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A bit sad, A lot concerned


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I took my Sportster out for a drive today. Opened it up., it started skipping. Not good! Seen a drip from the manifold at #7 cylinder. Changed the manifold gaskets. Oh wait! There was no gasket!. It was only silicone! Is this a factory thing, or did someone have this engine apert before me? Anyway, I put it back together. rolled it over, and it hydrolocked! Still not good! Right side of the engine was FULL of water. Took the head off, and the head gasket was blown, the walls between the cylinders was worn about 1/32" and the head was worn about 1/16". This was going on for a while! It just finally made it to the water jacket. Odly enough, other then very high RPM, there was no sign of trouble, except that it idled a bit low and a bit rough, both of which I blamed on the carb. It had plenty of power, and ran good. Anyway, long story short, the motor is wrecked. So, since it is no good, we made a temporary fix so we can still boat. Steel epoxy putty. #4 and #6 cylinders went from 30PSI compression to 120PSI. Nothing to lose I guess. The sad part of this story though is this is probably the reason why the boat was sold in the first place. It was sold on consignment by Park Boat Co. in North Carolina. Between this and the hydo box incident, it hasn't been the best of times with this boat yet. Makes me kind of sad that people do this. Oh well, buyer beware I guess. Still love the boat though. A friend of mine has a block and head. Change it out in the off season.

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I took my Sportster out for a drive today. Opened it up., it started skipping. Not good! Seen a drip from the manifold at #7 cylinder. Changed the manifold gaskets. Oh wait! There was no gasket!. It was only silicone! Is this a factory thing, or did someone have this engine apert before me? Anyway, I put it back together. rolled it over, and it hydrolocked! Still not good! Right side of the engine was FULL of water. Took the head off, and the head gasket was blown, the walls between the cylinders was worn about 1/32" and the head was worn about 1/16". This was going on for a while! It just finally made it to the water jacket. Odly enough, other then very high RPM, there was no sign of trouble, except that it idled a bit low and a bit rough, both of which I blamed on the carb. It had plenty of power, and ran good. Anyway, long story short, the motor is wrecked. So, since it is no good, we made a temporary fix so we can still boat. Steel epoxy putty. #4 and #6 cylinders went from 30PSI compression to 120PSI. Nothing to lose I guess. The sad part of this story though is this is probably the reason why the boat was sold in the first place. It was sold on consignment by Park Boat Co. in North Carolina. Between this and the hydo box incident, it hasn't been the best of times with this boat yet. Makes me kind of sad that people do this. Oh well, buyer beware I guess. Still love the boat though. A friend of mine has a block and head. Change it out in the off season.

I had this same issue with the Merc in my 94 Echelon. Ran fine then one day just idled like crapthe next. Blown gasket with a hole between cylinders that ate up the block and the head. I feel your pain. I went to a remanufactured engine. Several years ago I had the same thing with a Merc 4 cylinder in a 1975 Century. I found an engine shop that plugged the areas in the block and head that were eaten up. Then the head was remachined and the cylinder was sleeved. That repair is still holding up today and was a bunch cheaper to get fixed. Good idea to do a compression check at the end of each season. then if there is a problem you have the offseason to get it fixed. Good Luck!

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Thanks. :) A friend of mine is giving me a 350 from a truck to use. I'll swap it out in the next couple of days. Can't be without a boat this time of year, and it will give me some time to get mine repaired. Another friend knows a place that does this stuff you talked about. Then I'll rebuild it and have a fresh motor.

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Great stuff is the way the factory does the manifolds.

-Chris

is that something new, or have they always done that? what do they recommend when replacing? I just redid mine, and when ordering from SKIDIM, I ordered INDMAR replacements (rather than the OSCO). I did get gaskets (and now that I think about it, the material I scraped off was probably NOT old gasket, but Great Stuff). The risers definetly had gaskets though.

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Hmm, I don't really know. I think for quite sometime but I haven't pulled a manifold off a boat of your age. Risers definitly do have gaskets though.

-Chris

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I got thinking today......there is no water jacket going to the head on exhaust manifold on my boat anyway. It came from the other side when filling. Lucky I never hydro locked it when it was running. Had a real brain fart the other day I guess. Too upset about the miss.

Anyway, I did some more investigating today with new engines and repairs. I can get it rebuilt locally for $2200 to $2500 depending on whether they can use the block or head (I don't think they can so it will be $2500). It will take 7-10 days. They guarantee it for the season, and it will have the origional 310 HP. Even if I repaired it myself, and rebuilt it, it would likely be $2000+. Then I would still only have a repaired engine. I'll let them do the work. It is going to them tomorrow.

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Sounds like a quick fix. You can buy rebuilt vortec marine blocks for about $2200. Michigan Motorz sells lots of marine engines, you can get a new longblock for like $2600.

-Chris

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I had thought about going to Maine for one at about the same price you are talking, but by the time I travel at the price of fuel, etc, not to mention the border crossing, it will be much more than it will be locally. I will end up with the same result at this place. They are a very reputable company. They do mostly old car restorations I believe, but they have good marine knowledge also. Local marine shops in the area get them to do their work. They just waranty for 1 season because of winterization, which I completely understand.

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