The "Blown Formula" Sonic Project !!
 

When I bought the "Too Old" Sonic, I got a project!!

I will attach some pictures (I hope) of my progress so far. Much has changed. The engine bay was black & had been sprayed with some kind of asphaltic undercoating-yuck!! 2 inches of gunk in the bilge, all electrics & wiring needed replacing or rebuilding, etc, etc.
Basically, this was a complete strip & rebuild project. Please remember, I have been in a cast for 3 months so progress has been slow.:D

The new reupholstered bolsters

Port accessory power originally supplied by a single 14 gauge wire to stereo, water pump, cabin lights, etc. Now supplied by an 8 gauge cable (battery & ground). Amps will be wired in seperately later.

Forgive me Fred, but I reworked the dash wiring. It is now removable by disconnecting color coded water tight plugs!

This is the reworked dash wiring. Now each switch is supplied by it's own 14 gauge fused supply. No more low voltages or dim lights! ALL wiring connectors have been replaced throughout the entire boat. No corrosion anywhere anymore. Good.

All this replaces the dash power supplied by Sonic through the Merc harness. Now supplied by 4 gauge cable & terminal blocks to the fused distribution block to each accessory switch. Clean, full voltage to everything & no overloads. Power is supplied to the Macerator from this block also.

Starboard-stern- This is part of the "new & improved" power & switching distribution system. The three bilge pumps are operated off two solenoids controlled from the dash (manual over-ride) & Automatic float switches operate the solenoids to turn on the pumps as each draws over 15 amps and are sequential! No worry about flooding. There are three seperate water tight fuses for the pumps & an 80 Amp fuse block for constant power regardless of the battery switch position. The Mercathode systems (2) is also provided with constant power just in case the lift drops an outdrive in the water......

Did you every have to locate a good Ground source in your boat?? New custom battery common ground block in the stern for ALL ground sources as in Formula boats (as now under dash also). Never a ground or voltage weakness again.

New dual Latham hydraulic steering thru hulls with Stainless hoses inside the hull and also outside the hull. Full 1/2" hydraulic lines to the helm. Notice the custome made diamond plate backing plates for the steering hull mounts behind the hydraulic hoses. Also a common starter (4 gauge) battery source for the starters. Notice also, the shift brackets are now mounted to the stern & are painted purple, as it is part of the engine "theme".

Custom diamond plate battery mount shelf base and brackets, twin bilge pump blowers on each side of boat. All new indicator cables, hangers, clamps & cable sheathing. Billet steering filter below the blowers, new hoses for the tab & trim pumps. Yellow motor mount plates/brackets.

Custome made diamond plate trim & tab pump brackets w/ 80 amp main fuse block & solenoids attached. Removable as a single unit by removing two bolts (and of course the hoses & battery connections!). Holley fuel pump, regulator, fuel tank switch selector & fuel filters to the left and also painted purple to match. I forgot to mention, all the pumps were diassembled, cleaned, flushed, new filter screens & gaskets were installed & all new solenoids.

Port side (reflection of starboard side)

Port side trim & tabs pumps- reflection of the starboard side. Notice the pump mounting reversal as dictated by the side of the boat mounted on.

All trim, tab, fuel pumps, regulators, tank swtches & filters mounted to the seat base now. Notice the "faded" purple to yellow paint on the hatch lift mechanism. Matches the paint theme on the bow. Disassembled the lift, cleaned, greased and reassembled. Works like new!

Here you see the flush valves (yellow) that shut off the hull water pickups when running on the hose. Neat!. Supplies the sea pump only, no water overboard thru the pickups.

New (2000) gimbal assy to replace the original one. New tab & trim cables & trim cylinders.

Clean & white to the deepest recesses of the hull. Clean enough Fred?

Back to the front now. The re-upholstered drop out bolsters.
And the new tilt hydraulic helm.

The "new" rebuilt trim indicator with red pointers, new led back lighting & new springs. Now powder coated.

New Depth gauge. Remember Fred, the old one was stuffed into another old gauge housing so it would fit the 3 1/4" hole? Custom plug and flashing to mount gauge.

New stern eyes to replace originals removed & plugged.

Port stern engine bay.... Clean enough Fred?????

I am currently working on engines (really GOOD ones!!) N.A. of course... but very nice ones. Rebuilding the drives also. The U-joints were shot, so I suspect internal bearing need inspection along with the cone clutches...... The cabin upholstery & new macerator head will have to wait until next winter I am afraid.

I'm still looking for some #188 casting square port heads (2 each) & I need a little "charity" on them.......???? Please????

More to come.

VERY nice! Good job! You must be tired!

Damn nice job! What did you paint the bilge with?

Thanks, My wife told me I never "bonded" with my 312 Formula like I did with the blown 252SS Formula....... I am more "bonded" with this than I have been with anything- EVER!!:D I'm just glad I enjoy things like this or I would be in trouble!

The white is four coats of Rustoleum and the bilge is Bilgecote....

I tested the Rustoleum with gas & oil before I used it. Holds up real well. Especially since you cannot find the white bilgekote stuff anywhere local & it is a hazardous material to ship.

Just imagine if you had not been in a cast what you could have gotten done!! :D Looks great. Care to say how many hours of love you have put into it so far. ;)

looks nice, real nice. I always wondered why it took so long for Fred to sell that boat. What do you think you will have it all said and done?

Everything looks excellent! You obviously put alot of "time" and thought into all your improvements and upgrades. Is this boat going to float this summer? Steve

Very nice looking. Gonna be like a brand new boat!

At this point, I probably have over 250 hours in the boat. However, the hours spent since the Miami show were all done with an anchor on my leg and using crutches. You ever tried to hang a transom assembly with only one good leg? It can be done!! After that said I would have to say probably 150 hours in real productive time. Some of my time was spent scratching my head saying... Oh chit!! What have I done!!!:D Now, for sure I will have the only 1000 hp Sonic in Oklahoma when done. ;)

This will float this summer!!! When depends on my engine builder!! And the outdrives. I finally found my heads tonight and they should be shipped later this week. So, now I have all the hard engine parts together. I am hoping by the end of May or the first half of June. The problem is my mechanic wants to fix his boat first!! It's simply a matter of priorities!! And I do have other boats to use, so nothing is lost except the excitement of launching a "new" boat!! :D

I know you probably don't want to think about this, but roughly how much have you put into the boat to get it this far? BTW, it looks great. Sure wish I had the talent to do that stuff.

George, I have been were your at. I restored my old 1972 25 Magnum Marine and it was a lot of work. I worked on it for 6 months every evening when i got of work. I almost cried the day I sold it. I had some much time wrapped up into it. Hope to see you on the lake this summer

Hi,

I was on my way to buy this boat when Too Old changed his mind, money stuff or something like that. No BS, was ready to make the trip over a weekend. I guess he changed his mind about 1 1/2 months later and you got the boat. No worries here, I got a great deal on another boat that by the looks of it, needed infinately less work.

My question is if you had to, would you do it all over again and if you don't mind the question, what are you into this project for?

Take care and good luck!

Looking VERY nice Blown. Were did you get the Color Coded water tight quick disconnects?

Jon

I'm going to have to have one of you guys "adopt" my boat for some cleanup/refurb sometime. Excellent work.

One word of warning, dump the plastic flush valves. I had them on my Donzi, they "ocasionally" stick closed after running on the flush hose. I had more than one ocassion when it started to overheat when idling out and I had to limp back in and disassemble the valves to get them to open to the water pickups again. The Formula has manual valves at the sea strainers which I like much better. I forgot to switch them once, but it is much easier to just reach in the engine bay and turn the valve than to contort around a hot engine to rebuild the plastic ones was.

-Greg

Answers to questions-
The color coded plugs are marked with vinyl tape. The plugs actually are 6 pin trailer plugs available at O'Reilly's Auto Parts for about $2.50 each. The boot fits pretty tightly but pull it apart and fill with dielectric silicon grease and they are now watertight & corrosion proof.... all for 2.50 a pop!!


GregP- What manual vavles are you using? Please advise.
Thanks....

Shooter- Yes, I would do it again.... but I haven't finished THIS one yet!! I will however, never again base a buying decision based on a Marine Surveyors review. Yes, it is a lot of work, but it keeps me out of the wife's hair...... as for the cost, well I figure it always cost me a $100.00 extra each weekend I stay at home/don't go to the lake. So, if I spend that money on the boat each week, then I'm even, aren't I????
Does that make sense??? Really, I probably have about $750.00 in cables, wire, blocks, lugs, clamps, etc. Some parts were made from stuff laying around the shop (aluminum plate, copper bar stock, plastic pieces, etc), I had to buy the diamond plate about $100.00...., then the steering -OUCH!!, tilt helm, depth gauge, GPS, Transom assy, all new or used engine alternators, pwr steering pump, starters, carbs, forged crank, a second four bolt MK IV block, a set of square port heads, roller rockers, 7/16 push rods, new pistons, head work, machine shop, valves, springs, cams (times 2 for twins!) and so on.......... let's just say I have exceeded my budget.
:rolleyes: but, I will have a unique, one of a kind boat that I built. What's that worth?:D