1995 La Brisa, New to me, trying to bring it up to my standards.

[Blakelpd5]

Howdy! A couple weeks ago I picked up a 1995 La Brisa an hour away from my house. After searching CL for certain options in a specific price range for a while, I came across this Supra, and decided it was the one. After getting it home, of course I start tinkering with it. I've had it on the water 8 times now, and have a good feel for it.

First thing I did was replace the thermostat, and the impeller, so that is done. Motor seems great, smooth, strong, same motor I had in my last ski boat, so I was comfortable with that.(PCM 351).

Here is a list of a few things that bother me, and I'm hoping someone here has some experience, and advice. Thanks in advance!

**It seems the cavity under the floor on both sides (port & stbd) that run fore and aft, are almost sealed? I open everything up every night when I put it in the garage, and put a fan in the bow, open a couple windows in garage, and turn on the ceiling fan. Those cavities seem to have been full of water since the day i purchased it. I can see below the gas tank, standing water, and the carpet is very saturated even after a couple days of 80* in my garage.

**I've temporarily run a couple of fused circuits to switches on the accessories panel, because of low voltage. The battery is new, and tests great. But running through those "breakers" or whatever those things are, It's reducing the voltage to 8-9 volts.... Any Thought or ideas?

**How are you guys strapping down the rear of the boat. I have a method, but want something better. If you use standard s hooks that are on most ratchet straps, they hit the swimboard, and start torquing it down instead of the hooks on the boat

**I'm really surprised how much fuel this thing sucks down. I'm wondering if I have an issue somewhere, or is it normal to burn $40-50 of premium in 2-3 hours of engine time pulling someone? Lots of tubing for kids, little wakeboarding for dad...

Thanks for your time, and even thought it seems like I'm complaining, I'm not. I know I bought a used boat that is older, and I'm ok with that. I absolutely love it so far, and hope to make it a much better boat as I go.

[Cusefan78]

Welcome. I Have a 95 labrisa also. There aren't many of them out there.
I have had my boat just over a year and have gone through the whole thing. The water that is coming from the sides is an easy fix. I had the same problem. The water a coming In from under the rub rail. As you drive the water is splashing up and under the rail. I noticed the worst spots were even with the helm, the transom, and around two feet up from the back corner. The fix is easy. Remove old caulk and recaulk.

The voltage thing sounds like the alternator isn't working as it should. I had to replace mine also. Also there will be volt loss due to run. Further away the power run the more drop off. 3/4 volts though seem a lot.

Fuel- if you're pulling a tube expect to drink the fuel. I have a pro boss gt 40 in my boat which is pretty much the same engine you have in yours. Mine isn't horrible unless I'm pulling a tube then it drinks.

If you have any questions let me know.

[cadunkle]

I'm very curious about low voltage at the dash too. My Saltare has the same issue. I replaced the main breaker and a few others that were tripping with no shorts or extra load wired to them. Solved the tripping and voltage slightly higher. Cleaned and tightened a few connections, fixed some loose grounds, again slightly better voltage. Now at back of ignition switch on the always hot side I get just shy of full battery voltage but when I turn the key on it drops 1-2 volts. Not sure why but it's annoying as my gauges read off a bit, most notably fuel gauge which at full reads about 3/4 and at empty still has 10+ gallons left. Not sure the fix, maybe someone else knows. I'm suspecting maybe that little solid state board that controls the warning lights.

Not sure on your Labrisa but on my Saltare there is enough room between the platform and transom that I can slip a strap between them.

My fuel consumption is 6-7 GPH depending on load/speed/etc. That's a 454 in a Saltare. I'd expect your fuel consumption to be closer to 5 GPH perhaps. Not sure on fuel prices there but for me burning 89 octane that works out to about $20-$25/hr to run the boat. Checking Oregeon prices it seems like $3.75-ish for 89 octane... So 2 hours at $40 is 5.35 GPH and 3 hours at $50 is 4.45 GPH. Sounds pretty fuel efficient to me. I've heard of various small closed bow ski boats getting as low as a bit under 4 GPH. Verify float level is not high, check your initial timing, full timing and advance rate, and try jetting a hair leaner or adding a couple degrees of timing. There's room for improvement but not a whole lot I'd suspect.

[Blakelpd5]

Thank you two for your posts... I've seen your posts around in my lurking and you both seem very knowledgeable...

CuseFan - Thanks for the tip on the rub-rail. It looks as if someone made a very poor attempt at this fix previously, I'll clean it up and re-do it this winter. My real question is how do you get those cavities to drain? It bugs me there is confined water I can do anything about. I like the boat to dry out between uses, otherwise she starts to stink... haha..


Cadunkle, thanks for your input on the fuel consumption. If it is 5gph, which is what I roughly figured I was burning, and that is normal, I'm fine with it. I just don't want to have an unknown problem, so again, thanks for peace of mind. Also, I'm ONLY running 92 octane, which is what previous owner did, and what I've always done in all my gas powered toys. Am I wasting money???


My other issue at this point is bad cavitation in when pulling tubers, or when I have 150lbs + on the back bench. She goes good out of the hole, but corners she steps out a lot. Will simply updating the prop help with this?

[Cusefan78]

I would start with the wake plate. It should be just about level. Also are you sure it's cavitation and not a slipping tranny. With weight in the back it shouldn't be cavitating at all. I went through this last year and finally had to rebuild my tranny which is a simple deal. There's a write up with pics on here. Which 351 do you have. I have the proboss gt40 with mpi. There's another guy on here with the carbed gt40. Between the two of us we have pro ally gone through every part on these boats. As for the volt drop I never checked mine but I would start with the breakers and also check all connections to make sure there isn't any bad connections.

@cadunkle have you upgraded your sensor to the digital probes. I had that problem with mine until I switched to a probe. The guage now is right on and doesn't bounce. Can't remember the brand but if you do a search for sending units on here you will find the brand a few of us have switched to. Just need to get your tank depth and they will custome make you one to fit.

[Blakelpd5]

No, I'm not sure it's not the tranny slipping... I just walked out and checked the wake plate... if using the swimboard as level, then it slopes down about 3/8" from front to back... I'll level it with the swimboard and try again. Thanks for the tip!

Here is the combo I'm running. I think this is the motor that is the least desirable? I'm still new to all of this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/Blakelpd5/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-08/3CED3350-8506-4546-91E7-21F0AE813784_zpsnlxcsxsq.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Blakelpd5/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-08/3CED3350-8506-4546-91E7-21F0AE813784_zpsnlxcsxsq.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/Blakelpd5/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-08/669D24A8-872E-4A20-8682-FBBEA9F3F321_zpsyhw1slhu.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Blakelpd5/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-08/669D24A8-872E-4A20-8682-FBBEA9F3F321_zpsyhw1slhu.jpg.html)

[Blakelpd5]

THanks for the replies.... I posted a reply with a couple of pics, but it is not here... It said waiting for Mod Approval, and now it is gone.

[Cusefan78]

You need to get more posts before you're allowed to do pics

[Blakelpd5]

Gotcha... That's probably a smart move for the forum peeps....

Anyways, it was a couple of pics, one of my motor, which has the 5.8 Pro Boss Electronic Fuel Injection?? Looks like a carb that is injected? I'm not very "smart" when it comes to these things, but I catch on quick. Based on the lurking I've done, I've come to the conclusion it's the least desirable?

I've been thinking about your comment, and you know what, it very well could be the tranny slipping.... I searched for that rebuild thread with no luck finding it. Do you have a couple of keywords you remember from the thread I can use in my search? When it happens, I bring the throttle down immediately, and it re-engages, or "catches" as I thought the back end was skipping out a bit... Sounds like it's not a huge deal based on your reply, and I'm up for a challenge. However, I'm hoping it can wait a couple months until the cold sets in... Any advice against using the boat if the tranny is in fact slipping. I will obviously try to not push it hard enough to slip, but anything else?


Hopefully I can post pics soon. I am re-doing the dash panels because mine are all nasty and all corners broken off. It's a work in progress, but I'm also taking pics of all the wiring before i take it all apart, and that may help someone someday. This info needs to be on the internet if it's not already!!!!!

[Cusefan78]

Here is the tranny rebuild I did. There are a few pics of how I did it. In all honesty if you're going to do it then do everything and change out the drum. It's not much more and they are known to crack. It's really isn't a bad job. The problem is of it's slipping it's going to get worse. Mine was toast from two weekends after the first slip. But that was after a ton of hard pulls skiing.

Does your motor look like this. 14884if it does this is the good gt40. The other one has the protect ignition which while be a problem down the road. It'll have to be upgraded with a kit through summit or skidim. It's still a good motor just a bad ignition system

[Blakelpd5]

Nope, Has just a spark arrester on top, with a big flimsy plastic cover

Is there supposed to be a file or link above Cuse? Thanks.

[Cusefan78]

https://forum.supraboats.com/showthread.php?15505-Transmission-help&highlight=Tranny+rebuild
Sorry. Here you go

[Blakelpd5]

Thanks!!

Here's a teaser of what I'm doing to the nasty dash panels...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/Blakelpd5/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-08/A53D990B-DBA1-4459-BC0C-8ABC1D6C2D98_zpsxijqeivv.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/Blakelpd5/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-08/F20FD361-8B07-4AC5-9C51-3573F85410BC_zpsllveylu6.jpg

[MParsons]

Do you have any finished pictures of your dash? Im doing the same thing to my La Brisa panels as soon as the carbon fiber vinyl comes in.

[Cusefan78]

What did you do with all the buttons? I was thinking of getting carbon fiber on mine also. Where the panel where the speedos go I can't get the bottom screws to bite. So I was going to build them up with some glass then change out the panels. 15056

[Blakelpd5]

Oh WOW!!! My pics showed up finally... Here is a semi-finished pic of the buttons on the dash. I got some vinyl decals made to label the buttons but I'm not happy with them so I decided to re-work it over the winter...


I got LED toggle switches from O'Reilly's and ran a ground to each switch. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The only issue I have is my Horn isn't a momentary switch, but I'll survive...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/Blakelpd5/boatdash1_zpsa40f1c31.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Blakelpd5/media/boatdash1_zpsa40f1c31.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/Blakelpd5/boatdash2_zpsd468a172.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Blakelpd5/media/boatdash2_zpsd468a172.jpg.html)

[MParsons]

Looks great Blake! Im gonna do the same exact thing! Half my switches dont work though so ive gotta sort all that out while im at it. Are those aftermarket circuit breakers next to your switches? mine on my boat look different. Once again though looks nice very clean!

[Blakelpd5]

I believe the circuit breakers are factory. I re-used them, just updating my switches... Let's see what yours look like?




So the first two things I did to my boat were new impeller, and new thermostat. The temp guage started working great after that for about 5 launches. Now it's starting to act funny again. Lots of times it will be pegged out max (like it was when i bought it, and in the pics above), then i will look down and she is reading right at 160*, which concurs with the thermostat i put in. Any idea why the guage is acting funny anyone??

[Cusefan78]

Sounds like the sensor is bad or bad ground. I had that problem with my oil pressure guage and it ended up being the sensor

[Blakelpd5]

my oil pressure guage is tacked out too... I was just trying to diagnose one at a time haha... So, dumb question, but can you point me to where the oil pressure sensor is located? Thanks Cusefan....

[Cusefan78]

Next to the oil filter

[Blakelpd5]

Thank ya sir...