That's Toit...

I just hope I don't lose any top speed from the drag... :D

The hatch looks great on that boat. Very cool.

Mike, I can't wait to see pics of your boat with a rec hatch. Are you adding a swim platform? The all-white is sweet. I may have to cruise up river next year and check it out in person!

Thanks guys! I dig it. Racey looking!

Dan,

That's correct I have a new hatch at the factory coming together with the sunpad and embroidery which should look great ... also I have a used aluminum tube swim platform I am refinishing to all white, it should look great on the "all white" boat.

These two items will make a huge difference hanging out for the day at Lakeside Park in Port Huron! :D

Well Tom, I ended up going in a totally different direction ..... since my bildge is bright white everywhere I decided to paint the front mount plate Merc Racing blue mettallic. Since the motor is a blend of black and Merc blue I thought the blue plate would still look great and be easier to keep clean. Here's how it looks after shooting it today :eek:. I wire wheeled/sanded/3M padded all the old paint off plus the rust to bare metal and primered and painted three coats each side. Getting ready for the 12/14 install.

that will look awesome.
No mater what color you go with It will clean up nice with fresh paint on it.

Looking good Mike!

Updates
 

Couple updated pics after this weekend ..... finished dressing the engine, everything went well with the bellhousing, coupler and brackets/alternator/power steering pump etc .... installation.

Ready to drop it in next visit in two weeks!

Looks like a perfect OPA class 5 boat to me!

what he said:party-smiley-004:

Looks great Mike! Keep up the good work.

Mike that thing is looking really good. I love the Mercury blue I'm getting some new ideas now. Keep up the good work.

Thanks everyone .... I can't beleive how nice that Merc Blue in a can works from one of the members here .... it was like $12 a can and it paints incredible. Goes on evenly and leaves an awesome finish. I will be losing the power steering pulley unfortunately because I need one with more setback to line up with the main pulley. Can't return it to Summit now! Anybody need a standard setback Pwr Steering pulley??!! :rolleyes:

Change in plans ... engine install this Friday, my last vacation day this year ... yeah baby! :cool-smiley-011:

Go Mike Go!
hey, that nice blue pulley will look cool on your wall in the garage

Haha... good one ... maybe if I go to the craft store and pick up a clock kit?? Hmmmmmm....... maybe not bad eh? silver hands on Merc blue! that's if I don't trash it pulling it off the press fit!

Looking good Mike. If you need anything give me a call anytime. I will be looking out for that vinyl sample you sent me and get the sunpad put together.

Regards,

JO

Are you going to dyno that engine before the install? In my limited experience, it's proven to be money well spent to find out exactly what you're workin' with. Looks Great!
Dan

Yep! Thanks Dan - handled! :D

12-8 Update
 

It was a great day yesterday~! I love it when everything fits perfectly together and clicks!

My buddy Brad helped me drop the new 502 in the boat yesterday, went perfectly due to a lot of organizing and pre-planning. I love it when the gimbal alignment is right on .... even though there is not much you can do with race mounts. The 150,000 BTU torpedo heater made a huge difference also with the temps in the 20's outside :eek: ................. 60 degrees inside! :D

Everything has gone so well and so fast it's going to take forever now for the 4 month's of final rigging waiting for spring to try it out :mad:

Couple more ... I'm like a new dad .....

Right on Mike !!!
Clean as a whistle.

Boy is that going to be fun tubing off of!! I see you are ready with the tube!

Looks awesome Mike! You're going to love it!

I was going to ask who is going to be the first to ride the tube behind your Pantera?

Boy! is this a LOT OF FUN!! :mad: stripping the blue/purple powdercoat off the used swim platform I picked up to refinish it white. What a major pain in the arse! :angry-smiley-038:

I was too cheap to send it out for professional stripping, I tried sandblasting it but the powdercoat just deflected the sand. The aircraft stripper works but what a nasty job and takes at least three times to get it down to what you see in the pics where there is aluminum .... :(

Next time ask!!!!

Use PVC primer. The powdercoat is simply a PVC type resin that is cured in an oven. PCV primer is cheap and works well. Best if you can soak it in it. Don't really know how you would do that with the whole platform at once, but you could do sections.

Kirk

Thanks Kirk, actually I did a web search and it seems aircraft paint stripper was the popular choice so I bought a gallon for $24. It is not bad to use since it's a gel and paints on with a brush, but the scraping and mess is a pain! The pics are after a couple hours on and off today, I should have the entire platform done in two more days of messing around with it.

Acetone will strip powdercoat also.

Well, a little more progress ... took a couple days over the holiday to work on the boat ..... great news is the Uni-Tops fit perfectly ..... nice alignment with my transom holes :D

Even though I measured real carefully before I bought them it's still a huge relief when everything lines up perfectly, seems like no room for adjustment with those Uni-Tops :eek:

I'm kinda bogged down at that stage where the belts just barely don't fit, and I need a different sized bolt than I guessed, and the fittings are just a little off ...... gettin' there! good thing its winter for me!

Happy New Year everyone!

Nice job...looks excellent.

Where'd you get the Unitops??

Thanks, other than plumbing the fuel pressure sender on the wrong side of the pump and re-doing it ..... all is well.

Kirk, I picked the pipes up with the motor at Bill's, why?

Also I wondered if there was any news on the drive shower? thanks! Mike

I was kidding!!


The shower should ship this week, they were back in the office today. That was a standard XR cap or the finned one right? I thing they send different hardware for the type of cap.

Let me know I told them stock cap for now.

I was planning to move to a finned cap later so is there a washer or spacer kit that will allow me to use with both versions? that would be perfect - thanks!

Looks really good Mike! Only 3 more months until it's time for a St. Paddy's run!

I hope you're right! especially after this forecast for tonight! :eek: hoses won't even bend at these temps!

Thu, January 3

1am Flurries 13°F feels like 0°F

2am Flurries 13°F feels like 1°F

3am Mostly Cloudy 12°F feels like 0°F

4am Mostly Cloudy 13°F feels like 2°F

Will ship tomorrow. We will work on the hardware for extending the bolts later when and if you change caps. Should just be 4 SS Allen Heads and spacers.

Super! Thanks Kirk!

Not trying to sound like a know it all but make SURE you wash it down good (several times) after you are done with the paint stripper. Especially if the surface of the aluminum is pourused any at all. Most of the stripper companys say that water neutrilizes the stripper , but I always like to go over it with a scuff pad & either acetone , or paint thinner a few times also to make sure its all gone. Also a tooth brush or similar will work good around all the welds. No matter what you do it is Alot of work & a total pain !!

BTW.. Your boat is looking really good !!!

Thanks, great advice ..... I used a power washer on it after the chemical stripping and since the aluminum has corrosion in some places, I am going over it with a brass wheel wirebrush to get it to clean metal and catch those few areas the chemicals did not get. I think I'll do the Acetone wash with a Scotchpad you suggest before the aluminum prep wash just to be safe. I used to use the aluminum prep wash on motorcycle parts before priming it with Zinc Chromate self-etching primer with good results in the past. The prep wash is supposed to prepare the metal for the primer and to minimize future corrosion.

I have three cans of the Zinc Chromate self-etching primer. I plan to use Zinc Chromate aluminum primer to minimize corrosion even though I am freshwater only. I just wish it wasn't puke green! I appreciate any advice .... I do not want to do this over again if I screw up the final finish! :(