Such a great thread. It's fun to watch this, looking forward to the new racing season.
Such a great thread. It's fun to watch this, looking forward to the new racing season.
In reply to NY Nick :
Happy you're enjoying it, did you ever make it out to a race to have a look. I know the club accros the boarder in Toronto has 20 rookies lined up for this year!
Exciting times and more to come .
Now just need a good clean and it's time to start breaking it in !
Took the boat out today and tried to find a leak by putting a couple inches of water in the boat. Was totally unsuccessful.
It looks great though so that's a good motivator.
In reply to 1SlowVW :
That does look good!
In reply to 1SlowVW :
Need to change your name from 1SlowVW to 1Fast4x8...
Recon1342 said:In reply to 1SlowVW :
Need to change your name from 1SlowVW to 1Fast4x8...
It's funny how seriously the top level guys take their racing of homemade plywood boats.
In reply to 1SlowVW :
Used to work on Mercury race motors. All top-level boat racers are a bit... off.
In reply to Recon1342 :
That's awesome, I'd love to hear more of what you did there. Any experience with the 44xs or 25xs motors? I do know a few former national racers and they are all entertaining people.
My experience at this level so far has shown me a very supportive community.
In reply to 1SlowVW :
The Idaho Regatta is held about 40 miles east of me every year on the Snake River. When I was working at one of the boat shops here, we had a couple of locals that brought in their race boats every year for a once over on their way to the race... (but mostly to BS with the owners, who used to race at the national level)
Learned a lot about tuning a 2-stroke from those guys... IIRC they ran the 25s; been 15 years or so, though. Those race props and skegs were razor blades... kept covers on 'em so we wouldn't cut a knuckle on accident.
In reply to Recon1342 :
My buddy cut a tendon in his hand removing a prop. He slipped a bit and the prop sliced through both. He was wearing a welding glove. Now he has a proper prop wench.
I really should reshape my foot but there's more pressing issues with my set up that I need to work out first.
In other news I set the timing on the motor tonight. Weather permitting I'll heat cycle it a few times on the engine stand this weekend before trying it on the boat sometime soon.
The ringas and dingas have returned!
Because of my very tight ring gap I convinced myself a couple quick heat cycles before the basket case 80 goes on the boat would be a good idea.
Here’s the second of two, it’s running a little rich and a little heavy on oil. I know the latter is counter productive to ring seating but I’d rather be safe and it wasn’t getting real hot. I just didn’t want to get out on the water and go right to beating on it to break it in. Yes I know everyone has their own opinion on engine break in just like everyone has a belly button.
Here’s a link for some noise for those who want to hear another 80 running on land. Next video on this one will either be working out the tach settings or on the boat testing.
https://youtube.com/shorts/q2tLctBRN5s?feature=share
In reply to 1SlowVW :
FWIW, Johnson/Evinrude's break-in procedure called for running 25:1 pre-mix, and 50:1 after break in was completed. Usually required a plug change afterwards also...
Recon1342 said:In reply to 1SlowVW :
FWIW, Johnson/Evinrude's break-in procedure called for running 25:1 pre-mix, and 50:1 after break in was completed. Usually required a plug change afterwards also...
Under race conditions I usually run 20:1 .
I couldn't believe I wouldn't be fouling plugs at that. But when you run pretty much exclusively at 5k plus rpm the plugs stay clean as as can be.
In reply to 1SlowVW :
Yeah, full throttle all the time tends to keep 'em clean. I don't remember the exact procedure, but our 55hp motors on the Zodiacs were Evinrude motors, and there was a specific time spent at multiple throttle positions. Most boring boat drives ever. Our plugs generally were black by the time we reached the end of the break-in procedure.
Basket case motor is timed and has fresh gear oil and plugs. Ready to test tomorrow weather permitting.
Rebuilding of the gear foot on the new motor is in progress and I'll update with photos later on.
The new motor I bought had the original prop shaft installed. It's almost impossible to find props to fit so out it comes to get a standard sized one. New bearings and seals while I'm in there.
I'm actually super pumped about this as it was another job that pushed me well out of my confort zone.
Special tool I made to remove the shaft/cone.
New seals and roller bearings. You can see the four cut out sections that the tool grabs to thread this in and out of the gear foot. It's also righty loosey!
New lid should be untapped tomorrow.
Snell 2020 rated and high vis so you can spot me if I ever go for a swim.
Local run was last weekend, we had an abundance of wind with white caps on the course for a good part of the day. Morning testing was ok.
But when us b stock hydroplanes went out for a run a rookies driver flipped his boat trying to make it to the clock.
I made a few small changes to the set up but ultimately ran at 1” below to make sure I was getting lots of water. No cooling issues with the motor even on a 5 lap race. Still think there’s a little more power to be had but I was able to show that the boat is competitive when I had a deck to deck run for the lead for 3 laps with a much more experienced racer.
The basket case motor and scrap pile boat worked great. Now we need to work on the driver.
You'll need to log in to post.
