The 1979 Ski Tique Resto-Mod Story

Jetties, I ended up reusing 2 of the 3 Tique brackets so I don't think I'll be much help with originals. Post a thread in the wanted section, perhaps somebody else here has some. If not PM me, I'd be happy to quote some fabricated replicas.

Speaking of fabrication; Here's one of last nights projects.

I though about buying them from Christines, but I didn't want to wait for them to arrive. Some scrap HDPE plastic + 15 min on the mill and I was good to go.

I gotta agree with Larry....just so impressed with what some of you guys just "whip up"......

nice job all around!

john

With the driveway test completed the next step was a trip to the lake. Since there's still ice on part of the lake we didn't want to leave anything to chance so we brought our own tow boat in case something happened.




There's no going back now. As I pulled into the boat ramp parking lot I realized I was more nervous about this test then I was on my wedding day.




Short of sinking or catching fire I was going to be happy with the outcome of the testing. With both boats launched it was time to cruise the ice filled waters and see if all our hard work paid off.








Once through slush we were good to go.

Of course the test did yield some things I need to work on:

1.) When on the trailer idling (700-800 RPM) and shifted into fwd / rev the transmission clunks and makes noise. It has a relatively clean neutral and the noise seems to go away / get better above 1000 rpm. I was advised by TRBenj that it's most likely the damper. I didn't even notice it during the lake testing. I'm going to hash out following problems and revisit this one later.

2.) The ATF is milky. I changed it once and it got a little better, but it could just be optimism. I'm going to change it 1-2 more times before I go pulling the cooler.

3.) The carb leaks fuel from the boosters, especially after shutdown. I've ordered a carb kit and plan on starting fresh with a rebuild

4.) It could use a new battery, simple fix.

Very cool Andy. Love the enthusiasm and excitement about your boat.
Going to be a great summer.....enjoy!

Great finish to great thread!! This is why I am on this site. Makes me feel like a wuss, No ice here and still waiting on warmer weather.

Great Job! I like the wife's idea, although I think I sense some sarcasm there!?

Update:

Since my initial testing a few things have come up. I refreshed the carb which ran rich after rebuild and discovered milky oil which turned out to be a cracked block.

As mentioned in the cracked block thread I toyed with the idea of picking up a block and rebuilding it, however I went with a remanufactured long block.

I stripped the cracked 351 block, cleaned all the parts and reassembled the motor in a few days.








After installing the motor it was time for the ultra-important break in. For this I opted to take it over to my friend's brother. He checked it over, primed the oil system (again), set the timing and had the boat up and running in no time.   We made it through the break in with no major problems. The only hiccup was we couldn't get it to idle down below 1800 rpm with out it falling on it's face. After some investigative work (starting fluid trick) we discovered a pretty large vacuum leak coming from the carb / spacer area.

Before pulling the carb I had an idea what it was so I grabbed the shrink wrap the gasket came in and a spare spacer plate. As you can see in the picture the gasket was one of those "semi-universal types" so it had 2 bolt patterns. Since the bottom side of the spacer is not solid air was leaking though one of these other bolt holes. I swapped it with the carb to spacer gasket which covered the entire spacer.



After swapping the gaskets & retesting the motor I was able to get the idle down to 1000 rpm, but I couldn't get the idle to return on a regular basis. Even at 2 to 2-1/2 turns out on the idle screws it's still running very lean.

I'm going to do a little searching to see what I can dig up, but if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Finally a day on the lake where the boat left in better shape then when it arrived.

Since my existing carb runs fine anywhere above 900 rpm and I'm still waiting for my re-man to arrive I decided to say the heck with it and take the boat out this past Sunday. The boat fired right up, but seemed to be having a timing issue as it was coughing from the carb with any acceleration and wouldn't get over 1500 rpm. Prepared for this I had my timing light and tools close at hand. I adjusted the distributor, but couldn't get a good timing reading as it was so bright on the water. I set it where it ran the best and we went on with the day.

Once up and running she ran 41 on the GPS in choppy crowded water. I think once I get the timing dialed in and the water's in better shape I can improve on that.

I'm hoping to head out tomorrow for some additional tuning and trials.

Best part of Sunday was it was the first time I got to ride behind the boat. Not going to lie, I had a pretty big smile on my face the entire time.

LeftFieldEngineering wrote: It’s a long one, but pretty good if you ask me : )

. . . a VERY good one, if you ask me. Thanks for the good thinking, clear reporting and great photos.
-=Grant=-

Thanks for the kind words.

While working on the motor my engine guy commented on the random 1/4-20 bolt holding down the backfire arrestor. Fixed that last night:







I'm going to try a different engraving tool to see if I can't get a little deeper character, if they turn out nice maybe there's a market for them.

kapla wrote: Me like those!

Me too!!
You need to make some more... For your CCFan buddies!

Cool. I could be in for a Tique

3 things:

1.) Backfire Knobs: My boat didn't have any stud or bolt on the backfire arrestor so I just put a stud in there that was about 1/4" taller and attached the knob. How do everybody else's attach?

2.) As I mentioned the other day; Sunday's trip was a success, however I was getting an occasional backfire under load and something just "didn't feel right". Seeing as it was timed by ear and running the questionable carb I figured it was as good as it was goign to get. The backfire bothered me so I pulled a few plugs and found that 2 & 3 were much darker then the rest. A quick look at the cap and I found that I had flip-flopped 2 & 3. Amazing how it runs now on all 8 CYLINDERS.

I took it to the lake for another test yesterday and boy what a difference. Idles down to 600 in gear (still dripping from boosters w/ old carb), throttle response is good, no more backfiring, and I made a GPS pass at 46 MPH. Should be an animal once the new carb comes in and I get the timing dialed in better.

3.) Few pictures from yesterday's lake test.

It must have felt great to find those crossed plug wires.