Operation 87 Cafe rescue
 

Long time lurker and looker dead set for many years to find the “ right “ Cafe racer for me. I found her on Facebook it popped up and I immediately hit the road to go check her out down in St. Petersburg Florida. She checked out to be very solid. I found a thread on here on all the places possible to look in these ol
girls. Man kinda sorta didn’t know what he had I don’t think but we struck a deal thankfully and I drug her up to southern Tennessee where she lives now . She has had a new transom and upgraded to bravo ones. Some Stringer work etc etc. i bought her knowing the engines are/ where bad. Took them out asap and began further cleaning and fixing stuff from years of neglect. Tracked down some new power plants for her also turn key ready to drop in and I’m getting ready to do so! It’s has been a fun project so far yet with a ways to go. Managed to track down a couple of old owners and found out more of her history and things that have been done and I was at a relief to find out most all great things!! Here are a few pictures from the day she came home and I guess what we would call “ current state”

Have been in and around all types and brands of boats my entire life. My old man spent a lot of time with me as a young boy teaching me the ways of old boats and boating etc! But still a rookie in my opinion and soaking up anything and everything I can learn. So sorry in advance for dumb questions and future posts I may add along the way. I will always appreciate more advice and knowledge. At the ripe old age of 31 guys my age just care about new boats and nothing near as classy and as cool as these boats. A Cafe Racer has been a life long dream of mine. My father has a 31ft bullet for a little while and Cigarette has always just been a passion of mine and finally got my hands on exactly the colors , year , power and everything on a Cafe I have always wanted! Luckily my stars aligned! My wife made me keep my new center console I have she isn’t completely sold on this yet but once it’s done it will change her mind! I’ll post more as I move along slowly but surely as time allows.
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Dirty interior Shot. She’s actually like new now since this was taken.
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Cabin
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The day I got her home
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Before cleaning. The day old engines came out
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After about 11 hours of cleaning and scrubbing got the engine bay where is was “ ok “ to work in finally ( see before picture )
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Taking out the old tired big blocks
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New power

Bad azz!!! Congrats. I remember that boat for sale in 04ish. I want to say it was at Martin marine. Good looking cafe. Timeless graphics. Can’t wait to follow along on this thread.

Congrats. I had a 91 Cafe for a couple years. Good luck with the project.

Nice looking cafe have fun. Just one comment, the number of times I have heard "ready to drop in motors",,,,,,,,,, if I was you pull them apart and check them out while you have the time. Finding out next spring will suck.

My buddy just bought a 60 hour motor,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, its at the re-builder. Bought a set of 500EFI's once ready to drop in with dyno sheets,,,,, they were sent to rebuild. Dyno sheets did not come from that motor and he paid to have them ran.

The good doc can tell you about a Cafe he bought with rebuilt motors,,,,,

Lots of really good guys that sell chit.

Congratulations, I remember seeing that boat when I bought my Cafe. It is nice to see them getting updated and brought back to life. Mine has similar color scheme.
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Indeed. When I bought my Cafe it had a pair of motors that were described as very fresh 540s, I think the hour meters showed less than 50 hours on them. Within 5 hours of usage I had a stuck lifter and chewed up camshaft, and teardown revealed sloppy assembly tolerances all over the place. Had a survey on it too, which missed a cracked gimbal ring among other things.

Sigh... boats.


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Its why I think the best boat to buy is the one that blows up on the sea trail! At least you know where you stand,,,LOL.

That's the first Cigarette i've seen with the through prop exhaust option as well. Nice boat, look forward to seeing the upgrades.

Congrats!

Cafes are wonderful boats, I'm sure you'll enjoy.

Cool looking Cafe and and nice find! You'll enjoy the boat tremendously.