It's ALIVE!
 

Well, after quite a bit of "jury rigging" we got the engine to fire! The only glitch that we encountered was a defective starter slave solinoid. Once that was bypassed the engine jumped to life! The thing has a line loppy idle and really sounds healthy! With some luck we can have the motor hung tomorrow and maybe have it one the water in a couple of weeks! WhooHoo!

NICE dude. Did you fire it out of the boat? Or is it kind of in the boat but not sitting on the engine mounts?? ROCK ON!!!

Jon

Fired it on the pallet on the forklift. Started to really move around at 4k! Tomorrow she goes in.

Way to go man I will be rooting for you!!!!! :D:D:D

Cord, great news. Maybe we'll see you on the water yet this year.

congrats:cool:

OK, after much trial and tribulation, I GOT THE FREEKN" MOTOR IN!

I had the entire transom assembly, extension box, external steering and drive installed. When we tried to put a jig that locates the motor mounts, the pins wouldn't drop into the rear motor mount holes. They were 1/4" too close together! Luckly for Stellings it was a sunday or I'd be reading them the riot act! :mad: So I disconnected everything and pulled the extension box/gimble off. After tearing everything apart, I wanted to double check to see if the mount angles were going to be long enough. I set the transom plate back in the boat and tried to hold the jig up to it. Low and behold, it fit! Everybody just stood there staring because just a half an hour ago the holes were too close together! Yes, the distance between the mounting holes actually changed! Well after some head scratching I put a straight edge on the transom plate. It was perfectly flat. I then put the straight edge on the transom only to see a 1/16" gap at the edge of the cut. Yep, the transom wasn't flat causing the the plate to warp thus moving the holes closer together! After some more head scratching, we decided to shim the plate and hope for the best. We dropped the motor in and the two rear bolts slid right in. Absolutly perfect! Once I cross the exhaust hurdle, this thing should be wet in just a week or two!

NICE!!!!! Love hearing you got that thing in there. I know you struggled with it for a while. You must be pumped!!! What is up with the exhaust? do you have allignment issues? Why so long to hook that up?

Jon

I took some pics last night, hopefully I'll get them up tomorrow. With CMI elbow tops, the top of the header is about 3" ABOVE the top of the boat! The exhaust tip, although high, would result in a tight tailpipe bend that would have to pass through the lip at the back header. This piece is pretty light as it is and I'd hate to take a 3" deep cut out of it. I'm proably going to end up with some totally custom lightning headers.

OUCH $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

congrats Cord

Hopefully with some luch we can see you and the new rocket at the Shootout??

I just did the custom Lightning header for my Pachanga because I wanted to keep the stock tail pipes that exit at the far sides of the transom under the platform (rear corners). My headers angle to the corners instead of going straight back so I don't have to use all the 90 bends. I believe they charged me an additional $400 for the custom bends and the paint.

Todd

Yes, they are actually almost reasonable. But of course you're still getting a steel header. Mn-I'm kinda hoping so. I've been so busy with work and the boat, that I havn't even stood up to see if I can make it. Right now, I'm not sure if the truckster can do it. I'm losing power and as a result it's really sucking the gas.

I wanna see pics!!!:) :)

I just finished a roll of 24. Took it to the 1hr place for developing and realized that it was SLIDE! Hopefully, I'll be able to salvage prints from the roll, because just about my entire project was on that roll!

Cord they can make your slide into prints and also put them on disk for you. Good luck.

Jon

This ain't good. Lightning isn't sure if they can build the headers. The problem is in the height of the existing tips. We can make the body of the header taller so that it has enough fall to prevent reversion. That just means I need a new hatch because they are now above the transom. OK, I can deal with that. The biggest problem is the rear header (the back shelf) of the boat. It comes forward and is right up to the distributor and slightly above. With the top of the header being so high, it needs to fall at a steep angle and then kink horizontal to meet the tips. Think of a S pipe used when the tips are below the water. The only thing is that my tips are mounted above the rub rail! The kicker is that a full custom header has a 3 week lead. The boat will be ready to run this weekend, but with no exhaust, there is no way I'm going to make the shootout.

Cord, for the shootour, perhaps some one can loan you a set of bassets and you leave the hatch off?????

I was actually thinking of using a set of zoomis. :D

Mike-this is how tranom assemblies are supposed to be pulled! The time to disconnect the hydraulic lines, linkage and to pull the assembly was only 20 minutes. The reinstall time was only slightly longer.

This is the engine bay after pulling the transom assembly. This was taken around 7pm. By 9:30pm the engine was installed. I have to thank Rod for staying late.

Swinging in the breeze!

Sorry, but I don't have one with the engine in. I'll try to get that asap.