General replacement info?

Hey everybody.

Have an '86 Saltare that my parents bought new. Has the 454 in it with points.

Been sitting with sporadic use in the summer for about 15 years now.

Want to redo it completely- but start with replacing a bunch of belts and hoses, rebuild carb, carb gasket needs replacing, oil sending unit, maybe the rudder port, fat water pump hose on the front of the engine is the worst, If someone could tell me where to get that I'd be very thankful.

I've had to replace the spark plugs yearly for the last 4 years or so to get it to run right. I figure they are fouling sitting over the winter because the carb gasket is leaking? What spark plug should I be using?

Is there anywhere that tells you what/where to get the correct parts for the boat by year, make and model?

Oil sending unit went bad several years ago. I replaced it with one from auto zone that makes the gauge peg on the high end. Old one got lost, so I need to know the original.

The rudder under load feels like it binds at one point in medium to hard turns. I've tried cranking the nut down, but after reading some of the posts on here I think there may be a deeper problem with packing/o rings. You can't feel the binding feeling when it's stopped or going slow.

I know I've listed a wide variety of problems. Any help is appreciated.

Located on lake Lanier in GA. If anybody knows a good mechanic that could go through it I'd love to have his info.

Thanks,
John

Saltare 86

You should be able to find about everything you listed at https://skidim.com

I just went through my Mariah 454 and they had all of the belts, hoses, tune up parts. If you are still running points the plug that was in my 454 was an Autolite 144.

The steering on mine was a bit stiff and was the cable. The guys at discount inboard marine are very helpful if you call them they can hook you up and answer any questions you may have. While you are in there I would change the impeller on your water pump as well

Good luck with your project

I live on the south side of Lake Lanier near Holiday marina . I could walk you through the repairs. The first thing is the Carb its probably the cause of the spark plugs fowling out every year. I would also replace that distributor with a DUI unit. I will sent you a PM.

Thanks for the info guys. Will check out skidim and look into replacing the distributor

Davis Unified Ignition Marine Performance D.U.I distributor.

Ok. Little update. Got my carb rebuilt by carb specialists in Alpharetta, Ga. Just picked it up today. Going to put it on tomorrow. Got new gaskets for the carb and spacer too.

Got new plugs, one hose for the engine, and oil sending unit from skidim.com also. Going to do those also tomorrow.

Will update how it runs after.

Ya'll think I'll have to adjust anything on the carb after I install it?

Michael - Thanks for the info and PM. Been tied up with work but will definitely be calling when I need to do some more involved repairs like replacing the distributor.