1999 Longhorn Nautique Restoration Thread

Jonny Quest wrote: I’m afraid to see the final invoice... (I realize that this is a labor of love, but damn...) JQ

I look at it this way, everything I am doing is exponentially cheaper than going out and buying a new boat today. Being that this boat was gifted to me, the money I would have spent buying a new boat is how I justify it. Even when it's all said and done, I will only be in this thing for a quarter or less of what I would pay for ANY 2020 Nautique. I consider this boat a family heirloom so I will be passing it down to my kids and I hope they do the same for their kids. The coolest part is that this boat look, drive, and perform just as good as any new boat on the market. It is a Nautique after-all, best ski boats ever built.

67 ski nat wrote: Beyond impressive. Mclonghorn

Thank you 67!

Small update, I spent the last week trying to figure out how I was going to blend the Holley Pro Dash into oem dash. The conclusion I came to was, no matter how I blended the screen in, it just wasn't going to look right in the boat. It's cool but doesn't fit the style of the boat. I am going back to gauges which I think is the right move. I have a pretty good idea of how I will be placing the new gauges, PerfectPass, radio, and 3.5" Holley Interface.

I have to thank Aaron at PerfectPass. I wanted to be able to flush mount the PP display into one of the panels on the dash. I also wanted to use my own button for On/Off, Menu, Up, and Down. Aaron went out of his way to build me a custom harness to accomplish this. I think the dash is gonna look pretty cool when done!

Lastly, I received my 2001 Ski Nautique shift console. I will be blending this console into the 1999 dash. Since the decks didn't change much from 1998-2002, this should fit with little to no modification. Will just need to remove the radio console portion and then wrap the entire thing is vinyl to match the dash. This console will house the front right speaker, depth finder, hour meter, ballast switches, and fire extinguisher.

It's amazing how much time and effort I've spent just on the driver area but I think it will pay off. I guess it's a focal point of the boat.

Gelcoat should be in this week. The deck will be pulled over the weekend. Castaway Customs will be coming by next week to measure for Seadek. The engine is coming along nicely. All components, pistons, rods, cam, crank, and heads are in. Block is currently at the machine shop. Upholstery materials have been picked out. The primary white and tan vinyl will be Spradling Fresco Cool Touch. It feels super nice and doesn't get hot! Slowly but surely things are coming together but man are there a ton of moving pieces.

I’m in Houston regularly. I’ll figure something out.

I have definitely seen that! Thanks for the reminder! I am still brainstorming, definitely a good possibility for a super clean look.

DHMcFadin wrote: What are y'alls thoughts?

If you're going with a custom dash check out the BFM build on N3 Boatworks social media pages or ask Mark for some additional pics. They deleted the dash of their BFN all together and it looks surprisingly nice. Might be a possibility for what you're trying to accomplish.

Another piece of the puzzle has arrived. In my first post, my plan for gauges was to have Livorsi create some custom instruments with the hope the classic Nautiques logo could be incorporated on the gauge face. Unfortunately that couldn't be done due to copyright. I realized that since I am running a Holley EFI system on this new engine, I could utilize their EFI Pro Dash 12.3". It's built for rugged environments, is water resistant, completely plug and play with one cable, and has an integrated GPS speedo. It would also show everything analog and NMEA 2000 gauges would and more. It also offers a variety of different input and outputs including digital switches and potentially incorporating depth sender data into it (I hope this is the case). While I was pretty sure I wanted to stick with the classic oem dash look, I realized that this boat is not a perfect period correct restoration. It's a resto-mod. Part of that is incorporating new technologies. The Pro Dash stays with this trend. Best of all, I can incorporate as many Nautique logos as I want.

Since my new dash will be made out of fiberglass, it will be fairly straight forward to mold and flush mount this screen into the dash while maintaining the OEM shape, bezel, and matching overlays like the OEM dash. I would also make the screen frame-less so all of the gloss black surrounding the screen would be covered up. The only step from here is figure out what Perfect Pass gauge I will be using. It will most likely be the rectangular gauge face they sell. I will disassemble it and then flush mount it into the dash like the Pro Dash. I may re-solder the Perfect Pass settings buttons to a different place on the dash if it's possible. I am thinking I will flush mount it below the gauge cluster where the oem tach and ballast gauges were. Maintaining the same frame-less approach. We will see on this.

What are y'alls thoughts?

sport1999 wrote: I won't derail your thread too much here. I owned a 99 Sport for a few years and familiar with the ballast needs for the boat. For a basic wakeboard wake I would do the following: First, if you have the stock ballast tanks in the rear, consider removing them. They don't really hold enough weight to produce a nice wake and they take up a lot of space. Just put the sumo sac (800 long) in the rear and it opens up the whole rear locker when its not in use, Second, if you don't plan to use the ski locker, add a second bag there. Install two reversible pumps in the rear locker. If it were me, I wouldn't even use the ballast gauges. If you're making a new mold, just remove them completely. On the other hand, I know some people really want to restore things to original. To each their own.

I completely agree with you, again, I not sure why I am so set on using gauges to monitor my ballast but my preference is beginning to waver. You are completely right, bags would be much easier to deal with and I could take much better advantage of the space I have. I think I will probably end up going to bags at the end of this deal. Cheaper and easier.

I won't derail your thread too much here. I owned a 99 Sport for a few years and familiar with the ballast needs for the boat. For a basic wakeboard wake I would do the following:

First, if you have the stock ballast tanks in the rear, consider removing them. They don't really hold enough weight to produce a nice wake and they take up a lot of space. Just put the sumo sac (800 long) in the rear and it opens up the whole rear locker when its not in use, Second, if you don't plan to use the ski locker, add a second bag there. Install two reversible pumps in the rear locker. If it were me, I wouldn't even use the ballast gauges. If you're making a new mold, just remove them completely. On the other hand, I know some people really want to restore things to original. To each their own.

First of all, your rebuilt looks great. I would like to mention that I've never seen a built in ballast really work that well. It's a lot of work for marginal effect, plus you have to deal with long term issue like leaking. The floor space under the gunnels really make the boat feel more spacious. If you're really looking nimble ballast, I would recommend (1) 800 pound bag in the rear run by a reversible pump. (Look at Sumo Sac Long 800 as this fits almost perfect in the rear hatch.)

Windshield is disassembled and ready for powder coating!


This tool made completing this a breeze.

JoeinNY wrote: DHMcFadin wrote: The cylinder heads are made by Prestige. Check our their YouTube channel Prestige Motorsports. They do some pretty amazing work! I hope the cylinder heads are in fact not made by Prestige. I just checked out their specs on crate engines - the 500 hp 427 is using a Dart head and they talk about it being fairly lopey idle as it requires an aggressive cam to reach 500 hp with that setup.   The 520 hp version uses an AFR head and a milder cam for a better idle and more hp across the board.   IMHO - That is the head/cam you are going to want not for the 20 hp but for just reliable well mannered boat use.   Worth the 10% premium over the dart headed engine as long was we are spending your money.   I would drop down to a 408 with AFR heads over a 427 with the Dart heads.   Actual installed hp with wet manifolds and some intake restriction might not reach 520 or even 500 but definitely a monster. Get the strongest prop shaft you can - and for my money avoid the ARE shafts for this application.

What shaft company would you recommend outside of ARE? I thought they were one of the best?

Upon further clarification with Prestige, these are the heads that will be used:

AFR Cylinder Heads, Competition Porting, Aluminum, Assembled, 58cc Chamber, 195cc Intake, Ford, Small Block, Pair

Not sure why I wrote ARP.

DHMcFadin wrote:

Did you get caught in the "Tetris Challenge"-hype there…?

Awesome work!

I like it. The new trailer looks nice as well.

I would listen to Joe as well.