Way2slow

I don't remember if VA (I was stationed there back in the 80's) ,required a title for the motor but I don't think they did, if so, it should have the model number and then it's easy to tell. That's not a freeze plug, it's just an aluminum disk stuck in a recess in the block to hold it with the serial number on it. Later they started putting put the model also. I don't know how you can tell just from the serial number. The model number is the one that has the size, year and type. Sometimes you can look around at some of the different parts that might have a manufacture date on them. A lot of times the power pack and the starter if they are still the original.

Linkage and throttle body synchronization. Making sure all the throttle bodies are fully closing and opening at exactly the same time and the timing marks on all the linkage points are lined up. Also, make sure that post sticking up on the linkage cam has not lost it's outer shell. If it's black and about 1/4" in diameter, it's bad, if it's about 3/8" and has clear shell it's good. If you have the Diagnostic Software, it should give you any fault codes and lets you some some trouble shooting. If you have never done it, you will need the help of a manual, or someone that' know how.

Good luck on that one. It's probably going to be a while before any of that stuff shows back up on the shelves. I think most reloaders are scared of what the future looks like and scrambling to buy what they can, while they can. I too shoot a 10mm and am lucky enough I reload and have a reasonable supply, not enough to do the practice shooting I used to do but enough to last a while.

I doubt you would want to buy a rod cap tool for one or even two motors. https://www.crowleymarine.com/parts/958.cfm No outboard is tuned to idle out of the water. They have to have the back pressure on the exhaust. Mine does that when I first start it, especially on the hose, but after I warm it up it idles fine. If it does it after running it in the lake, it might have a linc and sinc issue. You mentioned you only had about 15 minutes on it. With new pistons and rings on a bored cylinder, I let one idle a minimum of about 45 minutes before I increase the rpm an. For the first hour on the water, I don't take one above 3,000 rpm. I go up about 500 rpm each hour after that but never holding it for more than few minutes at the time and then back down the 500 for several minutes and then back up, like a yoyo. Once it get it to 5,000, I wait until I have about eight hours before I go WOT, and then is back to the yoyo deal after two or three minutes at WOT until I get about 10 hours. I just have this thing against looking in the bore of one and seeing scratch and rub marks on a new bore after it has few hours on it. A little trick I use to look in a cylinder is one of those small instrument panel lights and a piece of that really small two conductor wire like on some of these small power supplies, the smaller the better, soldered to each of the wire leads on the bulb with a little heat shrink on them to prevent shorting. Clip the other end to a 12V source and ground and stick it in the plug hole. It lights the cylinder up like day light in there and you can see it just fine. That's how I check the burn pattern on top of the piston when tuning and after porting to see how my port angles are working. The factories totally suck. REMEMBER, that aluminum ecu housing is not a ground.

I have an alignment tool for installing rods bearing caps, makes it a lot easier. You can do them without the tool and I've done a bunch without it as long as you are easy and careful about it. If you torque one down and find it's off a little, most of the time you can not get it to line back up right after that an have to replace the rod. Sometimes you can put the tool on it a get it back but some will still push over out of alignment. Where it's real fun is when you are only doing one cylinder and not breaking the whole motor down. You can do one cylinder by pulling that head and the intake off and go through the intake side of the block to take the rod cap off and put it back on. Putting it back on is when you definitely don't want to rush things, checking and double checking with a sharp scribe to make sure it's aligned as you tighten it a little at the time.

I will also give you another little tidbit. When I rebuild one, I almost never replace the bearings unless they show signs of blue from heat or pit marks in them. They will wear out a motor many times before they go bad. If the piston pins have the loose bearings, I swap those out for caged bearing and I replace the bottom main (roller bearing) every time I take one down, it's cheap and not worth the risk of a failure. If the bottom main fails, it will let the crankshaft move up and down in the block and destroy block and everything in it. I also mic the sealing rings around the crank and replace those when they have .010" or more wear. If one piston has a locator pin that has worked out any, I replace all six pistons, don't matter if they only had a few hours on them. I have seen the back out with less than 100 hours on them.

Yep, that tale tale grove is when the pin was working out and rubbing. They start with a little polished line there, then as it wears, it gets deeper and deeper until if finally hangs the lip of the port. That plug out of the piston is where it ripped it out when if finally hung the port. I'm actually surprised it didn't do a whole lot more damage. Then injectors they take them apart, clean and inspect them everything, replace any out of tolerance parts and calibrate them. The ECU has about 50 or so updates they do on the early ones. Basically redesigned and upgrade parts that had a history of being prone to fail. When I had mine done it was $1,100 to do all six injectors and the ECU. That was about 10 years ago when I first bought the boat at auction with all the injectors and and a bunch other motor parts in one of the bins in the boat . The ECU had all the drivers for the injectors shorted where it looked like someone didn't know the housing actually has battery voltage on it and they must have grounded it out. The injectors have to be calibrated to the ECU and are number for which cylinder they go in. They send the program and six calibration disk so when you install them you have to load the disk for each cylinder in the ECU. You can not swap the injectors around and you can not use an injector from another motor without sending it out to be calibrated and have calibration disk and software to load it in the ECU. The nice part about it was I bought a boat that was worth about $15,000 at the time for $5,000 and only spent $1,100 fixing it, so I was not complaining. Yes, I decarb about every 50 hours. The reason my plugs are 6 years old is my dad died about six years ago and he was the main reason I was going fishing every other weekend to take him. Since he died the boat probably hasn't had 50 hours on it. That's why I selling it next spring. I doubt the motor has much more than 300 hours on it now. When I go it, it only had 115 hours.

I almost never troll, I've always run XD50, I haven't changed spark plugs in at least six years but yes I do index them but don't worry about the being dead nuts on. Just changed the fuel filter the first time in about six years. The only time I notice any surge in idle is on a cold start. After a couple of minutes of idling to warm it up, I run it at about 1,500 rpm to warm up, it doesn't do it after that. My HotFoot cable is a little tight when I first use it, so it will hold it there until I take my foot and pull back on it. After a a little use, it returns on it's on. One thing, I "NEVER" let my motor sit for more than two to three months without running it on the hose or in the tank with fresh gas and a double dose of SeaFoam for about 15-20 minutes at about 2,000 rpm (after a couple of minutes warm up). Letting one sit for long periods during the winter is a good way to pop a piston the first time you go out with it in the spring. These motors are tuned right to the max, and it only takes a slightly sluggish injector from the lacquer build up of old gas to give you that very sick feeling you get when you hear that piston pop a few hundred yards from the dock. I also don't run old gas, if gas has been in the tank for a couple of months or I know I'm not going to be running it for a few months, I either pump or siphon it out and put it in a vehicle. I use a 1 gallon jug with 2 ounces of Seafoam in a gallon of gas, and disconnect the primer bulb from the tank and connect a hose and stick it in the jug. I'll run it until it has used about 1/2. maybe a little more in the jug. I've been doing this for over 10 years and it has never missed a beat. One little tid bit of info. That motors needs a good, high cranking amp battery so if your battery has lost some of it's ump over the winter, it might not start. That motor has to be turning at least 275rpm to develop a good spark and it takes almost full voltage to fire those injectors, they use a lot of current, a so, so battery can pull down to less than 10 volts and the injectors lower than that.. It it's not spinning fast a free, it's probably not going to start. You can sit there an crank on it, thinking it's a turning a little slow but fast enough it should start, but it don't Most like, is not making enough spark or it's not firing the injectors. I've seen more than one say their battery was good, but wouldn't start. Put a kickass battery in it and it starts just fine.

Being a cheapo usually bites you in the long run. A lot of time, going the cheap way is the most expensive way you can go. Just like going with a smaller motor because it saves $1,500. After the new wears off and you start getting more and more dissatisfied. Now it's more of a displeasure to use and as you start trying stuff to improve it, it gets expensive, and I am serious about the statement you can spend several hundred dollars per miles per hour and still not be really satisfied. I learned a long time ago, spend the money up front to do something right the first time and you are a lot happier and it's cheaper in the long run.

.Sorry, my desktop computers mother died last week and just getting this new one set up and didn't notice it had logged me in wrong.

There a small things you can do with the setup. Adding a jackplate and playing with engine height helps. Then playing with different SS props might help. Other than raising the engine on the transom some, just about anything you do is going to cost you several hundred dollars per mph, so just how bad do you want to go a little faster. The easiest and cheapest way for a noticeable gain is to go to a larger motor.

The only problem I've ever had with a dual console is when casting something like a Carolina rig with a long leader or a popping cork with a long leader on 7 1/2' or 8' rods. When you whip it back to make one of extra long cast straight off the bow, the lure can catch the windshield. When two people are on the front deck it makes you have to shorten your back swing or think about where the opening is and pay attention to what the other person is doing so you both don't come back at the same time. That's also why I would never own a fish and ski or a boat with a full windshield.

Never had a need for a range finder. I know may pace count, well enough that I taught land navigation for three years in the military that required going for miles and coming within a few yards of your objective. I know how to judge distances and know the ballistics of every rifle I shoot. I don't make hale marry shots, I know what I'm doing and what the rifle is going to do out to the max distance I consider that bullet to be effective. Might be surprised at how good you get when you regularly practice something.

Did it many times with my old 285 Pro I had and do it with my Renegade 20 dual console with no problems. It's for short periods when in a situation when the back seat guy is hampered or cut off like when chasing schooling fish and you are constantly chasing them and having to make long cast to them.

Tim, If you are referring to the boat you are using in the pic, I think if you measured the bottom where you are standing, I think you would be lucky to have 32 inches. That one does not look any wider than my 12'

Not all generators are the same. Check on refrigerator requirements. A lot of the newer, energy efficient refrigeration systems, ACs refrigerators, freezer's etc, have gone to variable frequency compressors. Some generators will damage those units.

Width is more critical than length. A 1248 or 1242 or even a 1240 with a wide bow would be a whole lot more stable than a 1436 . It's going to roll sideways, not flip up on end

I guess I missed the casting platform idea the first time I read your post. Bad idea unless it's an extra wide 42-48" jon with a wide bow. I don't even like standing up in my 12' jon, it's probably about 32" wide,, maybe even a couple inches less. My 1436 is ok to stand in, but I only have a small deck on the front for mounting the TM and stepping in and out of the boat, not sure I would even want to try standing on a deck in the front of it to cast. Of course now, as the old saying goes, with age comes wisdom, back when I was a teen ager, I would stand in my canoe, but got wet a few times doing it. Now, I don't even stand up getting in and out of it.

I have an old, light weight 12' jon that stays in south Texas my son and I use to fish resacas. I like it because it's easy to get in and out of the bed of the truck and slide into the water. Since these are small bodies of water, wind and currents are no problem and it's more than stable enough for that. Brand name, have now idea, it's old and bought used for $100 several years ago. I also have a 1436 Lowe I use in the rivers and ponds here in GA, but it's on a trailer and a little heavier than I would care to manhandle from the bed of a truck. Those are hard to beat for the price.

One cause of that is having the motor trimmed up in shallow water and forgetting to trim it down when you start it. As you stated, people just don't realize just how much and how fast that impeller can get hot when there's not water going through it. I've seen people do that and just trim it down while running, wrong move, turn it off instantly.

I should have also mentioned, if your truck is an automatic, I would strongly suggest you install an auxiliary transmission cooler, and a temp gauge in the transmission. You might find that if the truck already has an auxiliary cooler, you will probably have to go to a larger one. Now, if you are one of these that trades for a new vehicle every three years, you might not have as much to worry about. The vehicle warranty might take care of it if you fry it before then. You will be surprised just how fast the fluid temp can get above 200f when you start towing up hill or very fast. Even at 200f, you should change the fluid every 50,000 miles, and when you start hitting 220f, the fluid life and transmission life is cut in half. Even at 210f, you are cooking the seals and fluid in the transmission. Even with a manual transmission, I think if you check the manual, they will tell you not to tow in high gear (which is an overdrive gear), almost everyone I've seen does.

Without knowing the rpm, no way to know. Small outboards don't usually offer much of a selection for props. It's common for them to have blades that sorta roll back so they will have more slip if over loaded to keep from straining the motor too much. "Sometimes" you can find a SS prop that has more normal looking blades with a slight cup for the major brand name motors that improves speed but again though, without an rpm reading, you would need a good crystal ball.

Depends on how far and the terrain. Short trips is one thing, long trips will greatly shorten the life of the transmission and is hard on the differential if you try towing at legal highway speeds. With manual or automatic transmission, you absolutely can not tow in overdrive. The greater danger is having to make a panic stop, even with surge breaks, that can be very dangerous. Been there, done that and don't never care to go through that experience again. I keep a 2,500 HD just for towing my 20' Javelin. Rather than listen to a bunch of people on the e-net, stop by a couple of transmission repair shops and ask them their opinion on how the transmission will hold up under the conditions you plan to use it. That still does nothing for stopping, you will have to be put in a panic situation, and hope you come out safely to understand that problem.

It's all about marketing and sucking you in with a low advertised price. They put the bare bone minimum size outboard, TM and anything thing else so they can put them so they can make it look like it's a great deal for the size boat. The buyer has to be knowledgeable enough to know what they really want and need and do the upgrades before the purchase. Which by the time they see the real price of the rig with the upgrades to make it a nice boat, they get sticker shock and think they can use it as is and upgrade in the future, at about twice the price. They older you get, the greater the sticker shock. When I was 16, I bought a new boat, a 14' runabout with a 65hp Mercury. Boat, motor and trailer cost me $1,427, and that was all brand new. When I built my first hot rod engine for my car in 1965 it cost me less than $500 for machine work, headers, cam, intake, carb, and everything. Now it's almost $5,000 just for the cam and complete valve train assembly. So, think how I feel every time I want to do something now. Of course, back then, if you were making $1.25 and hour, that' was about twice minimum wage.

Six gauge is the recommend minimum.. The large the gauge number the smaller the wire. It should have the wire size on the insulation. Safely is not the objective behind using the larger wire, it's the internal resistance and voltage lose at the motor that's the driving factor. You could safely run eight gauge wire for up to 40 amps, but the performance would suffer With that said though, if you go to a gps motor, they are usually at least 80lb thrust. The amp draw for that size motor would be too much for eight gauge, and would not even be safe. Six gauge would be the absolute minimum size cable, and that would probably have enough drop to affect performance. I would strongly suggest you go with the four gauge. As the old saying goes, you gotta pay to play and this upgrade will not be cheap. If you try to cut corners to save a dollar, it will cost you in the long run.