1969 Mustang Stringer Rebuild

You're almost there.   

Acetone, light sanding, and wrap it with glass. I wouldn't do a quick fix on a part that will sink you.

David and Others,
In the video and pictures on page 14 of this thread there appears you have two freshwater pickups thru-hull on your boat. One is on the port side which is the way my boat is and all the others I have seen, and the other is on the starboard side which looks like a "T" fitting and then continues on to the pump on front of engine. The hose loops over the prop shaft log in the picture and video.

Is there really two freshwater pickup locations? and what is the purpose of setting up the boat this way?

Just trying to learn something new

Successful first run yesterday evening Took her out to the lake with a buddy of mine, water was nice and smooth. I had the removable panel out to check for leaks and much to my surprise all was well. Engine ran smooth, the timing seems to be more steady with my new timing chain. I didn't get her up to WOT, a little scared to. So we took it easy. Got her close to 4K.

One thing.... for Eric, like my driveway run a few days ago, the trans is spinning in neutral. Not enough to move the boat, I can easily stop with my hand. Normal after rebuild?

And for the engine guys, one thing I have always noticed with the boat, when I'm cruising along and come off the throttle, the engine sounds like a car engine would if you down shifted maybe a bit too early or was doing some engine braking. Being my first boat I always wondered if that was normal?

All-in-all it went well. Glad to finally get her on the water. Makes that rebuild seem like it might have been worth it. Just got to clean her up and put a few more items in and I'll get some pics up.

Sunday we had a good day on the water. Several hours of cruising. It was fairly smooth on the lake except a few areas. I was impressed, after the stringer job the Mustang seems to take the chop a little better. Just feels more solid. Maybe I'm just not as afraid to hit them harder now that I know she's a tank.

We will be headed to my brothers this weekend for some more water action. This time there will be some wakeboarding, skiing, kids tubing, so she'll get a good workout. I'll get some good pics while we are there. They have a pontoon so it makes for a good camera platform.

Thanks Pete. As always, couldn't have done it without y'all

I noticed some of my earlier pics disappeared. Going to have to see if I can fix those so others can follow the tread.

As promised, some action shots.

She sure looks more vibrant in the pictures.


My brother trying to park her next to the pontoon. Got to love slow speeds and rudders.




Yeah we pulled a tube. No way the 4 year old was getting up on a ski. We did get the 9 year old up on the wakeboard briefly before he gave up.


Beautiful Arkansas lakes.


All the hard work.




The nephews always wanted to ride in the fast boat.


She ran good all day. Pretty much blew through a tank of gas. Little surprised but I guess we did a bit of driving and pulling.

Going to take another trip with her next weekend to my dad's new lake house. Got to get all my hard work out of her.

Looks great David.I still remember when you were 1st looking at it,you've come a long way.Motor looks great too,running better too I hope. I like how the exhausts look when painted, and after seeing yours I'm thinking I should do mine.By the way HM valve covers are 260 a pair.Have fun!

Thanks Gary. I called HM the day we talked about it but I guess they had already closed. Kept forgetting after that.

Here's what I did on my exhaust.

Got some 45 rubber elbows. These are not cheap, around $80 a pair. They do come with hose clamps.


In order for my fiberglass exhaust to be low enough for the removable floor to fit, they needed to be as low as possible at the connecting point so I had to get some stainless tubing to make the fit. I still had to route out part of the floor so they would fit.


All tightened up.


Still have to paint the HM logos on the engine.