Hi,

Newby here from North Central Wisconsin. I have just bought a new to me 1977 Mustang 17. The boat is a really clean low (648) hour example. Great stringers, floor ect. I had been looking for a clean '70s CC for several years, and this one ended up almost in my back yard. Interior and carpeting are really nice. The side stripes look to have been re-done and look to be a '78.

When I looked at it last week I did my due diligence on looking it over, and the owner was meticulous on all the hoses dis-connected, the drains out of the manifolds, etc. I did look at the one side of the block and it had a petcock drain, I spun it with my hand, and it turned freely.

Was super happy to locate this boat.... still am, but.....After getting it home and really digging into it, I noticed that that petcock, while it spins, was actually the petcock wing nut spinning on the drain, not turning it.....so I flashlight some more and see one of the frost plugs had pushed out and was laying in the motor mount. I did get the petcock drain out and a small amount of water came from the block, but I am now expecting the worst. Since it is still winter here and things are still freezing, it will be a couple weeks before I can put it all together, get a plug in the block and see what happens.

I plan to bore scope the cylinders, oil level is still just below the mark, but will change to look for water. Like a I said I'm hoping to the best as he did remove all the hoses, anf pulled all the other plugs, so most of the water was out , except for the passenger side of the block.

I'm still loving this boat, but holding my breath...... LOL

Your old oil will either look normal or have a gooey, thick coffee colored look to it after the engiine has run for a little while.

Doing it this way will let you know if there are any other spots either internal or external that are leaking and save you the cost of an oil change till you know the engine is good.

Let's hope it's normal 

The boat is running the original 302 Ford.

Since the ice finally went out up here in Northern Wisco in the last month, I was finally able to get this boat running on the trailer with a hose, splashed it into the river and idle around for an hour a couple weeks back and finally take it up to our cabin this weekend for a couple days in the water and see how it actually runs out.

It looks like a dodged a big bullet as I put new freeze plugs in after finding out  the previous owner left half the block un-drained. I am not getting any water in the oil after several hours on the water, some good heat cycles, some putting around, and some wide open throttle. I bore-scoped the cylinders, they all look good and the engine runs like a champ. The only issue right now seems to be a warm start issue where the carb seems to flood the engine if you let it sit and hour or so and go to re-start. Starts great when cold, just the flooding after it sits and still warm. I will figure it out.

The Transmission works very well, the engine runs smooth with no hesitation, and everything seems well. I'm very happy with the boat. I did sweat for awhile when I found the core plug pushed out  thinking cracked block, so to find out the boat is solid runner is awesome.

I left it in the water all weekend, used it Saturday and Sunday, and it never missed a beat. Now we can let summer happen. :)