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Help me identify a couple of things...

I know I'm a johnny come lately in this thread, and have limited knowledge on what you're doing but... I do have a decent amount of experience with marine rigging, and I always double clamp all fittings with fluid running through them. Of course this is where it is possible, but do everything you can to make it happen. Better to error on the side of caution and over doing it:thumb:
 
I agree 100% and intend to do that this weekend once I'm sure I've got everything mounted and installed like I want it. That was the first thing that jumped out when I first looked at the boat was that he used regular automotive hoses and single clamps on everything including the exhaust hoses. $30 in additional clamps is cheap insurance compared to hose blowing off down the river.

I hate to keep asking questions but I have one more device that I can't find information on. There is a tee between the electric fuel pump and carburetor that feeds a return line back to the 1-1/2" fuel filler hose above the tank. In my world I would think this is a spring check valve acting like a fuel pressure regulator? The fuel pump is a Carter which in the catalog is listed at 7psi. The fuel pressure gauge only reads 3psi so I assume it's bleeding off pressure. If that is just a tee fitting I think it needs to be replaced with a regulator with a return or just go away and let the pump regulate itself at 7psi assuming the Holley seats will hold okay. Any thoughts?

It's hard to tell in picture amongst with messy wiring but the fuel line tees and the return is heading down and back to the filler hose.

IMG_2657.png
 
I debated hose over tubing in my head for a long time. When I bought the boat it was piped from the inlet hose to the raw water pump with PVC and an automotive hose and from the raw water pump outlet to the crossover inlet with an automotive hose. I've had failures with automotive hoses (on cars) so I knew I wanted to use the heavy wall marine hose. Unfortunately my boat also didn't have an oil cooler when I bought it so I bought one and started playing around with where I could mount it. With it sitting on the port side of the engine I couldn't get the marine hose to make the 90 and 180 bends without hitting the alternator or placing the cooler all the way outboard which would prevent me from getting in the engine bay to change oil. I apologize for the long wind up... Anyway, I used to plumb my turbo cars with tubing and silicone connectors and it worked very well and I never had any problems with them running from 0-25psi repeatedly for miles and miles. We also use connections like this on pumps at work and they work fine. As a matter of fact I never heard of anyone losing a connector so I went this route. The tubing and hose bursting isn't a risk so I'm limited to the risk of a hose popping off which I can mitigate by double clamping everything. I hope I'm right. If I had seen some premade hoses that would have worked I would have gone that route but I couldn't find any in the online sites.
 
I can't tell you how to properly set it up but I can tell you do not eliminate the return line with an electric pump. That will be a recipe for failure.
 
Yea, on Convincors, the fuel tank does not have a bung for the return line. Electric pumps require a fuel return otherwise the pump will dead-head with pressure causing failure. It is common on boats not originally equipped with a return line to splice a fitting into the fuel filler tube.
 
That's the major drawback up buying a used anything. You have to sort out what the previous owner did. In my case the boat ran great and has over 100 hours on the engine so the way the cooling and fuel systems are plumbed obviously worked, but it makes me scratch my head. Why someone would spend $5,000 in parts for an engine and use a PVC pipe for the cooling water and leave out the oil cooler makes me wonder what the logic was. If 3psi at the carb is good enough to keep the fuel bowls full I'll probably leave it alone for now and focus on getting some of the wiring cleaned up. My experience is mostly cars / Jeeps for the past 15 years and I'm used to a bypass regulator like the one Jazzy referenced so that's probably the direction I'll end up going.
I did verify that my pre-lube system works like it's supposed to. The fuel pump power has an oil pressure switch in-line so the pump won't turn on until it sees oil pressure. The pre-lube solenoid opens after a couple of seconds and the fuel pump kicks on. I hope to get off work in time this afternoon to get everything strapped down and clamped as secure as I can make it so I can take it out in the morning and see how it works.
I mentioned changing the oil in my earlier post this morning. I changed the oil a couple of weekends ago and that is a nightmare. I'm not a small person so it was REALLY hard to get beside the engine and get my arm and a wrench under the pan to the get the drain bolt out. I bought an extractor but the smallest tube wouldn't go down into the pan. It kept catching on something so I had to drain the oil into the bilge and let it drain out the back. A pain to clean up afterwards. I can't imagine how you guys with two engines work on anything.
I really appreciate all the help and insight you guys have provided.
 
Two engines isnt as bad as you would think, I rigged up a few things to make my life easier. On your oil change method if your gonna do it that way it helps to spray the bilge w degreaser first then let er rip. also there are a few companies that make a remote oil change system you basically swap your drain plug with a hose assembly that fishes through your drain plug in the boat, no mess that way.
 
jazzy said:
... also there are a few companies that make a remote oil change system you basically swap your drain plug with a hose assembly that fishes through your drain plug in the boat, no mess that way.
Click to expand...

That is what I have. Very convenient, and as you mentioned, no mess. It does take a bit to drain, but that is when you crack a cold one and take a union break.:thumb:

HD
 
Gimme Fuel said:
CP Performance has many to choose from at decent prices and they are good quality. The integrated thermostat coolers are very expensive though. I went with a 3x"18" standard cooler on mine with a Derale Perormance 1/2" NPT oil thermostat from Jegs for $53. Very nice piece for the price BTW.
Click to expand...

What material are the CP coolers? Bronze?

I want to powder coat mine when I buy it.

The 6.2MX only holds 4.5 quarts of oil and it just makes me nervous.

Sorry I am off topic.

HD
 
hotdaddy27 said:
That is what I have. Very convenient, and as you mentioned, no mess. It does take a bit to drain, but that is when you crack a cold one and take a union break.:thumb:

HD
Click to expand...

If your not doing so already warm the engine up before the oil change. It'll flow out alot quicker.
 
hotdaddy27 said:
What material are the CP coolers? Bronze?

I want to powder coat mine when I buy it.

The 6.2MX only holds 4.5 quarts of oil and it just makes me nervous.

Sorry I am off topic.

HD
Click to expand...

The ones I have gotten from them are copper/bronze/brass and they come in either primer black or grey ready to paint.

That is a good cooler HD. Yea, just put a couple pipe plugs in the P/S cooler inlets if you don't plan on using that right away and you will be fine.

That is not much oil at all! My pan holds 8 qts. and my coolers and filter will hold about another 3 when I am all done.

That is a good cooler HD. Just block off the P/S inlets with some pipe plugs until you are ready to plumb it in. If that P/S cooler has tubes in it, it is way better than the stock one. My stock one just has a water jacket around the 1-1/4" tube and is wide open in the middle. that isn't very much surface area for cooling at all.
 
Gimme Fuel said:
The ones I have gotten from them are copper/bronze/brass and they come in either primer black or grey ready to paint.

That is a good cooler HD. Yea, just put a couple pipe plugs in the P/S cooler inlets if you don't plan on using that right away and you will be fine.

That is not much oil at all! My pan holds 8 qts. and my coolers and filter will hold about another 3 when I am all done.

That is a good cooler HD. Just block off the P/S inlets with some pipe plugs until you are ready to plumb it in. If that P/S cooler has tubes in it, it is way better than the stock one. My stock one just has a water jacket around the 1-1/4" tube and is wide open in the middle. that isn't very much surface area for cooling at all.
Click to expand...

I think it does have the tubes.

Yeah, 4.5 qts. I couldn't believe it, I had to call Merc and confirm on the first oil change. 4 bangers hold more oil than that. I don't know what they were thinking.

I plan on putting the cooler a bit away (not too far) from the motor so I can gain some volume (oil) in the lines.

HD
 
I got to take my boat out Sunday afternoon. It was high 70's and sunny all day Saturday while I was working and then cold (50's) and windy Sunday afternoon when I went out. The oil cooler worked really well. The temps came up to ~160 while I was idling and cruising out into the river. When I was riding ~60MPH it climbed up to and leveled off ~210 and when I backed off the throttle it came right back down to ~180 which I thought was perfect with no oil thermostat. My only issue is my water pump has a pretty good leak out the back. I replaced the impellar while I was doing all this and the old impellar was stuck so I just took the pump out and worked on my bench in the garage. I noticed that what I thought was the bearing seal, sitting closest to the crank pulley had come apart so I fished out all the extra pieces and put some grease down inside. Aparently what I was pulling out was the outboard pump seal. I'll take it apart and try to locate seals and bearings this week. I can't find a 'rebuild kit' for it so I guess I'll take what I have to a local bearing house and match something up.
Funny story about me being a chicken: I've had my boat out ~6 times now, always on nice days with calm water on the St. Johns River. I put in on the Trout River Sunday (north of Jacksonville) and it was windy and choppy but not too bad. I ran back and forth east of I95 for a bit and thought I would go out into the St. Johns and run down through downtown Jacksonville... As soon as I hit the channel marker for the St. Johns the water got really rough with big white caps and I was nervous the boat was going to roll over before I could turn around and get back into calmer water. She was an angry sea. :) Anyway, I think I need more seat time before I head out into that again. I have an entirely new appreciation for you guys that play in that stuff all the time. All my previous experience is ski boats on lakes and I've never been at the controls in anything like that. I also need to get up my nerve to open the throttle up a little more. It got up to 65 pretty easy with throttle to go but it started feeling 'loose' so I backed down a little bit and just rode at 60 it felt a lot better. Some day I'll find out what her limits are. Thanks again for all the help and kind words guys.

BTW, this is my leaky pump if anyone can recommend a place to buy the bearings and seals online.
IMG_3073.png
 
That is an odd pump to be on a Big Block/Bravo setup. Looks like it was robbed from the spare parts bin of a jet/v-drive boat enthusiast. Bravo drives come with a belt driven sea pump that mounts on a bracket to the lower starboard front of the block. I was very surprised in your pics to see a crank mounted pump someone rigged on there. If it works, it works, but the Merc pumps have service parts readily available at most marinas and even auto parts stores. You might want to think about just going with a newer/more common pump.

Glad to hear your oil temp problem is solved though! Your motor will be much happier now. Defiantly ease into the speed of your boat only as fast as your comfort/ability level allows.
 
Gimme Fuel said:
That is an odd pump to be on a Big Block/Bravo setup.
Click to expand...

Now that you've brought that up, all of your previous plumbing comments make a lot more sense. With the OEM style pump you have in the picture of your engine the cooling water route would make a lot more sense instead of wrapping around the engine like mine does. I didn't notice before that your engine didn't have a crank driven pump. My power steering pump is mounted where the OEM water pump sits (lower starboard) so I would need to get new brackets for my alternator and PS pump as well as a new water pump and bracket so I'll probably roll with what I have this season since it works. I found replacement seal part numbers last night and I'll take the bearings out and match them up to some new ones and get it buttoned back up. Mine looks exactly like the crank driven water pumps they sell at CP & KE for ~$230 so worst case I'll grab one of those and go. When are you going to bring your boat to Florida for a ride? :) It's going to be 85 today.
 
Darn you Floridians! Quit rubbing it in! Florida is one heck of a hike for me. If the good lord is willing and the creek doesn't rise, My boat and myself should be at the Lake Cumberland Rally in July. It is a fantastic event with and even better group of people. This will be my 3rd year going. Come up and meet me halfway! Haha!

Yea, stick with your pump if it works now that you have plumbed it all up properly. There is nothing wrong with a crank driven pump, they are just odd in this application. I'm guessing all of your front brackets/accessories (probably motor too) came from a jet/v-drive. The P/S pumps are usually mounted low for aesthetic reasons. Once again, there is nothing wrong with it, just off for offshore style applications.
 
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