Project Carla: 74' CV-16SS Restoration

[awc105]

Well not much to update about this weekend, spent most of it working on the truck, rust proofing it for the winter. I did buy a needle scaler from HF to beat off all the flaky paint and rust on the frame, the thing worked great! Dirty and loud job...then a hefty coating of fluid-film on everything and inside body panels, etc...

On the boat I got some of the last mercruiser parts painted, specifically the trim pump and mounting bracket, the trim cylinders, shift plate, and trim indicator cylinder. I figured I had better hurry up and get them done as it was 78 yesterday and that's probably the last one of those days we'll get...

All for now.

-Andrew

[Glastronjohn18]

Looks good! I remember having a mercruiser parts tree myself.

[awc105]

If only I could convince my wife to have a mercruiser parts tree for Christmas LOL

Well, not much progress this week, spent most of my free time on the truck, prepping it for winter.

I did however finish the design for the 3" internal exhaust flaps, sent the parts out to be laser cut.

Starting to get cold in the mornings, 29 this morning.

-Andrew

[awc105]

Well, work on the boat has died down a little bit for the winter as other projects take priority. However, I still plan to post regular updates, they just might be a little slower.

My dad just retired and is now ramping up on an aggressive campaign to get the searay ready for the water next year, this weekend we glued in the first layer of the transom.

In other news I have been painting and cleaning all the other odds and ends needed for the mercruiser install. Looking at installing the trim pump and finishing up the hydraulic lines for it soon along with finishing the shift/throttle cable linkages.

My laser cut exhaust shudder parts arrived as well, so I was able to put those together! They turned out great! I cut the rubber with sharp scissors which worked ok, if I make any more in the future I think laser-cut rubber might be the way to go. I'm they'll wear out eventually so I should probably have a few on hand.

I got quotes for all the welding I need done, most of them were around $500, can't really swing that right now as we just bought all new tires for both out cars...My dad has a nice lincoln tig welder so rather than pay someone, it looks like I'm going to learn tig welding and save my money, hopefully by the end of winter I'll be good enough to do the work...

It's gotten cold and wet here, fall has come...

All for now

-Andrew

[awc105]

More Pics

[awc105]

Did a little tinkering this weekend. Had some clearance issues with the throttle cable, the rear bracket stud was too low causing it to interfere with the operation of the shift plate, I made a little bracket to move it up about an inch.

I decided to install the factory trim sender, mercruisers before 1975 used a hydraulic cylinder inside the boat to monitor trim level, instead of the external gimbal housing mounted ones used later. Since I wasn't able to mount it in the stock location due to clearance with the transom, I opted to mount it inside the engine compartment next to the trim pump. I had to make a spacer block to offset it a bit so it could be flush mount to the bulkhead panel.

I was also able to connect all the hydraulic hoses for the trim system, attached are a couple of diagrams about the trim circuit that I wasn't able to easily find on the web, these are pictures out of my original mercruiser service manuals.

All for now.

-Andrew

[awc105]

Whoops forgot to show the hidden exhaust shudders inside the pipe! I'll probably weld them about 1/2" inside the pipe, still close enough to the end to replace the rubber.

-Andrew

[awc105]

Well it's been a few weeks, had a few other truck projects to take care of. This past weekend, though, I was able to pick off some low-hanging fruit.

Originally my plan for the exhaust was to have it welded, however that made me think, if I ever want to experiment with different tips, etc... then I am SOL. Then I found these really nice looking butt joint clamps for 3" pipe, they we're only $20 for a set. I replaced the fasteners that they came with with stainless hardware, but other than that they bolted right on and I am happy with how they look.

In other news I got the battery tray and battery mounted, there's just enough room to slide a battery in and out without hanging up on anything.

I also mounted the trim pump.

In the near future dash wiring will be the next task.

Hope everyone is enjoying winter so far, we've had a few cold snaps, but now it's back in the 40s.

All for now,

-Andrew

[Joebergen355]

This project is looking great, I love seeing these old boats brought back to life (strong bias to the CV16SS). maybe someday i'll find a good excuse to get some more power swapped into my 72'