Cobaltchat.com

The freeze crack is more like a freeze explosion.

And now the block is in engine... purgatory!

I pulled these little puppies out and it wasn't fun! And then after searching the Web over and over for a way to redo or refinish them I discovered Tecnographics in Florida. They have the contract to do all the dash panels for Cobalt, so I ordered OEM replacements.

Not cheap...but I also learned that by doing it mysef, it would have taken a very long time, and this time of year that's something I don't have a lot of. Also, the intrument panel is fine, and I was worried about getting an exact match.

Then the lettering was an issue. I looked into several different methods of silkscreen, or something similar. . This problem could have been worked through, no doubt, but in the end I justified the extremely high price for the convenience of placing an order and getting the exact panels I need.

Those are pretty rough. When I look at buying a boat those are the panels I look at to tell if the boat sat out in the sun. Good way to tell. Glad you found replacements. That's good to know. John you may want to bookmark that company some how?

I made a new parts for sale/trade/free subforum and moved the posts trying to sell things there, and created a new post in the now cleaned-up parts forum mentioning this. Might be worth making a sticky with a list of manufacturers at some point too.

I finally got my panels back in the mail. They look great! Now I'm probably going to pull my dash and do the same thing so they'll be an exact match, but that might be next winters project. I also picked up my interior. I'm doing things just a bit different to get a little pop out of the appearance and I'm hoping when it all comes together it'll look right. I had red piping added to the seats and a few other strategic places.

My original steering wheel is toast, and a replacement from Cobalt is ridiculously expensive, so I ordered one of these from Lacarra. After the red boot stripe is added it should all tie in (fingers crossed) Then I took Big Blocks lead and bought this on Ebay. One of the last things to address will be the stereo system, speakers and LED lighting.

I don't know why my crazy phone won't turn the pictures right. Sometimes I'd like to throw this thing like a grenade!

I have learned to take all pictures with my phone sideways.No more up Right pictures. For some reason forums don't like them that way.
I like what your doing.nice touches.

My motor is done. They bored a replacement block 30 over so I got new pistons and rings. Pulled all the components out of my old block and checked tolerances, and it was all great. Reinstalled the components with new bearings, bushings, seals, etc. All the machine work was done to the heads and everything went back together perfectly. Loaded her up and carried her back to the boat shop.

They got the engine installed, reinstalled the outdrive, and started her up to break in the new cam.

Eeww.

My fuel pump screeched when it first fired, so they pulled the pump assembly off, broke it down and cleaned it out. It was full of goo...

The mechanic cleaned it out and put it all back together. It's running, but the pump has me worried.

I may end up ordering a new pump assembly, or at the least the HP side to carry as a spare. Dang.

I've been reading and researching all of the problems that seem to be inherent with these Volvo pumps. Black paint, the hp side running super hot, yadayada. Anyone else here have any fuel pump issues?

The saga continues...

I haven't had any issues. I know a few that have. The good thing is they are cheap.NOT!
If it was me I would just replace it. Towing a boat back is no fun. Plus you don't want to ruin your new engine lean. Bad things can happen. Glad your making head way on her. I have the interior of my winter project in the basement all cleaned up. Now I just have to do the sides of the interior and wet sand and buff and then she is for sale. Keep the pictures and stories coming.It's a long winter.

I'd be really tempted to replace the fuel pump with all the other work you've done to that. The last thing you want is a blob of black paint sludge scoring your cylinder walls or clogging the fuel delivery system when you're out and about. I haven't had one apart, so I don't know to what extent any interior paint or other sludge could be cleaned, but no way I would overlook that.

Edit - here's one guy who tore one apart... http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engine-r ... cell-5-0gi and another thread on a guy who cleaned and reassembled his http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-how ... viced.html

Should be equally applicable to cobalt boats...

So I ended up not replacing the fuel pump after much study and research. My mechanic completely disassembled and cleaned it. Worse case scenario is I have to replace it sometime next summer. The motor runs really good!

After the engine was reinstalled I took it to have a custom cover built. Since I'm going to put a thin red boot stripe on the side later I thought a thin red strip down the center of the cover would be good. NOT

When I went to pick it up they had had put a HUGE stripe down the center, and they didn't make the cover long enough to cover the extended swim deck. The freakin thing looks like a ride from the carnival....

The girl at the counter messed up when she took my order, so it stays there for another week to be replaced, hopefully correctly. They wanted to scab a piece on the back but I quickly nixed that idea. I could have scabed a piece onto my old cover if that's what I wanted. I'm going with a solid blue this time with no stripe. So it's kinda worked out better.

So now I have a new motor with a 3 year warranty, and it's been reinstalled. They ran it with zinc for 30 minutes to break in the cam, then winterized it. The dash panels have been replaced and all the electrical has been checked. Everything works as it should. The interior was removed, recovered and now sets in my garage to be reinstalled when I get'er home again.

After the cover it goes to the fiberglass shop for wet-sanding and buffing. They're going to remove the cleats and hardware, and they said they'd remove the logo and letters for polishing too. Not sure about that...

Sounds fun. I have a cover that goes over the platform and one that didn't. I prefer it not to cover the platform. When it sits in the water the water is always going on the cover or under it. I rather have it not cover it so you can walk on the platform. The emblems are $9 each and the wreath is $25 & the C is $25 so if they are not broke leave them alone that's my 2 cents. I like the color though. What material did they use. I like sunbrella over the sharkskin. I am having them make me a bow and separate cockpit cover. I'll just use the mooring cover fit the winter storage.

My boat sits on a lift in the summer in a covered dock, and without the deck covered it gets pretty nasty. The spiders make a mess, not to mention the birds and other lake critters that find an uncovered swim deck a handy place to perch, eat, fight, breed and poop. Over a weekend it's not bad, but it gets quiet during the week.

This place is actually pretty good. The quality and price make it the "go to" for covers and biminis. My new bimini and cover are made with sunbrella. The bimini zips on with a 3 year warranty. If it ever tears or fades it is very easy to replace. I'll be into both for just over $1,000.

Edwardscanvas.com

Not sure if they have to have the boat though. I think they do for covers but I'm not sure about biminis. The may have templates.

The fiberglass guy says he can polish up my logos and badges, but I may just order all new.

Supposed to pick up my boat tomorrow, so I'll post a pic of the new cover.