old fever upgrades
 

long time reader........first time poster.

I picked up a 1990 38 fever this spring and have enjoyed every bit of it. Now its time for some upgrades. I've been reading through countless posts/threads on this site doing my homework on some things.I've tinkered/altered everything I've ever owned but never built a true performance boat. Now I would like to here some opinions/ideas on what I've come up with for upgrades on this old girl.

the boat is a 1990 38 fever, bravo1's, stock 454 mags.

this is my plans....

this winter
the steering sucks.......as much as I wanted to break open the stock 454 mags and start working the engines this year, I figured I should make it handle first. I've been looking into the hardin/mayfair system.

new vinyl, the faded pink/maroon is an eye sore.

While doing these upgrades I'd like to start collecting parts to do the engines (rebuild/freshen next winter). I originally wanted hp 500's..i'd like something close to them.Many hours cruising the swap shop have shown many good deals on used hp500 parts. I was thinking the hp500 intakes/carbs/cams(or similar), roller rockers, and balance the bottom end of my 454 mags. topped off with the emi thunder exhaust/risers, although I've been pointed twards going to imco's.

I'd really like to keep my silent choice, and I dont want to have to worry about reversion.

then go out back and beef up the bravos.

thanks for the input folks.

Congrats on the Fountain purchase.

HP 500's are great engines and would be a nice upgrade for you. Good luck!

Congrats let us know if you need any advice, the board is a great resource for info Bob

Having totally refurbished a 38 fountain before, including paint, vinyl interior, windshield, carpet, dash, and drive train, I have a pretty good idea of how much it cost to do it. Not including the engiens, how much money are you planning on putting into this 1990 boatl to bring it up to your expectations?

i realize I would have been better off buying a fountain that was more equipped to my likings but at the time this one fit the bill the best...pumpout head/fridge/price/and they took my old wellcrft nova on trade in.

The wife and I figured we could upgrade it as we went to better fit the need. Every winter upgrade a area on it. So I guess putting a price on upgrades is not a priority, just as we can do it. The boat already has new carpets/uphostery/dash and decent paint. Just lacking in drivetrain.........which is probably my favorite items to work on, so thats not a problem.

Any body know of any issues with the harding/mayfair full hydraulic steering systems? Thats the first real step.

The engines are next winters projects, but I'd like to have a majority of the parts collected incase I smoke one this summer, atleast then I'll have some of the expense already taken care of, ready to go on some fresh bottom ends.

Sounds like a fun project for you and that's a great part of what having a boat is all about. Good luck with it.

Your heads are the same as the HP500. There are better cam's available aftermarket. Are your engines mark iv, or gen v? Fuel pump mounted on block or sea pump?

Waking up the 454/365 merc is very easy. You have good parts in the bottom end. A good freshen up on the heads, upgrade to a hydraulic roller cam, good exhaust, roller rockers, holley 800 carb. You can make HP500 power with the right selection of parts on your 454 blocks.

If you can hold off and add the external steering when you upgrade the engines, might make things a little easier if the engines are out. I imagine that your boat with those engines probably runs low-mid 60's right now. If it isnt handling well at those speeds, even with cable steering, I'll bet your gimbals are worn pretty good. Lots of people dont realize the swivel u-bolts need to be torqued as part of maintainance. They end up getting loose, and that further accelerates the swivel. You can try torquing them to spec. These are the two upper nuts on the outside of the transom assembly, on top. I dont remember the torque spec, i wanna say around 50 ft lbs? Be sure to crack them loose, then torque them down. That might take alot of slop out of the steering for the time being.

Nothin wrong with sprucin up a old 1990 38 fever in my book!

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...ejpeg_2_32.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...f/IMAG0726.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...gejpeg_3_9.jpg

Is that the new hatch in the 3rd picture? I looks good!

Yes sir! Thanks for noticing! The hatches aren't completely done yet. We didn't get to make the faces for them yet, and in that pic they are in interlux primer. Just popped them on for a test fit and boat ride. Faces will have a polished aluminum kind of grate/grille on them. The hatches were a low budget project in Ryans driveway, but came out better than we expected. Main reason for building them was because I was out really horsin around up in South haven, mi, in some big water...runnin a little too hard for the stock sunpad cushions. Screws came loose, pieces of the pad lost at sea! Dont have to worry bout that anymore!

yeah nothing wrong with spicing up an old fever........the pics/vids of your boat are what got me hooked on the old straight bottom 38 fever with a race fairing, yours and back4more's 42 lightning....both clean,classic, and cool.

here's mine
http://i55.tinypic.com/15rjuj6.jpg

that makes a lot more sense to me to wait on doing the steering until the engines are out now that ya mention it.

There is a little slop at the back of the helm, and the heims on the tie bar were junk when I picked the boat up. I screw some leftover 4 link heims on it to get it in the water try and diagnose the problem, but I'll replace them with some good ones.

I'll look in the ubolts. I had the boat at a shop for some other work and told him to check out the gimbals while there were poking around, everything appeared to be fine.

Nice looking boat! Once you get the steering and some power in it, you will love the ride. At 84mph, mine feels like its on rails. Hoping to get 90 next summer with power upgrades.

nice ride . congrats Tim

Nice, I remember hearing that story about you loosing the sun pads... I did that on our mistress.. The last run to the boat ramp.... :) Pops was not to happy... Ryan and you did a great job..! So it sounds like your upgrading power also...? Looks like you made some good headway already on the winter projects... Just got go a while before its sunny and warm again.... But, it does go by quick...
Jr.

Ya, engines are out right now for a freshen/rebuild. They been together a while, so figured its time. Not really changing much in the recipe, other than larger blowers and some minor parts upgrading. Kris vogt is helping me do the motors up by his shop. He originally put mine together about 7+ years ago. They been great. Now, with the new hatches, clearance isnt a problem for bigger huffers. :drink:

Would ya let ole' 1990 Lightining in the group? :coolcowboy:

Nice!! Didnt realize he was an engine guy!! Hopefully we will catch up this summer...
Jr.