Interested in a 1992 Sunsport. Need opinions.

So, I boxed up the transmission and it's shipping today to Fantastic Finish Marine for a full rebuild.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0...709_094319.jpg

It only weighed 56 pounds in the box. Not bad. Got a crazy deal on shipping through work. WA to OH for $25 + $10 insurance.

I also found out that there were chipped teeth on my flywheel's ring gear. SKIDIM.com wanted $120 for a ring gear. I got one from my local auto parts store for $22. A local machine shop is going to R&R the ring gear for $15. Nice!!!

I'm also going to change out the rear main seal while I have everything apart... We will put the transmission back in and then attempt the alignment ourselves. But if we aren't successful, I have an appointment at Active Water Sports a few days after I will get the tranny back.

Got my transmission back on Friday from Fantastic Finishes Marine in OH. Full rebuild for $900. Unfortunately I was elbows deep in an event I put on for my BMW car club... It was a blast, but it took the whole weekend... http://vimeo.com/71303899

So, We dug into it yesterday after work. Changing the rear main seal was about the only smooth and easy part. Our plan was to use a clutch alignment tool to make sure that the damper plate was centered and everything would line up just right for the transmission input shaft to slide right in. Well, the input shaft is a 1" 35-spline piece. The only other application we could find for that was on Ford tractors. Um, yeah. So we went on a parts run and after the 4th auto parts store, we finally ended up with a universal pilot tool.
http://paceperformance.com/images/M31105054.jpg

Unfortunately, we messed up the order and we forgot to install the damper plate that does on the back of the bellhousing before the stupid flywheel, so we had to repeat that part. Then we found out that a bolt left part of its threads fused to the inside of the mounting holes for the flywheel. So a little drilling and some thread chasing and we were back in business.

By the end of the evening, the flywheel was back on and everything was aligned for that. We have the transmission in and mounted up to the engine. The stringer mounts are on and in place. The starter's back in and we've hooked up a lot of the hoses and electrical. So this evening we'll button up some more odds and ends, and fill the transmission and see if we can give it a shot at the propshaft/transmission alignment. If that doesn't go smooth, I have an appointment Thursday at a shop to have them do the alignment.
We were also a few days ago able to install the Faria depth gauge and we've run the wiring for the no cut transducer.
She'll be back on the water soon. Of course the forecast is for Rain on Thurs/Fri, so we'll hopefully get the wrenching done before then.

Am I misunderstanding something? With the damper plate in place, it should be aligned. Since it bolts up, and then the transmission slides into it, it should be all aligned. I'm not seeing where you would need an alignment tool for the damper plate. I must be misunderstanding you.

I put a new damper plate on mine, and slide the tranny right in. The bolted it all up. No alignment tool needed.

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Originally Posted by haugy

Am I misunderstanding something? With the damper plate in place, it should be aligned. Since it bolts up, and then the transmission slides into it, it should be all aligned. I'm not seeing where you would need an alignment tool for the damper plate. I must be misunderstanding you.

I put a new damper plate on mine, and slide the tranny right in. The bolted it all up. No alignment tool needed.

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Okay, there is play where the damper plate can have some variation in how "centered" it is on the flywheel. If the damper plate was not bolted onto the flywheel dead on balls centered, it would cause the tranny input shaft to rotate in an orbit, and therefore tear up the tranny.

Now, I've since realized that we *should* have bought a brass pilot bearing to put into the hole that's at the end of the crank shaft. Because we did have issues when the hole at the back side of the engine was actually bigger than the hole in the damper plate. It made it so it would have been impossible to get the universal pilot tool out. We ended up wrapping a smaller bushing on the pilot tool with electrical tape to temporarily increase the diameter in a way that when we pulled the tool out through the hole in the damper plate, we could get the tape to give way and get the tool out.

Maybe your damper plate has zero tolerance, but mine there was definitely the ability for the mouting holes on the plate to be just big enough to slide the plate around marginally on the flywheel...

Oh okay. That's what I was wondering. Yeah on mine, it was pretty easy. 6 holes, no other way for it to line up. Although my tranny is now making some noises. :D :D Hope I didn't fubar it putting it back together.

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Originally Posted by haugy

Oh okay. That's what I was wondering. Yeah on mine, it was pretty easy. 6 holes, no other way for it to line up. Although my tranny is now making some noises. :D :D Hope I didn't fubar it putting it back together.

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Well, if you do have issues, a rebuild from Fantastic Finshes Marine is $900. And they turn it around in 2 to 3 days from receipt. They only weigh 55 pounds so fedex ground was a great deal and I was able to ship it in one of those industrial rubbermaid bins.

Well, we spent another evening buttoning up things on the boat. We connected the tranny cooler and proceeded to work on the propshaft to transmission alignment. It took us a while (maybe an hour) but all in all we felt pretty satisfied with our result. We were able to get the left right to basically dead on balls (pretty much the same spec from side to side, under .001 difference). And top/bottom we were able to get it to within .0015 which is well within the within .003 spec. So we quit while we were ahead!!!

Filling the transmission fluid was a bit odd. The FSM says that the spec is 1.9 liters. I put in around 1.4 liters and it was overflowing fluid out the dipstick hole. I sucked quite a bit out and it still seemed like I had too much. It was still above the full mark. :confused: I have no idea how much I sucked out (I used my topsider pump), but obviously there's no way I got the full 1.9 in there. I even warmed up the engine to temp (hooked to the garden hose) and made sure the boat was level when I checked it. I am going to give Fantastic Finishes Marine a call tomorrow to ask them about it, and will also be re-checking the fluid level on the water tomorrow...

it feel surreal to think that the boat is "fixed" after having been down since July 5th. As part of this ordeal, I ended up getting a new ring gear on the flywheel, changing the rear main seal, getting the starter all cleaned up and tested, and verified my propshaft alignment.

I'm praying all goes well on the water tomorrow. I have to admit I am a little nervous.

Congrats on getting all those repairs made. It sounds like you took your time in getting everything installed correctly, so I'm hoping you'll have a great experience on the water.

Man, this is an excellent thread for someone like myself who is in the exact same spot you were when you started the thread. I'm going to check out a 1992 Sunsport this weekend and I am stoked! I eagerly await your lake test results as I have not ever owned a boat and I'm not quite sure I could do all you have done in repairs myself. Great job.

You have to have the engine running in order for the tranny to fill the cooler. Run the engine and then fill up the trans. Like a car.