1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Thanks, it's a labor of love with these old boats.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

I then decided to align the engine prematurely.

As you can see the gimbal bearing needs replacing so my alignment was premature. I then started the process of replacing the gimbal bearing, bellows, water intake hose, trim position sender, trim limit switch, and lower shift cable.

I have to admit, it was a lot easier to do than I thought it would be.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

With everything back on I once again aligned the engine and mounted the Alpha One. I will admit that it took me a while to finally get it aligned correct but once I did it slide right on like snot on a doorknob.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Any used drive will have to have the impeller replaced. No difference here.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

All right, finally renamed the boat Bikini Bottom. New transom letters, registration letters, and other little goodies.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Running engine on muffs to test the new impeller.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Transducer mounted to the transom for the depthfinder.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

I did some work in the cuddy. I installed new lights and a new head.

I also installed some speakers down there for relaxing.

 

[Dgadgetman]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

I have the same year/color boat with a cuddy cabin. I have the 350 magnum, which I just rebuilt this year as it thrashed the bottom end on Memorial day. My boat looks very similar to yours. I did not see all your pics as they did not load up on the page. Do you have a cuddy? If you do I am interested in the area just inside the cuddy to the right. It looks as if the area had a small cover plate and area for a cooler or something. Do you have the teleflex instruments or have yours been replaced by after market gauges? I am running an ALPHA 1 with a 21 Stainless and was pushing 52 mph before the engine rebuild. I changed to Vortec heads, Vortec style semi high rise aluminium manifold, CC cam and holley which should run up the numbers but I found this boat needs torque to push her out of the water faster as she weighs in at 4900 lbs.

 

[oops!]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

did you get the wiring prob straightened out? your shorting the coil somewhere.

I got the wiring harness all spliced and connected to the engine.

the picks didnt all load on mine either...

but looks good from what i see.

congrats on a job well done!

cheers
oops

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

I had to take the engine back out over the winter due to water getting into the oil. It turned out water was entering the engine through the valve covers (breather openings). I pulled the engine and took it apart and replaced a lot of it's components. I pressure tested the manifolds and risers as well as the block. I put it all back together and spent a month running it out of the boat testing it for leaks and such before finally getting it back in last month.

New alternator.....

New chrome valve covers.....

New water circulating pump....

All new hoses......

I also had to install a brand new starter.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Tests...........

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Finally back in boat.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Off to the lake for trial runs.....

One the way back home.....

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

I still had a few more issues to work out. I thought the engine may have been too small to power the boat. At WOT I was only getting 3300 rpm's and about 29 mph. I was sure that if I dropped down in pitch from the 17p to a 15p I could pick up some of those rpm's I was losing. Fully trimmed out she porpoised and wouldn't get above 3000 rpms. Fully trimmed in she got out of the hole slow but once on plane she rode out good but wouldn't ever get within her ideal rpm range of 4200 - 4800. I ordered a 15p to test on it but had even worse numbers.

It turned out that my timing was off and it was robbing me of power and causing poor performance. It is supposed to be set at 8 degrees btdc but it was running at 2 degrees btdc. Once I corrected the timing performance shot up. I still want to try some smart tabs as a way of helping her to get out of the hole.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

So that's it. She is fully restored and ready to see more life after being given up for dead. Hope you enjoyed the pictures of her restoration.

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Here are the complete restoration pictures.

http://photobucket.com/user7483

 

[wil7483]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Now lets get this post moved to the Completed Projects section.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: 1988 Wellcraft Elite 222 XL Complete Restoration w/ Photo's

Now lets get this post moved to the Completed Projects section.

It is there now with some posts deleted out of it.