A 351w (stroker?) from scratch...

Hollywood wrote: 79nautique wrote: And if the shaft is hollow and not solid then it will bend quite easily. That depends on the wall thickness.

maybe you should look at what the wall thickness is for tubing because that is what they would have ordered and that is going to be about .080" max for what the OD has to be to work with all of the HEI guts.

Helix angle is the same, and its the same gear for the 302-351 in general just the materials that maybe different due to cam.

Its a .530 shaft which is the largest diameter available for ford dist gears. No reason is should have been bent but I got a vice and a dial indicator so should be easy enough to give her a few spins. There is not a whole lot of bend that could be there and still allow the distibutor to slide into place but of course it wouldn't take much.

Cam research is recommending a bronze gear, although a steel one should work I was planning on getting one bronze to put in for now and keep my eye on and then a steel one to put in at the end of the season if the bronze one works and gets me that long. Either way the steel was backordered so I got a bronze on the way to arrive tomorrow.

So far everyone I talked to says to switch the gear grease it up, drop it in, and run it and not to bother pulling the engine and looking for missing teeth or anything of the like. So an oil change and filter change and thats about all she is going to get before the next attempt as long as the dist shows to be straight.

I did talk to Eric Johnson about another prop today and while he is a little worried that I am pushing the limits of the one inch prop shaft he is going to look into making me up a 13.5x17 rh x 1inch shaft diameter which they make usually but in a 1 1/8 configuration....     

how much up and down play is there? pull the cap remove the rotor pull on the t-bar type piece the rotor attaches to and how much movement do you have? should be very slight. The thrust is upward when the gears engage and it starts to spin so if by chance the gear is pinned to the shaft in the wrong spot you can be pinching it and putting it into a bind when it is thighten down at the collar.

I would check both the shaft with out the gear installed and with the gear installed for runnout over .010 is bad. Measure in several places across the teeth along the gear face just look for the high spot and also the smooth section across the bottom of the gear, might even pull out the oil pump drive and make sure that's not bent causing an issue. Double check and make sure there is no slop in the shaft to bushing of the base only about a .002" max for GM specs.
runout shouldn't be more than .005"-.008" on the gear less for the shaft.


with the broaching operation of the hex in the shaft it gets quite thin across the corners and doesn't take a whole lot to bend that section of the shaft. If by chance you support the distributor base when you drove out the roll pin and had the gear unsupported then you bent the shaft, you need to support the underside of the gear as you drive out the roll pin, this is done by a slight gap in the vise with the roll pin directly over the gap and supported on the lower section of the gear that is smooth and up to the gear teeth if you don't you bend it very easily.

It appears someone borrowed my dial indicator stand, so runout measurements have to wait till tomorrow but by eye its not bent and I have decent eyes for such things. I did not bend it taking off the pin, but chris's caution is a good one.

I used the off day waiting for parts to get in my second to last triathalon training session and then started to work on the temporary stereo install. I say temporary because I still intend to rework the front area eventually for a built in box that will hold two subs and have a few other tricks, but this will do for the rest of the year and maybe next if I get lazy.

Once again sorry about the photos I have been stuck with just the phone alot lately...











Caution 2001 owners do not try this at home this is not the stock front end setup, none of this stuff will fit on your boat.

JoeinNY wrote: Now people with the Hiteks is it normal that the powder coat on the non water jacketed portion of the tubes leaving the heads is now completely burned off already? Thought I had a manifold leak but in reality that exhaust was smoke from disintigrating powder coat...

I believe thats normal- after seeing my hi-temp paint burn off my PCM's (actually, it still is burning off as theyre installed on my Tique and it does NOT smell nice), I asked Hitek if the PC was rated for the exhaust temps and the answer was no. Thats why I opted for the cerramic coating.

Good luck on the test run, take 2. Let us know how it goes!

Joe did not have that issue with mine,still look as good as the day they came off the airplane............Boat dr

boat dr wrote: Joe did not have that issue with mine,still look as good as the day they came off the airplane............Boat dr

I hope they wouldn't aren't yours polished to start with?

GottaSki wrote: If your NOS is only NOS, not NOS+GAS, then I would be very concerned about being too lean at WOT with NOS on.

Not NOS only its a wet system with Nos and Fuel Solenoids feeding spray bars in a plate under the carb. I was actually very concerned about making sure I did not end up NOS rich and thats the reason for the completely overkill fuel system, the kit recommends putting a small t fitting into a rubber fuel line to tap off enough 6.5 psi fuel. Thats not what I did, there is a 3/8 inch line running directly from the adjustable regulator to that fuel solenoid. Both bowl feeds and the fuel solenoid should have plenty fuel.

How is the new stringers and floorboards working out? Do you notice any difference in the performance of the hull? Looks like the motor and transmission is running great. This was a great project. I learned a lot watching you rebuild your boat with out using wood for the floor and stringers.

Well so far so good on the bronze gear.... she ran all day today a little over six hours on the meter, stereo and engine loud and proud. My nieces got thier first ride of the summer and almost as important she is staying in the water in the shorestation for the first time this year...









And I have no idea where those empty beer cans in Gregs arms came from ....

MM; Can't believe you are still up at 5:39am. Must be still up.....I know you ain't getting up that early.

john

Still going, I have some more time on it and behind it so feel like I can now answer some of the how does it feel type questions.

The boat appears to be really solid, I havent rechecked the alignment yet but all seems well. I have banged it through some considerable waves including 6 hours of parasailing on a boat infested labor day, and while I have not kicked any full speed power turns yet I have made a few at 45 and all is well. It feels more solid in everyway than it ever has, how that compares to stock with less rot than I had I don't know.

The hull is quiet for the most part, I do not miss the foam in the floor at all for anything in the noise reduction arena. there is one area that I plan to foam and have not yet where in the right waves I can hear some slapping and that is the area in front of the drivers foot rest. I just have it boxed in with carpeted plywood for now and behind that its bare uncarpeted hull. Its not bad but its noticeable sometimes. I dont get that on the other side where there is carpet glued over some sprayed on foam.

The speakers on the tower make it sway more in the serious rhythmic waves than I would like, although its certainly no worse than any of the other tower boats I have been on, its just different when it's my boat. I dont see how it could be any more solid though without creating stress points so its probably right as it is, it is solid enough for me to climb on and jump off with no worries just rocks under speed through waves. Pretty sure I lost 60 rpm off the top when I added the speakers as well, weight or wind related I dont know.

The skiing wake at 32 is better than it was previously with two people in the boat anyway I havent had more than that in there skiing, although it looks like the rooster tail is significant so if I lost another section of rope that would become an issue. Wakeboarding wake when only two people are in the boat is needing some weight even for recreational boarding, don't know if the boat is overall lighter or just the more weight up front is changing it but its not much fun without some weight in the back which before was optional.

So far very happy with the overall results.. will turn 600 hours on the boat tonight, 18 in the past week.

Hollywood wrote: The tower sway really concerned me on CQ's ride when we slalomed half the lake back to Norwegian bay last reunion. Why is the PP gauge crooked????????? That is really bothering me Joe.

It is much more noticeable from behind the boat and there was quite a bit of sway on that heavy chop, particularly every time sissy boy fell and we had to swing back around to pick him up.

Joe, those speakers are HEAVY! Have you taken them down and put them back up yet? Fun stuff. Fix that Gauge! Everything looks great, good job dude!

I thought the whole point of the PerfectPass was so you DIDN'T have to look at the gauge???

Well finally got a GPS, and she does break 50, no final numbers yet as I still have a few changes to make over the weekend and this week but I am starting at 50 or so ...