Carb and intake, eh Tom? Is that your spare stuff? :D

Doh!! :violent-smiley-045::D

Is the cat out of the bag??
Do I hear the whine of a blower in your future??

Tom - I'm gonna hold off on the Flame arrestor until I know what kind of space I have - your's might be a little tight.

My wife is AWESOME!!!

She started shopping for new throttles, and found these used on E-bay with a Buy-It-Now of $25.00. Brand new around $300-400.
I'm going Old-School Cool:cool:
Sit down's are out, Now I need to find some bolster's.
It'll be the right look for this boat.

I also have to say a big thanks to f311fr1 here on the board. He offered up some parts at a price I couldn't refuse. IMCO valve covers. As I said Joe - I owe you and Sue dinner the next time I'm down your way. Thank You.
Here's what the wife found in throttle/shifter - I love it!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ayphotohosting
I want a mix of old/new on this boat.
I think we're getting there.

That's pretty cool that your wife is getting involved with your project. There's nothing like having a significant other that feeds your fire!

On vacation this week, and at least today the weather is favorable.
I started working on the interior.
It originally had only three small pads for cushion on the hullsides in the cockpit area.
I intend to extend the hullside cushion the entire length of the cockpit, I cut the first base today, and just need to mirror it and cut down for the console tomorrow.
Then I break out the sewing machine and get to work on the new interior.

Covers and breathers shipped UPS today. Do you need an oil cooler? What cubic inch engine are you going to run?

Looks good,

I did the same, and used Hydro-turf to cover the rest of the way to the floor, waterfroof, and lightweight.

Tim, there is a boat parts salvage yard in Sarasota. Some one on the board must know name and phone #. They have a ton of new old stock from the baot builders in the area. Make a list of what you need and let me know. i will be going through the area Easter week and could do some looking for you. Joe Murray

Looking Good. Why not mount the bolsters and then make the combing panels fit to them like the orig design? Every inch counts in a 7' beam boat.

Thanks Joe - I really appreciate it!
Even though I'm on Vaca. I need to go into the office on Sat. to install some new conveyor systems. I'll check the dock, should be here by then.
How's Sue getting along with Scott? He's a good guy. I worked for him for 4 years, and once you get to understand his ways, he's very easy to work with. He's actually the guy that ran out to St. Louis with me to pick up the boat.
As far as the motor, it was a 454/330 stock Merc. Didn't change anything as far a the ci, just playing with bolt on stuff. Different cam, intake, carb. Dyno planned for the spring time.

I'll keep that in mind and start making my list.

I'm still looking for the right bolsters, and just felt like I needed to get to work on something else on the boat.
I'm not having quite the burst of energy today that I had yesterday, but I might do some more puttering this afternoon.
I may hold off on covering the panels until I get some seats in place. At least I have a template now of the areas I need to get covered.

Didn't even realize the second pic with my red-aussie's butt in the pic.:D

Figure out what you need to to dress out the engine. Take the starter and alternator to a rebuild shop and have them gone through. A Delco shop usually does good work for a fair $.

Joe, THANKS!!
I got the package this morning when I went into the office.
I went ahead and sandblasted them before I left.
They look Great!
I know you mentioned to have the breather's welded onto the covers - excuse my ignorance, but, why? Just curious.
Over the course of the winter, I need to have the alternator rebuilt.
What Kind of money am i looking at to have that done? I'm thinking $50-75??
My engine builder was suggesting replacing the starter with something smaller, I forget what he said, but he was recommending just changing it. I figure $200 or so... maybe less?

I'm still working on other things on the boat too.
I need to replace the lifeline cable down the deck, and I have someone that's supposed to get a quote back to me Mon/Tues. to have it made up.
I drew up the gauge cluster in Autocad yesterday, and need to start figuring out what I'm gonna do up there.
It already has a nice Isotta steering wheel, but the gauges are original 1980.

Tim I have Jabsco sea water pump with mount, 10 x 3 or 8 x 5 Gaffrig flame arrestor, 2 x 12 oil cooler with or with out power steering cooler built in, and newer style trim pumps for out drive and K Planes. $75 ought to cover the alternator rebuild. A new small starter will be more than $200. Closer to $350. Be sure to get marine rated. The breathers are designed to bolt in from the bottom. I just do not like the idea of small scews backing out into the valve train. The fill cap has to be welded in any way, so do the breathers at the same time. Throw the gaskets and screws away. Do not use the gaskets between the the top of the breather and cap or they wont breath. Dry fit the placement with the exhaust and risers on the engine to avoid clearance issues.

Gotcha on the welding of the breathers.
When it comes to motor stuff, I'm kind of ignorant. I understand the basics, and I know what looks nice, but admittedly, beyond that, I'm counting on you guys and my motor guys to guide me.

The oil cooler I have is apparently stock. Funny, when we decided to break the motor down, ITTLFLI said let's pull the oil cooler and see what we've got. I had to ask him where it was, and what it looked like. Again, I'll be humble in my ignorance. But, I'm learning.
Here's a pic of what I currently have. Stock Merc F/A, and the oil cooler is 2x9".
What are the suggestions?

Tim was this cooler mounted down low by the motor mount? We usually mount the larger coolers on the back over the bell housing. You really should run a themostatic oil filter head if you plan to run in the Great Lakes. Look at Hardin, they have a version that can mount on the front of the port head with the filter vertical pointing down.

Yep. mounted under the Port side motor mount.
Not sure what I need and don't need. Lake Erie was my backyard as a kid, so that's all I'm used to.
Never had all this fancy stuff on a motor before. But it sure is Cool!

You will need to run a #10 braided line like Goodridge or Aeroquip on the oil lines. Your cooler has provision for oil and power steering both. I think Sue is coming to Hebron the week between Christmas and New Year. If you are going to be around I might come with her and bring some of my catalogs/wish books. If you have your engine there I could go over some of what you need and how to do it.

I should be here then. The boat is in the back yard, and the motor is at the builder's place - about 30 mins away.
Come on up!! Montgomery Inn for ribs!

I think we are looking @ Dec 28th.

ok...looking at some seats
 

This is Mrs. Bouyhunter.

debating about some seats. If we purchase stand-up bolsters we will look like and feel like the empire stat buildin in the middle of a 10 acre field. looking at the attached........what do you think????
Bouyhunter and I are debating the pros and cons.

JJ

Be careful when buying via pictures. I found some seats once when redoing an old Baja. They looked super cool in the pic. Got them in the boat and didn't like them. The back rest had a slight protruding pad that pushed into the middle of my back.:mad:

There is a set of Skater high back seats on Screamandfly for sale for $995, they are local to me, I can look them over for you if your interested.

Ditto, with white it is hard to tell via pictures how good of shape they are in, but I like the seats.

If I'm not mistaken, she found them on E-bay brand new.
Apparently they are made for a ski boat.
I'm still gonna have to go pedestal with this seat (which I absolutely hate that look, looks like a bowrider or something with pedestals in my mind).
The wife came up with a pretty good idea to hide the pedestal.
You'll see it here if it all comes together.

I had my seats on boxes. Not the strongest set up

Go on HOTBOAT.com and look under DANA Marine products in the Dealer Zone forum. They have a bunch of billet seat bases on sale. Like 1/2 price. Got mine for $600 reg price was $1200.

I loved the pedestal in my python. Turn both around and with the bench seat -you will have some awesome loungers. It realy makes the boat more comfortable in the coves. As long as the seats look good - it won't matter if their fixed or on a pedestal.

Here's the link:
http://www.hotboat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167758

thanks Jigsaw

I like the way it appears to have a foot-rest bar for rear passengers on most of those.
Hmmmm....

This will give you an idea of how they look. I'm putting these in my Corsa. They are 10" tall and 14" wide. The seats are PPI race style. When you order they will ask you how wide you want the center brace (foot rest). I placed them in the boat to get an idea of how they will look and they actually do work pretty good for rear passenger foot rest.

jdub - Thanks for posting the pic.
Those look really good.
I think for my boat I may like to go with a little wider stance, but I think those would look great!!

The way my seats round in at the bottom made me go with a narrower base. I guess whatever seat you decide to go with will dictate your width...keep the pics comin

trim indicators
 

This is Mrs. Bouyhunter....

Shopping on e-bay again.

So she's Jody huh...I had that one on my watch list:D

She's been doing pretty good on EBay, and other marine suppliers. I'm glad she's as involved in this project as I am.
It's like a hobby for her shopping for deals on boat stuff, sure beats her being at the mall, or a craft store buying crap!
She's found some good stuff at good prices.
We decided on the white seats in a previous post, and they showed up today. They look great!!!
I just need to set the height, and hook-up some bases like yours.
Remeber, I'm not building a race boat, I just want to be able to run hard for a little bit, and then pull up to the docks with a Blubb...Blubb...Blubb...Brahh...Blubb...Blubb...Bl ubb...Brahh...Blubb...Blubb...Blubb...Brahh...Blub b...Blubb...Blubb...Brahh...
And have a sharp looking boat.
Gonna try to schedule paint in the spring.
In the meantime, I have some parts to get millwork, and powdercoat

If you are ever in need of gauges or new stuff - let me know.

I will make sure you get a good price.

Kirk

Another find
 

This JJ (AKA Mrs. Bouyhunter)......

I talked Bouyhunter into red accents.......should look great. :Score-101010:


He's going to have to get me my own membership.

He might even hang wall paper and curtains if you keep this up:D