Whats up??

[85sportfire]

Hows it going? Just joined the forum and well just bought my first boay as well. I happened upon a 1985 sportfire w/a 3.7 litre mercruiser, it needs a little work(seats, voltage regulator, posibly a carb rebuild).

Anyways I joined to hopefully get some info on this boat and maybey some help on prop sizing when i get it going.

 

[wickedrister]

Hi Sport and
You should find all the info that you are looking for. Try the tech forums and see what you can find!
Fred

 

[Big Dave]

3.7l

Hows it going? Just joined the forum and well just bought my first boay as well. I happened upon a 1985 sportfire w/a 3.7 litre mercruiser, it needs a little work(seats, voltage regulator, posibly a carb rebuild).

Anyways I joined to hopefully get some info on this boat and maybey some help on prop sizing when i get it going.

Sportfire is the same as my Diplomat with a closed bow.
3.7L is a good engine with reasonable power and great fuel economy

first thing, find an alternator kit, and get rid of the oem stuff(prone to failure)
which carb, 2bbl or 4bbl? 2 bbl is similar to the same car carb but merc overhaul kit is much better. 4 bbl is a small gm quadrajet and can be tricky to overhaul. on both carbs see if there is any movement in the throttle shafts(causes vac leak makes carb junk)
checkmate factory was selling interiors either complete or just skins. You might give mike a call at the factory to see. they were very competetive and of course everything fits just like it did when new. I hope to get one for mine next tax season.
Daren34 is running a merc mirage 21p on his 3.7l powered eluder(19ft) but it overrevs at wot at 5100 rpm(has been for 2 years with no reliability issues but he is running the 4 bbl version.

 

[daren34]

alternator kit

i got mine from a marine dealer

came with one wire alt, braket, pulley and a small parts kit

everything that is needed to make the conversion

you have to move one of the wires on the old voltage ragulator and ad the one to the new alt.

do you have power stering

if not you can get a mount to put the alt where it would have been

otherwise it sits on the starboard side at the botttom of the engine

i installed mine last year in about an hour and have had no problembs as of yet

god luck daren

 

[daren34]

parts

these people have a lot of parts and knowledge of the 3.7's

www.breezeworks.net

daren

 

[daren34]

alt braket

breezeworks has a lowmount alt braket but the one i bought was a kit with a large aluminum braket

looks a lot sturdier than this one
if you want i will try to get some pics and/ or a manufacture

look on ebay also you can get the good kits there

daren

 

[Diplomat82]

Alternator Conversion Kit

I bought my alternator from this guy on Ebay......Item number: 320110455346 (AC Delco Marine One Wire Alternator).....good price.

The bracket kit was only $90 and you could either order a upper or lower bracket. I ordered the lower and it fit perfect. The kit included brackets, wiring loom, belt and instructions. The guy I bought from is an EBAY seller, but doesn't offer it over Ebay anymore. You'll have to email him at......OTHOMAS5@houston.rr.com......that's what I did and he sent it out fairly quick. He custom makes the brackets and they are heavy duty. In my opnion, compared to the $400 to $700 everyone else wants for their kits.....this was a steal.

It took me maybe 1/2 hour to hour at most to install.

 

[85sportfire]

The original owner of the boat blew the motor which was the 3.7lx(4bl carb).
he found a 2 bl 3.7 with low hours on it and had that put in along with a new gimbal bearing, impeller and varios gaskets.

When I picked up the boat I asked if he held onto the blown motor, which he did but he had already stripped the intake manifold and the carb off of it and placed it on ebay .


Bid Dave, what prop u running on yours?

 

[checkmate DOH!!]

hey sportfire whats up?? i have an 85 diplomat with the 2bbl 3.7L that runs killer----im using a 14.25x21p michigan vortex prop and it works very nicely----im also right in troy ny and get out on the lakes around here----saratoga is real nice and i have a friend on kinderhook lake out east on I90 that we run as well as ballston lake---maybe before the season is over we can get out on the water and run these checkmates together and get some nice pics for the site-----lemme know...

steve