Being the tipical boater, and avarage American I am, I took on another project boat this winter. A 1973 Lyman seabring Fiberglas 19’. 307 Chevy, modified by Chris Craft, Volvo outdrive. Parked with no cover for over 20 years. Towed it home over 100 miles. Lost a tire about 70 miles from home . No spair. 3 wheels next 40 miles. Left it in port Clinton for a couple days. Long story short, compression test, 3 cylinders at 65 or so, couple at 90, one at 120. Oh yea, forgot to mention, motor was tied up. Made a concoction of carosen,tranny fluid, and injector cleaner, filled tha cylinders to the top and left it sit for a week. Removed starter, was a block of rust, opened it up, poured same concoction listed above, and blasted with air.four or five times. Hit it with a battery and the thing worked! Ok this is getting long, if anyone want to hear the rest of the story, there’s more, lol ,,,, SC

That’s what I was thinking! Lol, I’m going to finish the rest of the story tonight. SC

Hi again, was fixing parts on the Lyman today. Going to need a new stearing cable.was trying to fix the tilt motor, and broke one of the brushes. Can’t get the Bennett trim tab motor apart yet. A little discouraged but, it will come together.

Ok, part of the rest of the story. The motor was stuck,after soaking for a week, we used a two foot pipe wrench with a cheater bar and started bouncing on the pull on the crank. The motor is mounted backwards, fly wheel facing the cockpit. After several try’s it budged, alittle.move stanch to the other side, and pushed it the other way. It moved again. Changed back to the other side, and made a full rotation.YES! Reinstalled the starter, and did the compression test mentioned earlier. After rebuilding the distributor, I fired the motor with a can, dumping in the carb. Ran so so. A week or so later, put 4 gallons on gas in the tank, and tryed it again. After it got primed, the old Lyman purred like a kitten! I can believe it! Idled perfect! Let it warm up a bit and goosed it a second, and it took it. After I get the steering cable, I’m going to give it a ride before I go any further, cause its going to need all hoses and billows, want to be sure everything is good. It goes in forward and reverse good,and the prop is good. Hull seams solid as a rock. The boat has some great lines, that’s what coughs my eye in the first place. More updates soon I hope,SC

Put the garden hose on her today, have water in the oil, and a lot in the cylinders. Now we’re going to remove the top of the engine, Check the exhaust manifolds for rust, install new head gaskets, and intake gaskets. I wonder if we could use mercruser exhaust manafolds?

Hi again. Yesterday I used a large cooler instead of hooking the garden hose up to the water intake hose. No water in the cylinders, ran it for an hour, all seem good with the motor. NEVER hook the hose directly to the water intake hose! lol

I do that with my mercrusers, never any trouble. Have you done it to a 1973 Volvo, with a Chris craft engine? I hope the engine isn’t junk, ran for over an hour, seems to be fine.my Mercury’s have through hull exhaust . Of corse, this Lyman is through the outdrive. Mabey I should have said,Never hook the hose directly to the intake hose on your 1973 Volvo outdrive, with a 307 Chris craft , because it may have to much pressure and get into the engine through the exhaust valves.

I’m trying to figure out my valve stem seals.removed spring, no seal. Just the O ring below the keeper.anyone have an idea why no seal? And can I use an umbrella type seal ? Any info would be greatly appreciated! SC

The engine is a 1973 Chevy 307, modified by Chris craft, reverse rotation, mounted backwards. Fly wheel faces the cockpit.

I’ve never done much head work, so I don’t know anything about valve seals,,,,, anyone?

Thinking about the umbrella seals?

Thanks Bondo, we are going to try umbrella seals. Did another compression test all between 160-170. Much better then 65-120 befor. And now, another part of the story. One wet evening I was running the engine before I put water to it. Lost spark, and couldn’t figure out what happened. So I figured Mabey the coil went out. The only other coil I had was an msd blaster. Got it all hooked up, hit the starter button and,KABOOM! Wow that sparked em all at once! Blew the flap off the outdrive 40’ into the drive way. Even after that, still seems to run good. Back soon I hope, with more interesting story’s. SC