IGetWet

That was my first thought but the red exhaust seals are/were definitely 3/8", they're the same as the new ones, other than color, which are 3/8".

IGetWet

Made a mess with wiring running from back to the helm again today. Had to pull back tab wiring and pink fuel level wire that will now plug into the engine harness and be displayed via smartcraft. Here's the best I've come up with for a mfd with a couple of important analog gauges. Simrad GO9 with vessel view link will give me all the chartplotter functions I will ever need plus all the engine data.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]566221[/ATTACH]

I wasn't too impressed with how it looked at first but then when I set it in the boat I liked it much more. This is my third mock up. Each time the Simrad display has gotten bigger and consequently the analog gauges smaller, but that's fine. First was Vessel Veiw 502 (Simrad GO5) with 5" speedo and tach, then Simrad GO7 with smaller tach and speedo, now this one which I think is the winner.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]566222[/ATTACH]
2.5" gauges will be vacuum/boost, fuel pressure, water pressure, and oil temp (smartcraft will display oil pressure)

VV 502 with monster tach and speedo for reference. Just didn't like the way it looked and that tiny screen would be almost pointless. Plus the Simrad GO9 can be had with the vessel view link and the harness, j box for about the price of the Mercury relabeled Simrad GO5 kit
[ATTACH=CONFIG]566223[/ATTACH]

BajaDan

iTrader: (2)

You will enjoy the dash modification. I installed a chartplotter similar to what you are doing with the Vessel View. The dash on the 252/272 is very small but the chartplotter option let me ditch the speedo. I am running a Mercmonitor for my smartcraft display and for the NMEA 2000 conversion. I don't think the Mercmonitors will convert to NMEA anymore, but they do make a separate converter for that.

About the only thing I did that I wish I hadn't is buy Livorsi Vantage View (Smartcraft compatible) gauges. These new Livorsi gauges just don't seem to be the same quality as what founded the companies reputation. I should have made the entire system NMEA 2000 and not tried to run a dual system. The boat is now pretty much fully wired for NMEA data anyway. The Fusion head unit and remotes all tie in to the NMEA backbone also and you can display any NMEA data on them if you like.

IGetWet

I actually saved a picture of your dash Dan from a thread I found a while back as a reminder to redo my dash. My first idea was also the mercmonitor, but plans change and change and change. I already have some NMEA cable ran from my fusion as well. We like to try new lakes when we get the chance so the charts will be awesome.

Too bad about the livorsi gauges. One of the reasons I'm also adding a smartcraft display is so that I won't have to buy a $1200 three slot LED indicator. Or a $500 GPS speedo. Their prices are crazy. No way to sugarcoat that. Didn't take much math to see that a mfd that can display engine functions along with everything else they do is a much better way to go.

IGetWet

I was able to get heads on and torqued and valve lash all set, cleaned up wiring harness a little bit as well. Should be able to get the rest of it back together this week, just waiting on o rings from Whipple. Hoping to fire her up next weekend!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]566379[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]566380[/ATTACH]

Need to try to find a spot to thread in an oil temp sensor...

30outlaw

hummm so maybe there is some used value in our dash panel then[ATTACH=CONFIG]566405[/ATTACH]

IGetWet

Roughly $30 worth

IGetWet

Today's issue was the fuel pickup. The Whipple install manual says all fuel lines must be -10 (5/8"). Well you can put a bigger barb fitting off the pickup on the tank but it's still going to be choked down at the 90 out of the fuel tank. So I planned on removing the stock pickup and putting a bigger one in the tank. Tried loosening it up with the center floor section still in and reaching through the access port. This led to snapping the aluminum anti shiphon valve off which then led to fuel pouring out the pickup because i fill the tank for storage. Not too much fuel got out while I was thinking "why the hell is this happening" and then put my finger over it to stop it. Then I thought well now I'm in a tight spot. Thank God my neighbor was home fertilizing his lawn. I was able stretch my long ass neck up enough to get over side of the boat to yell to him to come lower the front of the trailer. It stopped leaking right as the tongue jack was bottomed out all the way down, thank God again. So now I knew I had to remove the center floor again, which requires removing the seats. Thankfully there's no motor in the f'n thing so I was able to put the seats where that usually goes. The fuel level was still so close to top at the rear of the tank that if I put just a little weight on the plastic tank fuel would start pouring out again. So while damn near doing the splits and spanning the floor opening I was able to get a pipe wrench on the pickup head now and break it loose while keeping the bushing from spinning on the tank the pickup threads into. After I got it loosened up the fuel was still so close that another small amount over flowed out of the bushing. After I got the pickup completely removed from the tank any small amount of sloshing of the fuel would cause it to burp out the bushing more. I put rags over the bushing,carefully got out of the boat and ran to the hardware store and got a 3/8" pipe plug to plug the hole for the time being. Moral of story: Don't make fuel tank modifications with 89.99 gallons of fuel in a 90 gallon fuel tank. Hindsight is 20/20 right?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]566537[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]566538[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]566539[/ATTACH]

So after I get the pickup out then I start searching for "bigger" ones. No luck. WTF. So short of putting an adapter on to fit 5/8" hose off of a dinky pickup and going the ignorance is bliss route I'm not seeing how this would work. Decided to call a pro. Call young performance marine, talk to Eddie again, had a good conversation in which he told me I'm not crazy, he's seen plenty of pistons fried etc because of improper fuel flow, blamed on tunes etc, and that they make their own "bigger" pickups because the stock ones are too small. Anyways Eddie will be welding me a proper stainless steel pickup together hopefully this week yet that will have a complete ID of a -10 fitting.

Glad I decided to jump on this part of the project today because it got a lot more complicated than I thought it would've been....

Knot 4 Me

I thought I was the only one in the world that had things like this happen to him!

BajaDan

iTrader: (2)

Welcome to my world!

I'm learning something here though as I thought all of our boats had aluminum tanks in them.

Not that it might matter to you, but we cruise a lot. When we go to the gulf and take the boat (about twice a year), we cover a lot of ground and fuel capacity, USEABLE fuel capacity is good to know.

So last year I ran the tank low at our local lake, came home and pumped the rest of the fuel out through the pickup and then filled it back up to the brim. Low and behold I could only fit 82 gallons in the "90" gallon tank. In other news that may be of interest to you, on our 496, the Mercmonitor display for fuel used reads about 5% shy. For more than you might ever care to discuss on this subject my endeavors are documented on this thread on another site.

http://forum.***************.com/gen...-thoughts.html

Dan