1987 21 BR Project

[NWABoater]

Took another stab at reinstalling the distributor just to make certain that I had things aligned correctly. Same problem as before, engine runs at 1000 rpm and above but stalls out below that despite my adjustments to the timing. So I guess it's carb rebuild time. I've never rebuilt a carb before and I have to say it's a bit intimidating due to the shear volume of parts the rebuild kits come with but I'm going to give it a shot. The kit won't be hear for a couple weeks so in the mean time I'm going to start in on replacing the flooring. Crossing my fingers that the stringers aren't shot..

[akorcovelos]

Are you pulling the deck up? Are you going to core the stringers?

[NWABoater]

That's the plan. The deck section directly over the fuel tank definitely needs replaced as it bows quite a bit when standing on it. There is also an area around the ski locker that rotten out. All other decking is pretty solid though so maybe only a patch job is warranted around the locker. Maybe cut out the section between the stringers and drop in a new piece.

[akorcovelos]

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. Nothing worse than wood rot on a boat...

[capn272]

You could try soaking the carburetor in parts cleaner?

I have a pail of it in my garage that I'd be happy to give you if you're close enough - I'm in West Fayetteville. I used it for a couple small motorcycle carbs some years ago and now it's just taking up space in my garage. I don't see myself taking up any major motorized projects for a few years thanks to having a couple little ones monopolizing all my free time.

[NWABoater]

You could try soaking the carburetor in parts cleaner?

I have a pail of it in my garage that I'd be happy to give you if you're close enough - I'm in West Fayetteville. I used it for a couple small motorcycle carbs some years ago and now it's just taking up space in my garage. I don't see myself taking up any major motorized projects for a few years thanks to having a couple little ones monopolizing all my free time.

Hey thanks for the offer capn! I might take you up on that. I know for sure that the gasket between the carb and manifold needs to be replaced as I could clearly see fuel seeping from it. I don't know if that in of itself is attributing to issues I'm experiencing but worth calling out.

I hear ya about the little ones. On a good weekend I can get maybe 4 hours of focus time on the boat. Some weekends it's none.

[Big Block Power]

You could also have a bad intake manifold gasket.

[NWABoater]

You could also have a bad intake manifold gasket.

I'll keep that in mind. Any tell tale signs that it's bad?

[akorcovelos]

Put a vacuum gauge on it.

[Big Block Power]

You could also have a bad intake manifold gasket.

I'll keep that in mind. Any tell tale signs that it's bad?

Vacuum leaks cause high idle.

[NWABoater]

Well, no need to test for a vacuum leak as you can clearly see the front manifold gasket is broken and exposed so I guess I'll be replacing the manifold gaskets as well.

On the up side, I removed the gas tank floor panel to get a better idea of what the flooring and stringers look like. The stringers don't show any signs of delamination and have an ok to nice ping to them when tapped with a hammer but we'll know more once I start fully demoing the floor.

[NWABoater]

Ended up with more free time to work on the boat today than I anticipated. End result, all carpet and seats have been demo'd. I was happy to see that the floor looks pretty dang good. The only soft areas are around the ski locker down past the cooler cutout to the fuel tank. I'm thinking that i can just cut out that entire channel between the stringers and then use the stringers as a structure to brace the new section to. All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about how things are looking.

[dustinm]

Thats not very bad at all. Looks better and better all the time

[NWABoater]

Thats not very bad at all. Looks better and better all the time

Not too bad overall for a $1,200 boat.

[NWABoater]

After further consideration I think I'm just going to redo the whole floor. Might as well do it right.