'87 Supra Saltare "Rebuild"- Keep the Big Girls Running!!

[Rusty]

Hello Everyone.

I have a 1987 Supra Saltare that I am having rebuilt in time for this season. She is a big block 454, 21 footer. I am going with a company called "Solid Motor Sports" located in Sherman, TX. I found this company on this forum, then eventually got the info from "Mani". As some of you know, I posted a thread about being concerned about a bid i got from another guy. Anyway, I had lunch with Steve this afternoon at Hooters. He's gonna be a new dad in July, and seems to be a real stand up guy. It was like we've been friends for a long time. He showed me his bid and some of his work. Outstanding! This kid is talented- having done similar type of work to "pimp my ride" custom work to cars. We is going to rebuild everything. Floor (which he discovered the previous owner just laid an additional sheet of ply wood over the old floor). Stringers (which were rotted out completely), Upholstery (in descent shape- however, we are going to customize it to a new paint job (which i am debating shopping around) and engine rebuild. This is going to be a complete rebuild from the ground up. I'll keep you all posted as progress and pics begin to roll in. THank you for your support in helping me through this decision guys, and thank you for this site!:D

[TitanTn]

Sounds really great. I can't wait to see the pics as you get started.

[Okie Boarder]

Awesome! Looking forward to seeing pictures.

[sybrmike]

Always good to see another Salt being resurrected from the grave. Mine's taking much more time and $ than planned, but I knew it would. Best of luck with the rebuild & keep us updated (I'm always looking for more good ideas to steal).

[jsandy]

for the record i would'nt want my boat to look like anything they had on "pimp my ride" but thats just me

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Exciting for sure!!!! I would be interested to know what you want to 'do' with the boat - for example are you dedicated slalom/barefoot skiers, or family all-around including skiing, wakeboarding and tubing and such, or dedicated wakeboard/surf boat. :) That tells me which direction you're takin this rebuild - once you get past the meat of the project that is. GOOD LUCK! Post often and we LOVE pics!

[Rusty]

Well. The weather has halted the start of the rebuild- bummer. I've been researching paint options in the mean time. The project is going to involve the following: new floor, new stringers, new carpet (obviously), new upholstery, engine rebuild-with upgraded cams for more HP., engine paint, trailer repaint. Oh ya, we were going to see if the exhaust pipes could be repositioned above water so that 454 can growl!!! Anyone know if that's possible?

I'd like to keep the boat as original as possible ;), but it will definitely have an upgraded "crazy" look. This saltare was originally blue exterior, gray bottom and gray on gray interior with teak. What I'm thinking on the updated interior is black interior base, keep the teak, then black and yellow upholstery with white stiching- Black carpet, tinted windows The exterior paint I'm leaning toward yellow and black zebra. Indigo LED's interior, indigo "seavision" lights. Crazy!!!! I'm trying to theme this boat after one of my most favorite 80's hair bands- stryper!- listen to a lot of 80's rock on board- drives my wife crazy :o.

As for how we spend our time in the water?

Married with 4 kids. My oldest daughter (Kayla 16) and I wakeboard. My three younger kids (hailey 9, Hanna 7, and Harrison 5) knee board and tube. My wife water ski's (sometimes) but is afraid of cat fish and alligators, so she stays on board a lot :) or helicopters next to the kids on the jet ski while they are skiing behind the boat.. We are going to try wake surfing this season....I thought I read somewhere on here that fat sacs can be built into floor in the saltare?? It looks fun as hell! Also, I haven't figured out how to post pics on this site... I'll get 'er done.

[devovino]

Zebra stripes huh... who would have thought, this I would like to see..D

[Rusty]

Haha! Y-e-s- dude. I'm disappointed that my idea wasn't original on the zebra!

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[Rusty]

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[oldman]

[QUOTE=Rusty;49177] I've been researching paint options in the mean time.

What type or brands of paint are you looking at? Are you painting both bottom and sides. In the classifieds a guy from PA gel coated the whole hull of a old rider looked like a beautiful job.

[jsandy]

having the exhoust above the water will be cool for about an hour. after that your just annoying and everyone else on the water will hate you. please i've owned hotrods since i was 12 and if theres one thing ive learned is loud exhoust is only cool if you never drive it. plus everyone that lives on the river/lake you boat on will hate you too. just a thought, but when i build a car or truck for someone i ask them what they think we be cool a year from now or 5 years from now. build for the long run

[Rusty]

having the exhoust above the water will be cool for about an hour. after that your just annoying and everyone else on the water will hate you. please i've owned hotrods since i was 12 and if theres one thing ive learned is loud exhoust is only cool if you never drive it. plus everyone that lives on the river/lake you boat on will hate you too. just a thought, but when i build a car or truck for someone i ask them what they think we be cool a year from now or 5 years from now. build for the long run

Haha....Good point. I never thought about how I would feel about the exhaust after it looses its luster. Thnx.

[Rusty]

[QUOTE=Rusty;49177] I've been researching paint options in the mean time.

What type or brands of paint are you looking at? Are you painting both bottom and sides. In the classifieds a guy from PA gel coated the whole hull of a old rider looked like a beautiful job.

You know oldman, I don't know. What brand do you recommend? I'm was thinking only the sides, however, since he has the cap off....It would be ideal to consider both. Still shopping...

[sybrmike]

I'd be careful "painting" a boat. Back in my younger jet boat days, we'd paint em up fancy only to have them scratched and cracked all to heck in a season or two. Boats constantly flex, are stepped on, bumped, etc. & paint just doesn't hold up too well. Maybe now with all the plasticizers for flex bumpers & such it's much better, but I'd research for sure.

Gelcoat is harder to apply out of the mold & more expensive, but is durable, more flexible, & can be sanded/polished/buffed many times.

[oldman]

[QUOTE=oldman;49244]

You know oldman, I don't know. What brand do you recommend? I'm was thinking only the sides, however, since he has the cap off....It would be ideal to consider both. Still shopping...

I agree with sybrmike. First restore your original gel, especially bottom. Very few paints are made for below water. If you paint sides or top, Awlgrip is good. If you do it yourself I like awlcraft. Can get many years out of paint that you prep and prime correctly and easy to maintain. Sure is nice to have the durability of gel coat, but it's a big process to do right. (maybe a wrap?)

[khelfrich]

i would not paint the whole boat i would either leave the gel coat how it is or step up and do the gel coat the gel coat is a very long process to do and my factory gel coat was perfect just need buffed but i hated the color so i redid the whole thing in white one of the best things about gel coat is if you scratch or gouge it it is very easy to fix you can literally just fill in the scratch with a paint brush and then sand and buff, which you cant do with paint. but I'm not going to lie if you do gel coat you need to get yourself a good RP gun with about a 2.5 tip this will give you the smoothest finish and least sanding after it is sprayed. when spraying you have about 20 min between tearing the gun down and cleaning out which means you can spray about 2 cups of the gun (aprox 1.5-2 quarts) if you try to go longer the gel on the side of the cup ends falling off the side and clogs the gun. it took 7 hours to spray just the bottom half of the boat. also i suggest finding a way to flip the hull over if you do gel coat cause your looking at about 2-3 months of sanding after work and buffing. doing all that sanding on your back would suck. if you talk to boat repair people about overall refinishes they will tell you to use auto paint they say it looks better and flexes more then gel coat. talk to a body man they will tell you to use gel coat it has superior durability and is much easier to fix a scratch in then paint is. whatever you do get dura-tec High gloss to mix in the gelcoat mix about 20/80 or 30/70 duratec to gelcoat. makes it alot easier to spray.

[Rusty]

I know, right!?

[Rusty]

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HEre we go! THe cap comes off on monday and the show is about to begin. I'm excited! See how dirty that fiberglass is?? All that was done by a stupid crepe mertle in front of the house....completely soiled the inside the day i forgot to cover the boat and it rained! I spent days picking out all the blooms and seeds that had turned to mush. I even spray washed and it still never came clean again...take heed, its impossible to clean out...so learn from my mistake!

[TitanTn]

And the fun begins! Good luck and keep us posted.

[wotan2525]

Soooo glad I never have to go through that again. Pulling that old foam is one of the worst jobs I've ever been forced to do.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Good luck! We'll be watchin!

[sybrmike]

Some compound and/or wetsand & elbow grease should take care of the crepe myrtle stains. A sawzall, sharp shooter shovel, and floor scraper worked pretty good for removing my foam. Good luck!

[Rusty]

Weathers nice! We are rolling! I haven't kept y'all up to date, but I have some amazing pics! Engine has been pulled and I'm having it rebuilt with performance cams and springs. New paint, new floor, new interior, new motor. The only thing I would like to do is update interior lights, stereo, and paint trailer. I ordered the dripless shaft packing and have the skew if anyone wants it. I changed my idea of yellow zebra and am going to keep her blue, but with an amazing white and black compilation.

[Rusty]

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[Rusty]

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[TitanTn]

Rusty - you'll need to put the entire URL for the image between tags.

[sybrmike]

Don't tease us like that - fix them url's.

[Rusty]

Hah! Sorry about that guys. I tried doing that from an iPad. I'll fix it.

[Rusty]

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[Rusty]

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[TitanTn]

You are really making some progress. How long have you been working on this? There are so many restorations going on right now I can't keep track. And what kind of paint are you using on the cap?

[Okie Boarder]

Looking good. If you want the pictures to embed in your post, wrap the url info with the img tags. and

[Salty87]

i can't see the pics....what gives?

[sybrmike]

Looks like some great progress - it's taken me a year to get where you are in 4 months, but I'm flying solo.

Stringers look great! That blue looks like the one Saltare Inverts used on his awhile back before he traded up. Can't wait to see how she all comes together.

[Rusty]

Im about to upload new pics and info. She's almost done!

[TitanTn]

Don't tease us! Show us what you've done!

[Rusty]

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Solid Motor Sports out of Sherman, TX- drilled holes into the floor, injected new foam into the floor, and then recapped the holes and glassed over. We are toying with the possibility of double glassing the floor surface, gel coating it, and making it a non skid carpet/floor...where I could unsnap the carpet and take it out to wash/replace and also be able power wash the floor.

other pic is of Freshly rebuilt engine (which will be painted red and black) with brand new coupler and brand new drive shaft with dripless packing installed, and brand new prop.

[Rusty]

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one more...of the motor mount.

[wotan2525]

Looking really good!! The foam is a controversial topic. I replaced it when I rebuilt mine (more for support of the floor than anything else) but if I did it again, I don't think I would.

the only thing I'm curious about is... did you not fiberglass or CPES the bottom of the floor? the plugs that came out look awfully raw on the bottom!

[sybrmike]

Looking good! I thought about a carpetless textured gel floor as well, but didn't think my gel skills were adequate to get a good finish - I've heard the patterned mat used to get the nonskid surface can be tricky to work with. But in the hands of some pros, that'd be slick (well, not slick but cool).

I can make out just a little of the aluminum intake on the engine - is that an air gap like mine? Any problems getting brackets & such to fit? Can't wait to see the reconfigured rear seating.

[Okie Boarder]

Looks good. Almost done!

[Rusty]

Ya...it looks very raw. I was reassured it was resined quite well.


Looking really good!! The foam is a controversial topic. I replaced it when I rebuilt mine (more for support of the floor than anything else) but if I did it again, I don't think I would.

the only thing I'm curious about is... did you not fiberglass or CPES the bottom of the floor? the plugs that came out look awfully raw on the bottom!

[Rusty]

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