Xenos

Evening, I have been trolling this site for a long time always a good source of info, I now have to actually register and join up so I can ask your opinions on my latest toy, Last week I purchased a 1989 311 almost mint condition for a song , this boat had a very interesting story but the relevant part is she has been stored indoors covered for the last 17 years, Motors are 420, with trs drives, Silent thunder exhaust, boat is totally original , meter shows 370 hours, Original factory upholstery is virtually perfect no fading, put power to her and gauges all lite up and frig even worked. waiting on a trailer purchase to move her to my garage ,shoveled 50 pounds of bird crap off the covers but boat was fine other than dirty. I have a good deal of experience in restoring old boats this will be my 1st Hi Pro boat most has been cruisers , the 420 appear stock except stainless exhaust was added, I plan to soak everything in marvel before rolling, carb rebuilt, impellers, seals all rubber etc, looking for any other suggestions to check or items to go though , I have bit of experience in Alpha and Bravo drives but never a TRS so that part is little unknown territory.
Thanks in advance for the help
Rob

TomZ

iTrader: (2)

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the purchase of your 311!

Your plan for getting her going sounds like a good one. Hope she doesn’t have too much gas in the tank because it’s surely junk after seventeen years!

Do not worry about the TRS drives. They are bulletproof behind the 420s. Change the gear oil in the drives and change the fluid in the transmissions. Make sure the bellows are good and check out the u-joints. The drives are heavy... I use an engine hoist to remove and replace but I have extra clearance because I do not have the silent thunder on the boat.

Areas to be watchful of... transom, stringers in the bilge, and the bulkhead aft of the fuel tank. Water can also settle in the area under the cabin step and lead to problems.

Hoping to see some pics!

Smoke eater

Welcome to the family. Let’s see some pics of the classic bird!!!

Xenos

Once I get her uncovered and out of the building I plan to take some "as found" pics, I was on her today for a few hours and the thing is a total time capsule I found the following CASSETTE Tapes : AC DC Back in black, Eagles Greatest hits, and lastly The fabulous Thunderbirds . Expect to recoup my boat purchase price from sellin these on ebay lol.
As said before the boat is totally original cabin upholstery is actually in excellent condition , had little bit of mildew but I know how to deal with that. Exterior stuff is actually in excellent shape, still soft and pliable the big work will be those engines, was little surprised the 420 engines are raw water cooled seems if you were making a performance engine you would not want it running at 140 degrees.

Xenos

Thanks for the info, and I totally agree those drives are huge , The seals seemed to have leaked the oil out over the years, so tearing them down to inspect and install new seals.