1955 CC Hurricane Restoration

TRBenj wrote: Alan, looking good! I've had to learn a bit about crankcase venting theory with our bfn- i imagine you have it covered. I'd be a little hesitant to change the set up if what you had before was working well.

I think I have it covered Tim but if not I'll just fashion a new breather tube so it reaches up to the new carb and eliminate the pcv again. The new intake allows for it but the real question is whether the breather down at the transmission is adequate. It does vent the crankcase so in theory it should work. I don't want to put breathers on the valve covers since they are somewhat rare being Marine versions and notched for the adjustable rockers, they're hard to find.

Riley wrote: I'd never tap into those valve covers! Will the flame arrestor draw be strong enough?

No I won't mess with the valve covers Bruce.

here's how the breather works with the stock carbs.


Tim, I circled the vent on the transmission, this is how it's currently vented. Do you see a problem with this when I add the PCV ? The transmission is open to the engine oil pan sump and they share oil.

Alan, my understanding is that you can run a Pcv so long as you have a corresponding breather. I don't know if that breather down on the tranny is sufficient- do you think it would vent crankcase pressure from the engine? Most breathers are on vc's or the intake valley- so pretty high up.

If the 2 breather system was working well, and the engine wasn't pushing oil out of them before, I'd be inclined to duplicate the set up on the new intake. Anything you can do to baffle or filter it would be good.

I'm probably overthinking this considerably for your application since it's nice and tight and relatively low compression and rpm, but we've had some oil control/breather issues we're still working through. Definitely worth putting a little bit of thought into it before drilling holes!

Don't forget any mods need to be reversible!

It's not the original engine anyways ;).

You mean the PBOJS?

peter1234 wrote: for anyone putting a pcv valve to replace natural vented engines dont forget that the pcv valve should have a baffle below it. Alan the round arrester if that is what you are leaning towards looks a lot like a mercruiser style. if that is what you are looking at using the merc base generally has two breather tubes under it .

Yes there is a baffle on the intake valley pan where the pcv valve would go.

I definately don't want an arrestor that looks like a mercruiser that's why I'm looking for that flat double sided unit.

Here's a similar motor to mine and this is NOT what I'm looking at doing but is an example of rerouting the breather.


Here is the same motor after a rebuild at a respected Race shop. Notice they have incorporated the PCV and the same intake manifold I've purchased. I don't see any other venting but the one down in the transmission. I've talked to the guy that owns the Vintage Race Boat shop and did the restoration on this boat and he said the motor had no issues plumbed like this.


I don't like the Holley, the big round flame arrestor, the braided hoses or the Edelbrock manifolds but according to the builder the boat runs very nice. Has more of a Hot Rod look to it than I'd like in the Hurricane. I plan to paint most of the new parts engine color.

Here's another option, but probably harder to find than the split style.



I'll PM you a couple phone #'s that might have some old arrestors.

Making some minor headway, finally got the intermediate distributor shaft out. In order to use the new marine electronic dizzy you need to remove the intermediate shaft then swap the gear over to a new shorter aftermarket shaft. That will allow me to use any small block Chrysler distributor.   Problem was you have to turn the motor over backwards to walk the gear and shaft out.


Not so easy with a flywheel forward motor because there's no harmonic balancer bolt to get a socket on. What I ended up doing is getting a strap wrench on the shaft coupling, removed the spark plugs and since its a manual transmission I locked it into forward gear and slowly turned the motor over backwards to get the shaft out. Quite a pain in the rear but It finally worked.

So now the directions say to simple remove the gear from the old shaft and press on to the new!   Well that ain't happening at home here with minimal tools so I'll drop the pieces off at the machine shop and have them do it.   The pin going through the gear will not budge and I don't want to break this cast gear so looks like I'll be buying another case of beer for the machine shop. They'll probably have it done in 10 minutes and I've already fussed with it for a couple of hours.

So the Hurricane got splashed a few weekends ago to test the new engine mods.

First off, this was the best outing we've ever had in this boat so we're getting real close to getting it dialed in. The winter mods include and new Electronic ignition Billet distributor, Aluminum 4 barrel intake and a new Edelbrock carb. The boat started first try, idled very nicely down to comfortable 600(the old carbs were all over the place at idle) and ran flawlessly.

With the electric choke and the new ignition the boat cranks for a second and fires, very nice so we set the timing and off we went.

Had to relocate the coil and fab a new mounting bracket for it.


1 had to fab a new throttle cable bracket.
2. Made a new steel fuel line
3. added a PCV
4. Fabbed up a new bracket to mount the factory thermostat housing.


1. relocated therm housing
2. rerouted water path out of the engine. Formerly, water was routed out of the heads into the intake manifold, under the carbs and exiting through the therm housing that was attached directly to the intake. The new routing has water exiting the heads, to a brass T and then to the remote therm housing. I had to make a block off plate for the bottom of the housing and then thread it to receive the pipe nipple the hose attached to.




So end result is the boat runs great, has much better throttle response, starts instantly and ultimately should be more reliable.

Performance wise I picked up 3 mph so the boat is now running 45MPH. That is an awesome feeling in a 60 year old boat, I'm impressed with how flat and steady the hull runs too. Yes it still turns horribly but for flat out cruising it's a blast.

Prop was a 13x14 so next trip will get the 13x13 which should get us pretty close and deliver even more throttle response as the 13x14 is still a bit much to turn. It took a little distance on a speed run for the secondaries to open fully and I suspect that is because we're still over propped.

Nice Fab work there Alan!! glad she is running better and more dependable!!

phatsat67 wrote: That looks awesome Alan! What type of WOT rpm is it seeing? If the prop doesn't help with the secondaries you will probably have to pull the counter weights off the air door and lighten them slightly.

3800 Zach, the 13x13 should get it closer to optimal.

NICE work!!! Hard to tell its modified!!!

Now you need to buff the top of the arrestor so it matches the valve covers!

Riley wrote: I don't know why they don't put a port on those marine carbs. The automotive carbs come with one. They can be drilled on either side, but it seems they just ought to put the port in. .

Makes sense to me Bruce. If I see a problem from plug checks I'll drill it out. thx

Alan, what do the hemi guys tell you? About 4200 WOT ?