hmm, Maybe they went to the trim indicators on the TRS? Are they in the main engine harness?

i will look at what color wires go to my trans..why did u switch to bravo's?? i like the trans....

Replaced the wind lace around the console tonight...
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We're in the process of spraying all the wood in the cockpit with about 4 coats of automotive clear after letting teak oil soak in. Looks much richer than the stuff made for wood and prolly twice as durable...

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps4ebd9aeb.jpg

that would be gratly appreciated. i think the green is for the gas tank ground. black & yellow still not sure about.
the transmissions are nice and smooth however bravo's are faster. trs drives are much longer than a bravo one's which puts the prop centerline way below the bottom of the hull. I have raised my x dimension and put imco extension boxes on so that with standard bravo's the prop shaft centerline are 3 1/4 inches below the hull. with trs you are limited to how much horsepower you can put behind them. i am putting 2 575hp 502 ci bbc that have pretty low compression so if i choose to down the road i can put blowers on them. my buddy built this same boat for a customer with the same engines and it ran 89mph. with with the factory x dimensions. with this set up i am hoping to get into the 90mph range naturally aspirated.
pics are below.

Sounds great man. Keep us posted on how your build is going. 90 mph is scooting in one of these boats.

We've been enjoying the boat a lot lately. I've been putting off running the transmission water dump out the back of the transom, which turned out not to be a good idea yesterday when the starboard transmission clutches broke loose at WOT. Sooo, gotta pull the starboard engine out. Anybody got experience with the merctans II ?

oops

HELLUVA JOB HBlair!!! I just bought a 79' Scarab 30 from Lake Havasu, about a 500 mile trip each way from here in Santa Cruz, CA. I was gonna get this sweet little Formula 206 LS, which is a great boat for the bay and lakes, but the chop out here in nor Cal gets pretty big in the open water and the Formula wouldnt have been able to hang with the Scarab! Now I can go up coast to san Fran and down to carmel whenever i want regardless of the seas!

If I was you I would buy a pair of Borg Warner (green tag) before I put any money into the merc trans. I have a pair of BW I will sell you cheap but they will need to be rebuit (at least one of them) since I did something really stupid and smoked the clutches in about 10 seconds! :(

Oops! Put the props on the wrong side?

No :(

I took my controls apart over the winter to wrap them with the same vinyl I used on the boat. Forgot to check the cable throw when I put the controls back together. First time out with the boat, fire it, bring it up on plane and 10 seconds later smoke pouring out of the bilge. That's how long it took for 575hp to weld the clutches together!!

So what was supposed to be a cheap and easy modification of the controls and ended up making me having to pull both engines and $1500 for used trannies! Oh well!!

The controls and then the welded clutches! :(

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I now have 3 merctrans, i picked one up in Biloxi a few weeks ago and replaced my starboard trans with it. I've been talking with Kurt at KCMarine in Washington state and I'm gonna have him build two of mine and then keep one as a spare. He is very knowledgeable on the merctrans and does some modifications to them that makes them much stronger than original. Over the winter I plan on making these engines 500+hp.

Trip to Gulf Shores Alabama this weekend. The boat has really performed well and taken on rough (relatively) water just fine. We've had a great time with the old girl...

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Boat name...(click on link)

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps70aaed1b.mp4

We got back from gulf shores Sunday night. We went out in the gulf and threw out the anchor and watched the offshore boat races. Thats the first time Ive ever seen offshore racing. Pretty neat being close to the action and all.
I put a few more decals on the boat and trailer. The decals arent exactly correct but I think theyll work. I robbed the name from a "boat names" thread on the board here.

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Great Resto! No more decals though, it is so clean and classic, it's perfect as it is! You guys worked so hard (and fast) on this project, makes me feel bad for my little Scarab sitting in the shop waiting! LOL!
You should be proud, job well done!!!

Thanks CDShack, I'm done with the decals. I'm with you on the not too much thing. Start on your scarab now and you'll be done by next season.

I don't know that I have the "stick-to-it-ness" that you guys had! Luckily I did my transom and rear stringers years ago, so it's mostly a repower and remodeling project! Your's is so slick though, congrats!

Great looking ole boat man

Thanks guys, appreciate the compliments. I'm gonna be out of the boat for a little while. Experienced some chest pain while on the gulf shores trip and after a heart cath I had open heRt quadruple bypass surgery friday morning. Laying in a hospital bed right ow and it ain't no fun.

Wow!!! So sorry to hear that. Good luck on a speedy recovery

wow man that sucks prayers and wish ya a speedy recovery and some scarab enjoyment soon

Prayers to you!!!

I love this boat and the work you have done congrats to bringing a classic back to life!!! Get better soon also!

Thank you guys. I'm really blessed to possibly be walking out of the hospital tomorrow if everything goes according to plan. I do look forward to more R&R and a less stressful lifestyle. Better eating too. If you guys are getting older I encourage you to keep heart health on your mind. I never did. I just went at everything wide open, ate whatever and no exercise. I was fortunate not to have a full blown heart attack. Here's a photo from my hospital bed. I'm always the one taking the photos, but this ones of me, and part of my chest zipper...

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps5mncuqei.jpg

On a good note, you,ll be ready more than before to enjoy a full 2015 summer of boating without the hassle of working so much on your boat!

Good luck on your recovery till then!

Well guys I'm back among the living. It's been 4 1/2 weeks since the surgery. I've been eating right, exercising, etc, feeling good. We've decided to pull the engines over the winter and do some more work to them. We're seriously considering going to stroker cranks, prolly 489 or 496 (depending on the bore from what I understand). My engine guy wants to machine the heads for larger valves and domed Pistons for more compression. We pulled the drives today and the port bellows was ful of trans fluid, the starboard bellows was full of TRS drive fluid. So looks like some seals are in order. At least we've got several months to do all this.

hblair.................just saw this!..............Glad your recovering well!

Just saw this, Hope you are doing well. Take it easy & build your strength back up. I would definatey like to talk with you on this build as I have a 77 Scarab that needs just about everything that you have done to yours, Randy

Yeah I'm feeling good. Taking it easy, when I said "we" pulled the drives, I really didn't do anything but watch. I can't pull on wrenches, pick up much weight, or anything like that for a while. The ol chest doesnt feel quite right yet. It will be a few months I think on that. Randy my cell number is 256 312 2288, you can give me a call this afternoon if you want too. My names Heath Blair.

glad to hear you are doing better.
any i dea on what kind of power you you want?
you may considered looking for some 502 or 500hp take outs and freshening them. depending on the year of the blocks and where they were used they may be close to done. the cost of stroking yours vs buying some take outs and building them could be close to same cost.

Hey Heath, how are you doing?

Doing really good, thanks for asking. We actually pulled the engines last night. We hope to get them disassembled and get them to the machine shop in a few days. As far as the recovery from the heart surgery,10 weeks from surgery today, I feel great, been walking 3-5 days a week, watching what I eat, lost 25 lbs. and feel great.

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Good to hear! You've been an inspiration on a couple of fronts!

Wow your project is amazing! :drool1:

Oh! New comer from my neck of the wood!
Bienvenu offshore quebec!

Thanks Offshore Quebec. Was a lotta work, but can be done if you're highly motivated and have some help.

le monde est petit ! Ses DAN sur bateau quebec.

Welcome Dan! Guys ! dan actually is the guy "owning" or the one who started the most busy french forum for offshore boats in quebec!

Here we go!

Welcome Dan! Glad to have you here. Great group of guys in this forum.
As far as the boat goes, I still haven't taken the engines down yet. I've gotta get that done. I've got a lot going on right now, and will be putting child #3 in college In a few weeks. My engine guy suggested letting him just machine my heads for larger valves for some additional horsepower, then maybe next winter go the stroker route. I think that's what we're gonna do.

In other news I have a 69 mustang coupe I'm spending too much time and money(and there's not much of that) on and as if that's not enough, My brother and I are planning a motorcycle ride to wyoming this spring to see my sister and her family. The bike I bought to make this 4000 mile round trip ride is a 31 yr old Honda V65 (lol!). I'm going thru it right now prepping it for this trip. I have a bad habit of not being able to stick to one thing at a time. Im the poster child for ADHD.

Hi guys, a little progress update. Got my heads off to the machine shop a few days ago. I plan on doing some detail work in the engine compartment before the boat hits the water this spring. The valve covers are painted and we will go back and paint the letters white or red...

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