txsdukhntr

Hey guys I found a boat for sale that has a pair of 454s in it and its been sitting since 07..Any ideas on what to do to see if they will run without causing any damage??

stevesxm

well... its all going to depend on how they were sitting. in one extreme if the guy was a top flight professional and did all the right things for long term storage and they were sealed up then a cursury inspect, spinn the w/ no plugs until the oil press comes up and you should be fine. in the other extreme if all they did was pull it out of the water and put it on the trailer in the back yard then there is noting you can do except assume that the valves are probably rusted open, the rings siezed in the bores etc etc... if its in michigan or some such place they might have frozen...

its the econmics of the deal that are going to define everything. if its a great boat and priced as if the motors were worth nothing then its a good deal. if the boat is priced at retail, then its a pass. eveerything else is a function of what the selling price actually is.

txsdukhntr

Hey Thanks for the advise..I'm new to all this and trying to get something ok for now and make it better later..

stevesxm

do the math before you buy anything and the formulie are quite simple...

first find the boat you want in really nice , ready to go condition and write down that price...

now... when you look at other boats to buy that are fixer uppers , simply take the amount of money you think it will take to fix it up and multply that by 4.

then take the amount of time its going to take you and multiply that by 50 $ per hour if you are going to do it yourself... then double it.

add those two figures together and add 3000 and add that to the purchase price and thats what its going to cost you to get it in the water.

now compare that total figure to the one you can buy thats confirmed good and decide accordingly

BillK

TX,
If you are really interested in the boat and it is a good deal otherwise, I think it would be a wise investment to find someone with a borescope and have them pull the spark plugs and take a look in the cylinders before you do anything with the engines. If they look ok, then you can try starting them, but if they are pretty rusty you might do a lot of damage by even turning the engines over a little bit.

Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md

ezstriper

if they have been sitting unturned for that long some valve springs may be killed from sitting compressed, also my have cylinder walls may be rusted and kill the rings when you get started...