Buying Used Legacy

[hanski]

I am in the process of purchasing a 1998 Legacy (250 hrs). All that is left is the test drive. Any advice on any items I should check, look and listen for? This is our first ski boat any help would be appreciated.

[KenG]

A 1998 Legacy may be on a Boatmate trailer. Boatmate used a monoleaf spring on the single axle trailers and those monoleafs were known to fail. Boatmate may still offer a replacement spring setup.

Some Legacys had improperly mounted windshields. The section that opens to allow entry into the bow area could actually fall through especially if the boat was operated in rough water.

If the boat has the Indmar EFI, the high pressure fuel pump may be water cooled. Some of these water cooled pumps developed an internal problem that allowed either gasoline into the cooling system or water into the fuel system. Indmar makes a replacement fuel pump kit.

Some of Indmar's alternator mounts tended to either break or the bracket mounting bolts would fail. Indmar offers a replacement kit.

The raw water pump mounting brackets tended to crack.

--KG--

[hanski]

KG,

I am no "gearhead, how do I check these things out

[Legace]

I'm curious on how you came up with the windshield falling through. I had this happen on my Legacy. Any modifications that can be made?

[KenG]

Hanski,

If it is a Boatmate trailer and has the single axle, look at the springs. On each side of the axle, if there is just a single leaf attaching the frame to the axle, this is the monoleaf setup. Your best bet is to contact Boatmate with the trailer VIN; since not all monoleafs were a problem, this one may be OK.

As far as the flip-open section of the windshield, check for windshild frame damage and some gel-coat damage. When the flip-open section would fall through, you almost had to take the passenger side windshild completely loose to un-jam it. Also note how much overlap the flip-open section edge has on the driver's side windshield frame, the more the better. There are several stainless-steel right-angle brackets that hold the consoles to the boats floor, these need to be tight to help hold the consoles steady and limit movement. You'll need to remove the spotter seat cushion and look under the dash areas on both sides to find these brackets. I don't know if Supra ever offered a fix for the windshield issue.

For the fuel pump issue, during your test ride, check for a strong oder of gasoline at the rear of the boat when it is idling. You might even be able to see a gasoline sheen on the water when you shut off the engine. Of course, if the engine has a carburetor, then no problem. Do you know if the boat has a carburetor or EFI? Or what is the engine horsepower rating? The carb is 310 hp and EFI is 325 hp. Keep in mind, not all of these pumps failed, but several did. Indmar offers a replacement pump kit (~$700 or so).

The alternator is located on the left-front side of the engine. Look at the bracket that holds it to the engine and inspect it for cracks, especially in the area of the two bolts that hold the bracket to the engine block. Cracks will show up as rusty lines in the bracket. Check the tightness of the two bolts that hold the bracket to the engine block; this is not easy since the battery ground attaches to the upper bolt. Check the alternator drive belt; if the bracket and/or bolts are broken, the belt may be abnormally loose.

The raw water pump is located at the front of the engine and is mounted directly to the crankshaft. It has two large hoses attached to it on the pump's left side. The mounting bracket attaches to the bottom of the pump, then extends a few inches to the right side, then makes a 90° bend, extends a few more inches before attaching to the engine block. If it is broken, you will easily be able to see it. If the engine does not have EFI, then you will not have any bracket issues. The breaking bracket was an issue if the engine had EFI with the water-cooled fuel pump since the bracket also attached to the fuel pump housing right after the 90° bend and the bracket tended to break at mounting holes that attached it to the fuel pump. A new bracket is probably $20.

Even with these issues, it is a good boat, if it has been taken care of. Hopefully the owner will be up front with you on any problems he may have had.

--KG--

[KenG]

Legace,

You and I were not the only Legacy owners to have this issue with the windshield's flip-open section dropping down. I had heard the complaint from a few other Supra owners. I believe I also saw the problem mentioned on this or another web site.

Anyway, when it first happened, I rechecked/tightened all of the brackets that hold the consoles to the floor. I did find some loose. I also retightened all windshield mounting hardware, several of the screws were loose as well.

I thought the problem was solved since I had no more problems for some time, but it happened again. Went through the same process and did find more loose hardware. I made checking the hardware a routine procedure, but even with everything tight, the windshield still dropped down.

I was finding the windshield mount screw loose, especially on the passenger side. In addition, the screws that hold the windshield frames together would work loose too.

After about the fourth time of the windshield dropping down, I looked for a solution. One option was to reduce the gap between the flip-open section and the driver's side windshield frame. I decided against this because of the amount of movement the windshield did in rough water and I was afraid if I decreased the gap, the windshield might bind up and break the flip-open section.

So, I settled on installing a section of 1/8" x 2" aluminum flat stock on the section of the flip open section that lies on the driver's side windshield frame. I cut it to the appropriate length, smoothed/rounded the edges, drilled three mounting holes in the flat stock, countersunk the holes so the mounting screw heads would be flush. Painted it black to match the frame. Drilled three matching holes on the flip-open windshield frame and mounted the flat stock on the gasket side of the frame with stainless steel screws and acorn nuts. Installed 3/16" x 2" wide sponge rubber gasket material to cover the mounting screws and protect the driver's side windshield frame. I now have an extra 3/4" overlap, which is more than enough no matter how much the windshield/consoles move. I probably could have gotten by with 1-1/2" wide flat stock but I wanted to make sure I solved the problem. The 2" flat stock does extend by 3/8" or so over the driver's side glass but does not bother visibility; 1/1/2" flat stock would not do this. The good news is...no more problems with the windshield dropping down.

While we're on the subject of windshields, the gasket that beds the windshield to the console was sloppily done on the passenger side, so I decided to fix it last fall while I was putting the boat up for the winter. I was still having problems with the windshield mounting screws working loose on the passenger side and one or two would not tighten up. Also, the screws that hold the windshield frame together would also work loose; some of these frame screws are impossible to properly tighten with the windshield in place.

So I removed the passenger side windshield, removed the old gasket material and cleaned everything. I removed the frame screws, cleaned and installed using Loctite. I had to replace a few frame screws with the next size up.

While installing the windshield and with new gasket, I found that when the windshield was originally installed, many of the mounting screws missed the re-enforced section underneath the console. The re-enforced section is quite a bit thicker than the fiberglass area and is there to give the screws something secure to tighten in to. I had to re-angle a few screws and installed a couple extra, but all are now screwed into the re-enforced area and tightened up very well. The gasket job looks better than it ever did.

--KG--