop and bottom and slight prop rash another 1/4",unless an Acme is more raked,I feel would be pushing it.Next time were all together Tim bring one   

no 12 inch CNC maybe, but hey do make a 12.5 inch that would work.. the acme 1210 i believe is the number

Gary S wrote: He doesn't have a Cuda though,and no one makes a 12" cnc that I know of. If he gets it over to Race City and if he and when he decides he needs a new prop,Matt and Reid will set him up. A 12x12 or 12x13 will most likely fit his needs when it comes to that.

Acme makes several 12.5" diameter props that work great and have plenty of clearance on the boats that came with 12" wheels originally. I run the 1210 (12.5x12) on my Skier.

tleed wrote: Run the original itty bitty prop into a rock or a stump so you can justify replacing it with the biggest piece of meat you can fit. The engine makes plenty enough power to handle it, you'll notice a huge difference in acceleration, and you'll have a smile on your face as the boat goes down if the extra turbulence rips a hole in the bottom. You have a different hull than I've had, so I can't tell you whether my prop would be appropriate. Thomas

Mike,
Be real careful with this recommendation. As thomas mentioned. hull clearance to the prop is critical to avoid "hull rash" Yes, if the clearance isn't maintained then you will burn out the gel and even some of the glass. The normal rule of thumb is 10% of the prop diameter. Early Cuda's ran 12" diameters and then around 69 or 70 we believe CC changed the set up and ran 13". The new CNC props are the way to go. Charlie (Brady) and I did some testing on his 70 Cuda with a Acme 540 I have. Performance was great and the hull clearance was good.

Here's Charlie measuring the old prop. One thing to notice is the length of the prop shaft. you can see how far away from the strut the prop is. This distance should be about the same as the shaft diameter or just slightly less. When Charlie does go with a new prop, the shaft will be cut down in length. What is not known is if the shaft came from CC that way or a shaft change was made by the PO using the wrong length.

Nope, Southwind 18 here. Let's go drag racing!

Mike,

Welcome aboard! Your pics get my blood pumping. My first CC was a '69 Barracuda from NC about 6 years ago and that's where my current Chrysler 318 came from. My Barracuda was 800 lbs. heavier than your Mustang (not counting the extra 500 lbs. of water weight under the floor) and mine ran like a bull on steroids. Just wait 'til you hear that Chrysler rumble! Lake companions will ask you what engine you have in that boat just because they hear the sound.

Run the original itty bitty prop into a rock or a stump so you can justify replacing it with the biggest piece of meat you can fit. The engine makes plenty enough power to handle it, you'll notice a huge difference in acceleration, and you'll have a smile on your face as the boat goes down if the extra turbulence rips a hole in the bottom. Seriously, you do have to give some consideration to the proximity to the bottom of the boat, but you can fit a lot more surface area than the prop that appears to be on there. There's no comparison between my original prop and the one I currently run. You have a different hull than I've had, so I can't tell you whether my prop would be appropriate.

I'll second the reference to Race City Marine. I've been there. They know what they're doing & they love Correct Crafts. I know where you are and where they are and it's worth the hike. That said, the Chrysler is mostly a carbed car motor, so any Mopar mechanic with decent diagnostic skills can make it run for you. The cooling system & certain other characteristics are distinctively marine, so if you have problems there, you're probably better off going to a marine shop. Most regular boat mechanics cower when they see a Chrysler inboard, which is kinda puzzling since they used to be so common. And they're pretty simple. If it's just a matter of getting it going, scrape around for an older mechanic with a good carb background.

The alternator is marine-spec, and if your previous owner didn't source a marine one, he might've introduced a potential fire hazard. Last summer a local shop built a marine GM-style one-wire alternator in a Chrysler housing to replace my failed original. Apparently I'd been running a couple of years without a charging alternator. No wonder I had to charge my battery so much off the lake! And it's remarkable how long an engine will run on a battery. Coils don't really draw that much power once the engine is running. It's the auxiliaries that pull down a battery.

My original exhaust manifolds & elbows leaked internally and nearly drowned my freshly-rebuilt motor from the inside out, so I had to retire them, which nearly killed me because they scream "Chrysler" so eloquently. Barr Marine, which is in Buena Vista, VA, which is only 90 miles from me is the place to go if you should need replacements down the line. Make sure you buy all the right parts (copper tubes inside!) and install the correct gaskets correctly. Those parts are NOT optional. That was a recent episode you can find if you search.

I burned up my transmission & rebuilt it a couple of times before I bought an oversized trans cooler. Don't let your Velvet Drive tranny get too hot. My original tranny had so much internal heat damage to non-rebuildable parts that it just couldn't be resurrected. New ones aren't cheap.

Search my old posts for lots of experience you can hopefully avoid. The cooling systems are nothing to be afraid of...I've had my share of problems. They work fine when they're in good shape. An infrared thermometer can be a wonderful diagnostic tool.

Replace your impellers! It's easy to do and if they're not working (chewed up), you'll destroy your motor today. Look for the newer long-lasting (silicone, I think) material. I hadn't heard about it until recently. The rubber ones die too fast. I slather them well with vaseline before I install them. Makes'em go in easier and I imagine it helps them last a little longer. Tip: New impellers come with gaskets, but if you have to open up the pump between changes & tear the very delicate gaskets, you can cut new ones from clay-coated (glossy) magazine pages using the pump divider as a guide. I've done it many times. They don't need to be installed with any kind of gasket adhesive.

You can't run your engine more than a few minutes without water. I have two thru-hull pickups, so I have to run two long hoses spliced into the pickup overboard to a big trash can full of water. Even re-filling the trash can constantly with a garden hose that much water only lasts a few minutes running wide open if the impellers are drawing properly.

My under-floor exhaust system was disconnected and pumping exhaust water under the floor unbeknownst to me until I pulled up the floor. I'm sure it was doing that when I bought the boat because the pipes were obviously disconnected and the coupling copper tube had slid way up into the rubber exhaust hose. That's all buried in foam, so it's impossible to see unless the floor comes up. My clues were a boat that "leaked" way too fast inside to be explained by a breach of the hull, or a leaky driveshaft coupler. And the "incoming" water was warm: a dead giveaway I should've recognized if I'd realized it. And the output in the back from the exhaust wasn't the same. And one side took significantly longer to start pushing out water (first it had to fill the under-floor chamber) than the other on initial start-up. Things you learn.

Another alternative you might consider is delivering your boat to my driveway. I'll happily take good care of it while you're on deployment. Just a small favor for someone who is defending our country & I've always wondered what a 318 would do in a Mustang-weight hull.

Thomas