Swamplizard13

Ran the Harley out to Pompano bouys for a scuba dive - had 8 people on board, 80 gallons water, 180 fuel, and ran 39.8 gps mph at 3600 rpm. Still cant get any WOT over 4000 though I do have a trim problem with the drives right now.

What concerned me most is two things:

1) When I hit the gas to get on plane I get a lot of steam out the exhaust which seems a bit odd.

2) oil Temps go to 220 at 3600 cruise and oil pressure seems to drop quite a bit when I stop running. At 1000 warm I get 45-50 psi at WOT hot I get 40, when I come off plane and idle around thereafter with hot oil in the 200 range - I get 25 psi. Oil is straight 40 wt.

do I have a problem? Water temps BTW are always the same 160.

FeverMike

Harley?

Payton

A Harley super Sport, right? They are big cool boats. What engines do you have? Oils presure/temp issues sound about normal for a little to small oil cooler or not enough water flowing thru it. The steam could also be a sign of not enough water flow.
Your water temp is fine.

Jayl13

sounds like you need bigger oil coolers, you have the 502's right? Whats the trim problem? THe WOT at 4000 RPM's if you cant pierce the surface of the water with your surface drives and props thats going to be a big problem, those props need to be at the surface to work correctly. If they are fully submerged then that is going to be a part of it. St 40 weight might be a little too thick for stock 502MPI's if it is too thick it wont be able to dissapate heat very fast, will retain heat. Try a 20W50 and see if that helps with the oil temps and look around for a larger oil cooler if yours are too small. I had really messed up readings on my baja's oil pressure gauges and I barked at the engine builder and he swore up and down it was okay, only real way to tell is to put an oil pressure gauge on the engines directly and look at them from time to time, Ill bet like my baja the gauges were bad (old VDO gauges) I put in new senders and new gauges and the readings were night and day but the gauge on a tube off the block told me I was fine with oil pressure the dash did not even come close to reflecting what the actual was.
You still have the old stuff in the dash and original senders from the stock engines in the boat before you went to the 502'S???
J

Swamplizard13

They are rebuilds - 502 with 850cfm carbs. One is counter rotating. Have had nothing but problems with these motors two rebulds later by a dif mechanic and now they are getting more reliable.....- do NOT get anything from Bill's Marine in Davie/Lauderdale. Very unethical and has no bucks so you cant even sue him. Junk dealer.

I blew a seal on one of the rams that trims the arneson drives...scheduled a pull out for next weekend so I can replace/rebuild them. Also thinking of putting new throughulls for better water pickups - dont like the ones I have - seem inefficient.

The Harley was built in Bartow FL and is basically a cigarrette hull (took one than burned and sank for the molds...which was made taller and wider (by default) so that you can stand in the cabin. Kevlar and glass and foam core but still heavy - about 16000 lbs.

I agree on the oil coolers - can anyone recommend a decent set within reason price-wise?

Many Thanks

BTW -All gauges and senders were replaced a year ago with Gaffrig/livorsi everything. I also put fuel pressure gauge on motor and am thinking of putting oil PSI guage on there as well- just not sure where to plug them in.

Steve H

Hey Swamp Lizard,

Welcome to the board. It's not often I find a fellow Harley owner on this, or any other board for that manner.
I also am running 502's w/Arnesons. I wouldn't worry about your pressure and temps until you get your RPM's where they belong. 4,000 RPM @ WOT is not enough. This could be the root cause of alot of major engine problems. It should be a minimum of 4400 to 4600.
I run about 36 mph @ 3600 RPM as per GPS. This is with stock 415 hp 502's turning 18X21 3 blade nibral rollas (old style) through a 1.5 to 1 trans. WOT is about 4500 getting me up to about 50 mph if I'm loaded light.
I've had this boat for about 6 yrs. I have painted replaced or rebuilt just about every item on it during this time. More of a hobby to get me out of the house than anything else. I plan on taking it tuna fishing off of the Oregon coast this summer. Then run up the inside passage to Alaske next summer.

Got any pics?

Steve H

Rik

You stated that you have ASD8 in line drive units. Are you not able to trim one of the drive units at all or are the seals leaking in the trim and will not hold trim position?

If the drive will not trim then there could be the source of the RPM problem.

Your boat is pretty much like Steve's (is yours a 42' also?) but we do not know the reduction ratio in your boat. If you are running a marine gear with reduction ratio, why are you counter rotating the engine? Maybe we should clarify which transmissions you are using?

Rik

Swamplizard13

Steve - I have been emailing you for a while - changed names to protect the innocent ;-)

Borg Warner trans 1.53:1 model 71(I think- hard to read label)
They are the mid 80's variety (rebuilt 20 hours ago as a maintenance measure) of transmissions - not reversable so went with counter rotating port side motor.

Trim problem is a recent one - I actually blew a trim hose on stbd arneson drive a few weeks ago. I have a haul out scheduled but need to wait for it. So this past weekend I was running with both drives at 20-degree angle (deep).

I am planning on replacing both trim hoses and rebuilding the steering ram since it seems to be losing a bit of power steering fluid due to a seal leak.

Rik, if I had to do it all again - I would change the trans out for higher reduction and make both motors normal rotation. It would have allowed me more motor options and I could have avoided the rebuilt power plants and gone bone stock like Steve...but alas...I have what I have and with 2 in college it will have to do for now.

Thanks for ideas and suggestions.

Swamplizard13

Rik - do you sell a ram rebuild kit for the ASD8 steering ram?

Steve H

Swamp Lizard?

Hows your back doing? You sounded a little disappointed the last time I heard from you. Sound like you're back at it though. I lost your e mail, so give me a update on your project.

I have a leaking trim ram also. I purchased two seal kits from Rik at Arneson. Just haven't got the ambition to pull the big turd out of the water. Maybe today or maybe not.
Steve