Well it's not quite happy ending yet. But maybe in the morning I'll get the drive on, fuel pump wired, regulator mounted and timing set for bust off before taking the aluminum boat or glastron on the creek.

Finally got it to the first start today. First impression, valves need adjusting. Second, the cam shaft sounds like a Honda civic compared to the old engine. By the looks of the cam card I was expecting this to be a thumping machine. More like a sewing machine. But once i get the valves adjusted it might sound a little better. Timing is set at 9 degrees since I'm running a v8-24 module. Still have some stuff to do but it's in there and running.

Seems almost every day when I get off lately the rain started coming down. This week I was able to get time between rains to get the valves adjusted, circulating pump and hoses back on, swap the starter twice(palm to forehead) and get it ran a little more at the house. Today I got it I the water for a short shake down run. About 3 miles round trip. Nothing really to report yet as I was varying rpm the whole time and trying not to keep them consistent. Will install the holly blue pump in the morning. I was running a temporary pump set up. If I like how it does I will get a gen5/6 sea pump so I can run mechanical pump again. Hope to get another run on it tomorrow after the holley pump goes on and I get the sun pad back on.

Got the blue pump in this morning. Got on the water. She did well. I'll give it a few easy trips before beating it like a step child but it's so far so good.

I had two of those blue pumps. They both stranded me. Just giving you a warning. I run the marine Aeromotive now. It's expensive but reliable and quiet. The blue pump sounds like some guy with a voice box vibrator is under the hatch. Any difference in the torque with the new engine?

I've ran the same blue pump on my hydrostream since 2006. Haven't had any issues. Hopefully won't with this one. It has more power on the top. I've mainly kept it under 4k so far varying rpm. But I've given it a few I'll throttle bursts for I'd say 4~5 seconds. It kicks like a mile after 4300. I'd range it doesn't feel hardly any different than the old engine.

With a light freeze coming I decided to go ahead and winterize the boat. Boy was it a major pain in the tail. I was not expecting this much complication. The first attempt was a 5 gallon bucket full of antifreeze feeding earmuffs on the lower unit. That was a fail, the anti freeze was so slippery that it leaked behind the ear Earmuffs. That turned into me holding the muffs with my hands while my wife was maintaining a decent level of antifreeze in the bucket and watching the temp gauge. After about 4 gallons of antifreeze I had some coming out of the exhaust wirh the regular steam so I do believe I have nothing to worry about with freezing and cracking but I am not risking it. Got 2 bathroom sized ceramic heaters heaters from walmart. Going to drain carb. Plug fuel line. Place them both in the bilge with the cords running out over the sides. I will use one when its going to freeze. The other will be a back up in the event thast the first fails.

You can also try pulling the plugs on each side of the engine to drain the water and a couple go hoses just to be safe.

I thought about it but that doesn't really help the exhaust. It is my main concern. I'm fairly certain there is enough coolant through the engine to be fine. But id rather play it safe with heat to.

Maybe it's me but I think it's easier to just drain the block and manifolds. Then fill the block and manifolds with a 50/50 mix. I already know I got the antifreeze where I want it. Also it makes the hoses come off easier when you have any repairs that need done. I just don't know how you can be sure that you had the thermostat open when you were running it. Also I don't like the idea of the ceramic heaters. They get hot and if one gets to hot there goes a nice boat over a $20.00 heater. Just my opinion. And filling the manifolds is easy just take the hose off of the thermostat and lift it up. Dump the antifreeze into the hose and it will come out the back through the exhaust.

I'm not trying to say your doing it wrong, just giving some of my opinions.