Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

[pond tuuunes]

I talked to my engine guy about a pro charger, he says how fast do you need to go? Any more power and your just gonna break stuff! He is kinda a buzz kill hu? Lol! JT

[Mrtoler]

I talked to my engine guy about a pro charger, he says how fast do you need to go? Any more power and your just gonna break stuff! He is kinda a buzz kill hu? Lol! JT

That seems crazy, the more stuff you break the more he get to fix and I know he's not doing it for free!

[tuned]

he says how fast do you need to go?

er. You need to go fast-er

[pond tuuunes]

I dont think he is worried about hurting the engine. Last time out we hit a big wave at 70mph+, the toons were completly out of the water, when it came down, it caved in the center pontoon. I think he is worried about tearing the boat apart.

[pond tuuunes]

About -18 here, must be cold as hell there?

[tuned]

About -18 here, must be cold as hell there?

Hell hath frozen over. Strangely enough the Vikings STILL haven't won the Superbowl.
Hard to get any motor work done in my tiny little plastic room. At 35 below, the air actually comes up to temp fairly quickly. The floor and the 1000# chunk of iron elephant in the middle of the room are another matter. It takes hours before I even dare touch it. I have visions of the kid stuck to the flagpole in 'A Christmas Story'...."ummm, 911? I'm stuck to a really big motor"

As it turns out, I hit quite a number of hurdles on this project. I expected to, although maybe more than I would have guessed. Some require fabrication, some require shipping wrong parts back for the right ones. Lots of reading and learning and phone calls and emails. I am slowly working thru it and will update when I get further along.

Fortunately, I have lots of time before seeing real water again....looks like I'm gonna need it

[curtiscapk]

OH man I hope you don't end up with the curtiscapk jinx!!!! It takes a whole boating season to cure that mother!

[tuned]

OH man I hope you don't end up with the curtiscapk jinx!!!! It takes a whole boating season to cure that mother!

It BETTER not be contagious
Guess I better blow some of my nice 'cool' air down your way to keep it at bay! Put yer parkas on boys. Here it comes

[curtiscapk]

we're cool enough thanks.

[ToonGuy]

It worked, thanks. -26 yesterday, didn't bother to look today. We got about 15" of snow, and everything is closed. No internet in the office, so I'm working from home today. I feel for ya Todd, even being used to this stuff as obviously you are, it's gotta really suck. Good luck, keep us posted!

[tuned]

Fabrication, fabrication and more fabrication....and that's no lie

Adapting a Merc cable to a Holley style throttle lever took some time.
The Mockup



The finished product-using an old cable. When I get the motor back in the boat, my existing cable should just click in....ummm.....should.


Temporary control panel



Coil had to move an inch to make room for the fuel rails. This plate should work nicely.



Not every fab went perfectly. Here's a plastic spacer for below the throttle body that I thought was solid until it came. It was sort of hollow and I needed to tap some pipe threads in it for a sensor. I had to give it a try just because. If you look closely, you can see the crack where I wrecked it. I have an aluminum one on the way.


It just goes on and on. I am making slow but steady progress. Hoping to get a test fire in a week or two

Pretty tough going at times having to battle one of the coldest winters in quite a few years. The 'Icebox of the Nation' (aka Frostbite Falls) is certainly living up to its moniker this year. 33 below this morning and I have a friend out on the trails doing a cold weather Ultra Marathon-the I135. Known as one of the toughest races in the world, the guys do a hundred thirty five miles on winter trails through the woods, swamps, frozen lakes from here to Lake Vermillion (Vermillion Fox knows this place). They have the choice of riding fat-tire bikes, skiing, or running. They go regardless of weather. Ken is race director and is one of the few that has completed it on each of the disciplines in separate years. It has grown to about 200 competitors and usually less than half finish. Unreal.

[ToonGuy]

Lookin good

[tuned]

Aaand more fabrications:

O2 sensors need to stay dry. Sooo how do you mount them in a wet exhaust??
I found a very special adaptor that required some very special milling in my exhaust spacer. I'm glad I proceeded with the exhaust diverter project this year, which required the spacers. Otherwise I would have had to tap into my exhaust elbows, which would have been much tougher.




Load leveler for hoist needed to be longer so that the chains wouldn't interfere with my fuel rails. So I made some shackles (black)


I needed to space my flame arrestor up a couple of inches so as to not impede my throttle arm. The spacer pipe I found made a perfect place to weld in a bung for my Intake Air Temp Sensor

[tuned]

Aaaand even more fabrication:

Finally made some fuel hoses (most of them). The Koul Tool worked like a charm.


The solid aluminum throttle body space that I got to replace the plastic one that I busted drilled and tapped so nicely that I just had to put an extra hole in it. Map Sensor & PCV Return.



And this thing, whatever it is. I'm sure it fits somewhere


One of these days I'll quite fabricating and start building. I promise. Although I've been known to lie. To girls.

[tuned]

Finally got around to actually putting some parts on, although fabrication continues as well.

Much of the fuel system is on, although still waiting for a fitting or two.



Seeing as I am in the middle of modifying my exhaust, I had hoses and elbows of various sizes lying around. Enough to make this MacGuyver exhaust.


Temporary cooling for my test start. I am going to use Propylene Glycol (RV antifreeze) for the seawater portion of my cooling system. Just drop a utility pump into the bucket and recirculate the fluid along with the exhaust. It will eventually heat up but I won't be running that long. Of course, it needs to be warmer than 10 degrees for it to be pump-able....ahem


The engine portion of my cooling is already full of Ethylene Glycol (Automotive stuff) good to 50 below. When I shut down after testing, I won't even have to worry about any of it freezing. Already winterized in all sections.