One of my customers is a pontoon manufacturer.. One of thier 25' I/O models thier assembliers have told me that you either have to pull the engine or thier suggestion to cut a hole throu the side of the engine gully to change the starter. I don't mind welding aluminum, it's not my favorit but come on... Cut a hole knowing I'm going to have to weld it up! LOL

 

Alright guys, I am back. I towed the boat down to the lake house over the weekend and just couldnt wait to get to that engine. My dad said the same thing about the boat, and couldnt believe the previous owner "gave it to me" for that price.
Anyway, aside from the truck pulling it like it was nothing (first time towing with the 04 and lift - this is a truck forum right )
I pulled the plugs out and turned the engine over. There was no sign of water at all, only nice dry air came out. Next we pulled off the old risers and exhuast manifolds. The risers are in excellent condition(no sign of cracking, clogging or corrosion, so we are going to reuse them. Both the manifolds were seriously cracked on the exterior, but no cracks on the inner walls. From all I could see, there was never a drop of water in any of part of the engine. The oil and dipstick looked really good when we switched it. The block (as best I can tell right now) is crack free. So all in all I think the only problem with the boat are the exhaust manifolds. The plan now is to put new ones on in a couple of weeks and put it in the water to test it out.
I will be posting pics of the broken manifolds, the cleaned up boat, and hopefully a running motor at that time.
Talk about lucky...so far so good.

 

EDDY...thats awesome man. Sounds like a few hundred bucks and you'll be out on the lake in no time.

 

Thats what it looks like. We will see. I am trying to not get to optimistic until the manifolds are on and the boat is running well.

 

^^^

Sounds like maybe he's owned a boat before!

Just so that you know... I'm extremely jealous, but happy for you at the same time. For that money the least you could do is put lots and lots and lots more time into getting it on the water. But NooOOoo.... Yea you make me sick!
Congratulation though.... you lucky dog.

 

lol, Thanks for the support. So far so good. I ordered the manifolds, they were $135 each plus $10 shipping on each. I am going to put them in either next weekend or the weekend after. I will have more info and pics then.

 

I'm glad everything worked out for you. Yup, sometimes that happens! Some of us that work on boats all the time see way too many people with the other outcome. Some of them are just plain stupid and probably deserve a cracked block. Other folks just mess up and end up with a hell of a bill. (Those hurt.) Enjoy your new ride!

 

Just got back from the lake. Due to a family emergency, I didnt get down to the lake till Saturday night at 10pm. My dad and I got ready to put the new manifolds on and noticed one of the freeze plugs was blown on the engine (good sign I guess?). After inspecting the block over and over and checking the oil again and what not. It looks pretty good and no cracks. unfortunately the plug was the one located behind the engine mount, so what orinially was going to be a 1 hour project turned into a 5 hour project removing the engine mount, replacing the freeze plug and reassembling the manifolds.
On Sunday morning we finished the job only to find out the battery was dead because one of use bumped the navigation lights switch or something. We didnt get to test it out after all that hard work, but instead cleaned the boat out (1st round).
The boat WILL be in the water over the 4th so I will have pics and a final update on the engine, manifolds, cracks etc.

 

Did you leave the engine mount assembled? Unbolting it from the block and floor brace only. If you took the engine mount apart you might want to take the lower unit off and go have the engine checked for alighnment. If you accidentaly moved the adjusting nut and knocked it out of alignment then you will blow out your engine coupler. Which is about $200-$300 or more and you have to pull the engine to do it. (I just had to replace mine about a month ago.) Total cost for it and other worn parts that I found when I tore into it was $400 and took 30 man hours between me and a friend helping me at the end. Thats with both working on it and finding and getting parts.

 

Yeah we had to pull the whole mount and lower the mount height to get to the freeze plug, but I we put it back to the same heigh as it was so we should be okay. The motor is in the exact same spot and level since only one mount was pulled. How would a shop realign the mount? We just marked it and then put it back on the same way.

 

If you marked the bolt first and put the lower nut at that same spot again then you should be fine. All they do at the shop is they have an alighnment tool cost about $400 (can find cheap ones on ebay for $100 or less) basically it's just a rod that they smear with grease like icing a cake then with lower unit removed they slide it through the Gimbal bearing and into the engine coupler. When they pull it out if any grease is smeared then which ever side is smeared that tells which direction the engine needs to be adjusted. The guy that helped me put mine engine back in after I had replaced the coupler. Brought his alighnment tool from work over and we checked it to make sure that is not why my coupler blow out. Luckily it wasn't it was just old age.

 

So this weekend is the big test to see if its good to go. I just hope that since the freeze plug blew out and the manifolds busted that the block is okay. The plug is in and the manifolds are replaced. Now all I can do is hope everything is good to go. Anyone with experience have any odds for me? If the plug blew, and there was no sign of water in the oil or in the cylinders what are the chances the block is good to go and everything else is fine? Is there anything I need to check out on the outdrive before I put it in the water? Just paranoid that something else is wrong before the big weekend.

 

Sounds like the freeze plug did its job, Cross your fingers and hope for the best. I would run it on land in the driveway before you drag it to the lake and then end up getting stuck out there or something. Fire it up and let it run for a while in the driveway. At least you will know if theres any other major leakes or any other issues right away. Good luck.

BREW

 

Well...I am back from a long 4th weekend at the lake. I went down there with a lot of worries about this boat and how it was going to run, but...it ran like a new boat...a champ. We took it out and ran it all weekend 3-8 people on both Saturday and Sunday. The boat has a great amount of power in it and was able to pull tubers and skiiers very well. The motor was at perfect idle with no leaks, rattles or anything. We put about 10-15 hours of run time on her and it was awesome. With a full boat of 8 we could still get up to about 30-35mph and with 3 people it was moving well over 40. The lake I was on is very dangerous since its shallow and filled with stumps till you get out to the main portion of the lake. Thinking ahead we put the aluminum prop on until we were comfortable with the lake and where to to. Good thing too because by Sunday there was nothing left of the aluminum prop. It was mangled and bent beyond belief. We are now riding the stainless prop and its still hard to believe how great this boat is. I am sure once pictures are developed I will be posting them. Thanks for everyones help. I will be using this thing all the time. Its awesome...

 

Thats Awesome... But you still suck! J/K
Must be the jealousy talking...
Come on now post the pics!