1999 Longhorn Nautique Restoration Thread

Wow! Very cool. Thanks for all the awesome pictures.

After talking with my buddy doing the glass and gelcoat work, gelcoating the interior walls of the hull seemed kinda unrealistic. The amount of work and time it would take didn't seem worth it. I proposed the idea of upholstering the sides of hull from bow to stern using the same material I am wrapping the seat bases and engine cover base. The material is called Spradling Hitch- Caramel. I think this could look really good especially if we incorporate some french seam work. Here's a breakdown of the interior details and materials.

The serifs on the capital "C" on that Baskerville font are too big and prominent. I'd simply trace the existing logo with vectors or convert that font to outlines and modify those serifs in Illustrator.

M3Fan wrote: The serifs on the capital "C" on that Baskerville font are too big and prominent. I'd simply trace the existing logo with vectors or convert that font to outlines and modify those serifs in Illustrator.

I thought more about your comment and had a realization. Maybe C&S Marine would allow me to send them some of my vinyl and they could embroider just those pieces? Then the logo would be perfect! I’ll give them a call on Monday.

Shiny shiny shinyyyy!!!

Awsome work bro. Keep those pictures and story coming. Love it.

79SNbrady wrote: When you say blue printed. Did you actually remove any material from the pistons to get them within the same weight by a few tenths of a gram or match total assembled weight of piston rist pin and connecting rod within a close weight range?

We remeasured all the tolerances set by the machine shop to ensure they were correct. We also checked tolerance within the rod bearings, crank, etc. Like I said in my original post, this my first time assembling an engine. The engine builder is well respected in the boat racing community so I have faith that he and machine shop have done everything right. If I’m not saying it correctly, it’s because I don’t know. Just learning.

Dominic,
Here's a book on engine blueprinting.

it says it's been "the blueprinting bible for nearly thirty years".

79SNbrady wrote: Your doing a normal rebuild then. A blue print build is where you weigh each individual component such as pistons, wrist pin, and rods. Then you match each component together to try and get each piece to weigh the same. Example: heaviest weight wrist pin paired with lightest piston. Then calculate the weight of the wrist pin and piston together. Then you remove material from each piston its self till every piston+wrist pin combo matches within a few tenths of a gram to the lightest piston+wrist pin. Then move on to the rods and try to get all the rods within the same weight. I havent messed with v8s that much. But in hondas it's usually good for a couple hp and supposed to smooth out a engine. But for what your doing. Blue printing is on the over kill side.

That might be a simple explanation of something but it's not blueprinting.

I figure his engine builder knows what he's doing

Maybe you should take a shot at trying to explain balancing

Mclonghorn and the chunky thread are try to top each other. Making me up my game

First everything is looking fantastic. This is going to be one very cool old boat!

Second, blueprinting, and I did not read the link sorry. Blueprinting is simple to explain but very time consuming for any shop to do.

Every engine was designed by engineering and there is a blueprint of how it should be manufactured.   Due to accepted tolerances when manufacturing almost 100% of engines built vary from original blueprint.
When a shop blueprints they attempt to return all parts in assembly to the exact factory blue print. The main things are the distance from center of the crankshaft to the deck for each piston. Size of the head chamber is checked to make all 8 identical.
Most decks are not square from the factory, they are very close but some are way off.
Returning these measurements as close as possible to factory blue print design ends up with all 8 cylinders matched so they each in theory produce the exact amount of power.
So, square decking is important to get closer to blueprint.
Keep in mind that all these factory engines ran but the ones that were closer to blue print always ran better and made more power.
The previous description covered parts of balancing which is also important for engines that will run high RPM for extended periods.
Since the early 2000's most pistons manufactured are within 2 grams of each other because of the modern CNC controlled machines that make them so balancing pistons is much easier today than in the old days and most shops do not have to balance piston sets any longer.

From your pictures it does not look like the shop had to do much clearancing for the large stroke 408 crankshaft. Looks like the 351W was designed well to be a 408.
Looking forward to your driving impression on this new engine. Torque should be fantastic.

Thanks for the explanation. I was specifically told that the block/deck was squared at the machine shop. I appreciate the insight. Fortunately, this engine isn't going to run super high rpm. Maybe 5k max. But I guess the dyno will determine that if we are still making power up there. I definitely dont plan to beat on this thing. But I am looking forward to it pulling like a freight train out of the hole lol.

MrMcD wrote: First everything is looking fantastic. This is going to be one very cool old boat! Second, blueprinting, and I did not read the link sorry. Blueprinting is simple to explain but very time consuming for any shop to do. Every engine was designed by engineering and there is a blueprint of how it should be manufactured.   Due to accepted tolerances when manufacturing almost 100% of engines built vary from original blueprint. When a shop blueprints they attempt to return all parts in assembly to the exact factory blue print. The main things are the distance from center of the crankshaft to the deck for each piston. Size of the head chamber is checked to make all 8 identical. Most decks are not square from the factory, they are very close but some are way off. Returning these measurements as close as possible to factory blue print design ends up with all 8 cylinders matched so they each in theory produce the exact amount of power. So, square decking is important to get closer to blueprint. Keep in mind that all these factory engines ran but the ones that were closer to blue print always ran better and made more power. The previous description covered parts of balancing which is also important for engines that will run high RPM for extended periods. Since the early 2000's most pistons manufactured are within 2 grams of each other because of the modern CNC controlled machines that make them so balancing pistons is much easier today than in the old days and most shops do not have to balance piston sets any longer. From your pictures it does not look like the shop had to do much clearancing for the large stroke 408 crankshaft. Looks like the 351W was designed well to be a 408. Looking forward to your driving impression on this new engine. Torque should be fantastic.

Thanks Brian! I will order a copy!

8122pbrainard wrote: Dominic, Here's a book on engine blueprinting. it says it's been "the blueprinting bible for nearly thirty years".

Completely agree.

SNobsessed wrote: There have been studies done that show machines built to nominal (the blueprint target size) have less vibration, noise, & greater reliability. Modern engines have much tighter tolerances plus statistical quality control aims for nominal - this is why they are so reliable. Back in the glory days of the V8 as long as it was barely in tolerance, good to go. Machining equipment (& measuring gages) have improved over the years, providing better precision. Even if your machinist didn't specifically get it exact, it probably is better than when it left the factory.

Where are you getting the stickers from? If they arent too expensive i would like to get the Nautique one for my boat

Got a couple more photos over at Magnum Trailers. Paint colors are finalized. Really happy with the period correct "Nautiques" logo. Trailer should be done in two weeks.