Kiloecho
Seaman
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2015
- Messages
- 51
I’ve been peeking through the bushes along the shoreline and I’m trading my lurker status to officially announce “She’s coming out” and it’s time to fix my 1974 Century Arabian. I purchased it in 2008 and have never been able to enjoy it. Unaware it needed stringer work since the day I brought it home, it was another case of “Buyer Beware” much like FriscoBoater, a Youtube legend of sorts, had experienced with his Searay. The man from the Southeast I purchased my boat from could tell you the name of the artist that produced the Century advertising brochure. When I was taken for a test ride, he says “You’re heavier the me, that is why the boat is twisting down on your side. He was very well versed in boats and had several boats, both wooden and fiberglass. After I got it home to East Tennessee, now East Texas, and spring came, I put it in the water and at 30 knots found it twisting down to the port side with just me in the boat. It wasn’t until talking with my brother that I learned about rotten stringers and floors that I’d been lied too and was worse yet, ignorant as a second time boat buyer.
Fast forward passed a few deployments as a military contractor and moving to East Texas, I’m finally ready to tackle my Arabian project. I still own a hanger at TN44 in East Tennessee, but have no garage space here in Tyler as of yet, but looking. It had been in my hanger for 4 years without any use and again, being ignorant to ethanol fuel and the havoc it can wreak, she suffered terribly from ethanol poisoning. Along with the ethanol poisoning I was unaware that I had several gallons of water in the bilge out of sight below the fuel tank.
The water in the bilge would not in and of itself be an issue, but I tightly sealed the mooring cover over the boat and had a mess 4 years later when I went to pull the boat to Texas to begin rehabilitation. Even though the boat was in the hanger, the moisture migrated into the engine and I found the oil was silver and the 440 Chrysler was locked up. Along with that, the starter was heavily rusted and also locked up. I was able to get the starter cleaned up and working but plan on a detailed overhaul once the floor and stringers work is complete.
I freed up the engine by topping off each cylinder with PB Plaster and soaking the engine for about two weeks. Once it was free, I changed the oil and filter a second time and pulled the distributer. I made a tool from a drywall mixing blade from Home Depot and started to pump fresh oil through the entire engine via the oil pump using my 1/2 inch drill motor. By hooking up the remote starter button, I could get the cam to turn over and lube both heads. It looked like the water fountain at Disney World with fresh oil being shot all over the inside of the boat in an artistic synchronization.
Free at last and never turned over with the moist oil, my attention turned to the ethanol poisoning. In 2011, I put on a new mechanical fuel pump and water pump but was never able to use the boat since. The ethanol ruined the new pump, but surprisingly, I was able to vacuum the Edelbrock carb of the old fuel and pump in some new gas and it fired up and ran very nicely once I installed a new fuel pump. Garbage in the fuel tank showed up to plug the fuel line on each shake down cruise at the lake.
Great, fuel system cleaned out and third shake down cruise. All is well and I’m doing 45 MPH with the boat twisting to the port side and I must have shucked the “New” (installed in 2011) water pump. Next thing I know the boat is stammering again and carrying on. Unaware the water pump shucked itself and plugged the transmission cooler, I continued thinking the fuel system was the “usual suspect.” I figured I’d run it until the bad fuel was burned and all would be OK.
Well, I believe the stammering was caused from overheating the reverse gear in the transmission due to the rubber impacted reverse gear cooler. Now, she stalls each time I drop it in reverse and stammers and bogs down in forward.
I’m going to be pulling the V-drive out and transmission here in the driveway and get that rebuilt before I find storage and tackle the floor and stringers. Unfortunately, I have not found much in the way of parts or overhaul literature for my Paragon, so I guess I will be mostly on my own.
Fast forward passed a few deployments as a military contractor and moving to East Texas, I’m finally ready to tackle my Arabian project. I still own a hanger at TN44 in East Tennessee, but have no garage space here in Tyler as of yet, but looking. It had been in my hanger for 4 years without any use and again, being ignorant to ethanol fuel and the havoc it can wreak, she suffered terribly from ethanol poisoning. Along with the ethanol poisoning I was unaware that I had several gallons of water in the bilge out of sight below the fuel tank.
The water in the bilge would not in and of itself be an issue, but I tightly sealed the mooring cover over the boat and had a mess 4 years later when I went to pull the boat to Texas to begin rehabilitation. Even though the boat was in the hanger, the moisture migrated into the engine and I found the oil was silver and the 440 Chrysler was locked up. Along with that, the starter was heavily rusted and also locked up. I was able to get the starter cleaned up and working but plan on a detailed overhaul once the floor and stringers work is complete.
I freed up the engine by topping off each cylinder with PB Plaster and soaking the engine for about two weeks. Once it was free, I changed the oil and filter a second time and pulled the distributer. I made a tool from a drywall mixing blade from Home Depot and started to pump fresh oil through the entire engine via the oil pump using my 1/2 inch drill motor. By hooking up the remote starter button, I could get the cam to turn over and lube both heads. It looked like the water fountain at Disney World with fresh oil being shot all over the inside of the boat in an artistic synchronization.
Free at last and never turned over with the moist oil, my attention turned to the ethanol poisoning. In 2011, I put on a new mechanical fuel pump and water pump but was never able to use the boat since. The ethanol ruined the new pump, but surprisingly, I was able to vacuum the Edelbrock carb of the old fuel and pump in some new gas and it fired up and ran very nicely once I installed a new fuel pump. Garbage in the fuel tank showed up to plug the fuel line on each shake down cruise at the lake.
Great, fuel system cleaned out and third shake down cruise. All is well and I’m doing 45 MPH with the boat twisting to the port side and I must have shucked the “New” (installed in 2011) water pump. Next thing I know the boat is stammering again and carrying on. Unaware the water pump shucked itself and plugged the transmission cooler, I continued thinking the fuel system was the “usual suspect.” I figured I’d run it until the bad fuel was burned and all would be OK.
Well, I believe the stammering was caused from overheating the reverse gear in the transmission due to the rubber impacted reverse gear cooler. Now, she stalls each time I drop it in reverse and stammers and bogs down in forward.
I’m going to be pulling the V-drive out and transmission here in the driveway and get that rebuilt before I find storage and tackle the floor and stringers. Unfortunately, I have not found much in the way of parts or overhaul literature for my Paragon, so I guess I will be mostly on my own.
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