Travis' 1984 Supra Rider

[sydneyACE]

Been doing a little here, a little there, for the past few days, and if it quits raining, I'll try to run it after work today.

I put the risers on,
starter,
distributor cap,
all the wiring,
hoses,
oil-drain hose,
etc.

I cranked-it, without fuel, a little bit and everything seems to work well. (The jury's still out on the alternator.) The raw water pump pumps without leaking (Yay!)

I was going to prime the carb and adjust float levels etc, but when I put the fuel pick-up line into my gas can, the fuel pump started pumping it all out the small line on the bottom. I guess I should have used the "boat's" fuel-pump instead of the one off the donor motor.

So, I installed the "old" fuel pump and hopefully that will do the trick.

Am I forgetting anything before I do a little test-run on the garden hose?

[sydneyACE]

Got it running last night! YAY!
I just need to get some new hoses here and there, as well as some new fuel-line.

It took forever to prime-up the carb. (Used-up my battery and had to take the one out of the truck LOL!)

I started-off with the timing 180* off (happens every-time I swear). That was pretty interesting, she was spitting some flames!

Once I got that sorted, it seemed to run pretty well, that 400 sounds AWESOME!

If I can get the trough-hull exhaust sorted and the rudder installed, maybe I can do a test at the lake this weekend.
Cross your fingers and all that for me.

[sybrmike]

Sounds like real progress. Did the 180 distributor before in an old Mustang - first crank at night & yeah lots of pretty flames & backfires through the carb.

Got my fingers crossed for ya.

[sydneyACE]

Went-up to the lake on Sunday evening to do a little on-trailer, in-water testing. The marine epoxy I used on the exhaust thru-hull worked great. The stuff cures in 50 min, and will actually cure underwater, so it was perfect. I didn't put enough on the rudder thru-hull though, so I was leaking a little there.

I used some clear hose on the water pick-up, and I was concerned because it wasn't drawing any water out of the lake. There's no blockage in the pick-up, and when I disconnect the hose into the thermostat housing, the fresh-water pump was pumping like a banshee. When I put the line back on the housing, it quit drawing water out of the lake again. It seems to me like the engine just wont take-in any water.

I'm getting a little confused because, when I ran it on the hose at the house, water was coming-out the exhaust normally. I though maybe something happened between my test-run and the lake-run so I ran-it again last night on the hose, and it's spitting water out the exhaust just fine.
When I ran it on the hose, it definitely wasn't getting hot, I didn't run it long enough on the lake for it to get hot, because I was concerned that the impeller would burn-up.

Does it matter if the thermostat is opened or closed? It should pick-up and discharge water out the exhaust no matter what right?

[sybrmike]

I'd check the internal passages of the tstat housing. Since you rebuilt the raw water pump & it flows water out of the outlet when disconnected, sounds like you're good there. Water should flow from the raw water intake inlet of the tstat housing to the outlets for the exhaust manifolds whether the tstat is open or not. Maybe the extra pressure from the water hose is enough to get by any blockage.

[sydneyACE]

Yeah, I think what I'm gonna do for my next outing is just put some clear tubing to the manifolds too. That way I can see if it's flowing out that way too.

[sydneyACE]

I had the first, real in-water test on Sunday, and I was pretty happy with the results.

We didn't sink or get stuck in the middle of the lake, so I consider it "Great Success!". LOL!

Biggest issue I had was leaking oil out of the timing cover. I replaced all of the gaskets on the engine, but that aftermarket cheap chrome timing cover didn't seem to fit quite right. I noticed it when I was assembling everything and should have gobbed-on some extra RTV but.... didn't.... Story of my life hahaha!

I think it leaked about a quart, so I now officially have the dirtiest bilge ever.

The cooling seems to be working fine, I expected it to flow move volume, but the manifolds didn't get too hot. (I could touch them for a couple of seconds at a time without pain.) That's my official, scientific test.

Performance was surprising! The thing would go from idling in-gear, to plane in just a few seconds (13x12.5 prop). The carb seems to be jetted just right. I can go from idle to full-throttle instantly without any hesitation/stuttering. I think I got really lucky there, I heard these carbs can be a pain to tune.

Now I just need to fix the oil-leak and put a temporary floor in the back, and it will be ready for chilling at the lake w/friends.

[sydneyACE]

Ok, so it's officially been almost a year since I last posted on this thread here.

I have been super-busy, changed jobs, moved, etc.
Not too busy to play with the Supra, but mostly too busy to keep this thread up to date.
I have been posting here and there about this and that, and it came to my attention that I should try to get a good update going.

Put a temporary floor in the back of the boat, then put some temporary carpet over everything.
I found a sweet, temporary, rear bench seat on craigslist in the form of a rear-bench out of an old Ford van.
It works well for now and it actually matches the boat's color nicely.
I started wet-sanding the hull, but progress is very slow and it's not on the top of my priority list.
Have been playing around with ballast (basically, that means grabbing anything heavy that I can find laying-around and cramming it in the boat somewhere).
More on that here:
https://forum.supraboats.com/showthr...r-Ballast-Fun!

I do have lots of sweet pictures but I don't have a card-reader on my CPU so I have to rely on my GF to email them from her CPU to me.
I'm gonna make her do that tonight, I promise.

Anyway, that's all for now. I will get some pics up tonight.

[suprasam]

I have been on this forum for a while, but I have some how missed this whole thread. Its a perfect thread to watch.....great motor rebuild/paint and what not. My boat I believe was used in salt also, and show some minor rust here and there. I am slowly taking things apart and painting when I get a chance, or when they need to be replaced they get painted. Good luck, and cant' wait for the pictures.
Nice job on it by the way!

[sydneyACE]

I have been on this forum for a while, but I have some how missed this whole thread. Its a perfect thread to watch.....great motor rebuild/paint and what not. My boat I believe was used in salt also, and show some minor rust here and there. I am slowly taking things apart and painting when I get a chance, or when they need to be replaced they get painted. Good luck, and cant' wait for the pictures.
Nice job on it by the way!

Thanks Shane!

I haven't been up-dating it at all, so that's probably why you haven't noticed it.

When you paint stuff, be sure to get all the rust off first. Do a couple thin coats to start, a couple thick coats, then finish with a thin coat.
The reason I say that is because, I don't think I used enough paint on mine. My intake manifold rusted-through the paint down in the little "valleys" where it got wet a few times. It didn't "bubble through" from underneath, but I think the water soaked down through the paint. Same thing happened to my valve covers, thermostat housing, etc.

Maybe look-into getting some of that original PCM paint that skidim sells. Supposedly that's the stuff that PCM uses on exhaust manifolds/risers. Maybe that would be more "water-proof". I plan to re-do some of my parts this fall when I winterize.

Yeah, most my pics from this season are of the wet-sanding/buffing proccess. I just need to poke my GF over and over until she will email them to me.

Thanks for the kind words. My boat is definately one of the roughest/ugliest boats on the forum, but hopefully as I get more and more done, the turn-around will just be that much better!