1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

[Don S]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

Basically I could put 5 grand into it and break even. I really dont want to break the $7500 mark on the repairs and the boat combined. This boat fits what I was looking for (23-25 bowrider with V-8 and clean interior/exterior). So basically it looks like I am going to go check the boat out myself on Monday.

You mean you are thinking about this boat without even seeing it for that kind of money ?????????????
You REALLY, REALLY, need a survey before buying.

 

[mcleaves]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

I don't know anything about that particular model boat and NADA can be right on or way off. Some brands hold value better than others. Those are retail prices mind you and that would mean a salable boat probably with some sort of warranty.

Your boat is clearly not in that state, so I wouldn't use that as a number. I offered it as a guide. I think you are gonna have a hard time staying under 7500.00 if you pay 5500 and are already facing almost 2k in injector repairs. When all is said and done you could add up what you will be spending and just buy a turnkey boat in the first place.

I can tell you are really hot for this thing. I would go into factoring in either an engine or outdrive replacement. Price your offer accordingly and maybe you can do OK. Otherwise I think you'll quickly exceed your cap.

If you really wanna know what they are worth look at some online classifieds for the model. See what private sales are going for. Just remember even THOSE prices aren't real.. They are asking prices. You never get to see what someone really paid for a boat once the listing comes down. So if you see people asking for 10k they may only be getting 7k. Who knows.

M

 

[mcleaves]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

You mean you are thinking about this boat without even seeing it for that kind of money ?????????????
You REALLY, REALLY, need a survey before buying.

And yes.. Don is absolutely right. A few hundred bucks can save you THOUSANDS either in avoiding a lemon, or going into a deal knowing something is wrong but being able to repair it before it causes serious more expensive damage.

M

 

[NeverEnough02]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

I never said I would def buy the boat. I wouldnt be asking about it if I wasnt thinking about it. I would rather not waste my time or the dealer's time going there only to leave without learning anything important. That is where you guys come in with all of the experience and teach me how to make the best use of my time. After that I will look into the mechanic checking it out and if all goes well, I MIGHT buy the boat.

 

[mcleaves]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

I never said I would def buy the boat. I wouldnt be asking about it if I wasnt thinking about it. I would rather not waste my time or the dealer's time going there only to leave without learning anything important. That is where you guys come in with all of the experience and teach me how to make the best use of my time. After that I will look into the mechanic checking it out and if all goes well, I MIGHT buy the boat.

Well there is no real helpful advice we can give you without seeing the boat. Nothing we can say will justfiy a higher or lower valuation.

This is where a marine survey comes in.

Here is how to look at it. Every model boat has an intrinsic value. The difference between that value and the price people ask for or pay is usually the amount of repairs.

In other words there is no such thing as a free boat. If you pay next to nothing you can expect to spend a lot to get it in the water and running correctly and safely. The amount you spend will usually start to approach the intrinsic value of the model.

Nobody sells a 10k boat for 5k unless there are problems. People who don't care about 5k don't buy boats in that price range. Just food for thought.

My bet is there are a some serious things wrong and you need to make sure you find them. SURVEY

M

 

[NeverEnough02]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

All of the input so far has been real advice. I wouldnt have known what to look for before this thread. If anything, you guys may have saved me $300 I would have spent on a mechanic if some of these simple tests go poorly. I never said I was looking for a yes or no, just some new knowledge and a few points of view. I have been getting that here and I appreciate it a lot. Keep the info flowing!

 

[JustJason]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

gheeze!!! re-read my post!!! and Do all the steps before you even consider buying anything!

 

[JCF350]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

Why would you say that?

Thanks for the help guys, I am thinking about having a mechanic do all of this since I dont have some of these tools yet. All great advice though! Should I ask the person who owned the boat anything? I was planning on asking if it was kept in water, what maint was done and things of that nature. If the hull/interior/electronics are all good and we will say I need to spend 1800 on the motor, what would you pay for the boat?

Replace "all" the injectors??? Something else is wrong more than likely. He gave a trade value in of 11k and selling for 5500? This thing has to be an albatross that he needs to get rid of real bad. Or he relied on the NADA value to much. Be sure to take it for a test "BEAT" before making the final commitment. Make offer for less and see what happens.

 

[NeverEnough02]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

Lol, the dealer makes moeny on the sale of the car too. He will be loosing money at anything lower than 7 grand. He knows nothing about boats so I am sure he got ripped off because of that. O well. Like I said a few times now. I will check it out first. If it passes what I can inspect, then I will make the $300 investment to get it checked out. After all of that, I will consider buying if all goes well.

 

[NeverEnough02]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

I looked at the boat on monday. I can see why the guy is desperatly trying to get rid of the boat. He specializes in exotic cars like lambos. merecedes, dodge vipers ect.. He took the boat in trade and gave the boat owner 11 grand. It has been sitting in the lot for about 2 months now and they dont expect anyone to come buy the boat on impulse at this point. It looks a bit silly on their lot. We started the motor and it ran very very smooth for a 351 in a boat. Not a bit of smoke and the oil looked great. I was not able to check the lower unit since its on a lot and I have never done it before. I want to have a surveyor come out and look at it depending on your guys opinions from here. What I did find on the boat (I am not sure if its a big deal or if it is minor) were a bunch on little cracks where the boat had bumped against things. A few on the tip of the nose, a few under the water ski storage hole, and some on the rear tip. It looks like it had fiberglass work done where the floor meets the sides of the boat interior. There was unfinished fiberglass. I am not sure if it was covered by chris craft at one point or if it was a repair. It runs along both sides of the interior. There are a few cover snaps that broke off but its an easy fix for me. The floor had one soft spot that I took a picture of (not that you can see the softness but more of the location that anything. It is right in front of the ski storage area were I can reach my hand under to the bottom of the soft spot. It seems like an easy fix. Otherwise the boat is in great shap. It will clean up to look like new with little effort. O ya, it looks like the prop needs to be reworked or replaced. They must have hit somthing small and sharp. On to the pictures.








Let me know what you guys think at this point. Is the hull bad or is it worth going to the next step to have a survey done on the boat. On a side note, the trailer looked good.

 

[NeverEnough02]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

Soft spot:

 

[Don S]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

Lets move this thread over to Boat Topics and Questions (Not engines) since you seemed more concerned about the boat that the engine and drive.

 

[NeverEnough02]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

I am concerned about both. Since people in this thread asked, I answered. Sorry to bring the thread off topic.

 

[NeverEnough02]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

I just got off the phone with a Volvo/penta mechanic. He inspected the boat when it first got to the lot at the end of December. He did a compression test and said it had great compression. He said the plugs are all in great shape. He said the injectors a actually fine and the dealership is clueless. The harness that goes to the injectors is bad. He said that harness is no longer availible through volvo and the actual plug was looking old too so it may need a full replacement. He said I could get the plug off any fuel injected 5.0 or 5.8 ford motor and rewire the thing myself. He said the injectors themselves work great. He said the ECM is brand new. I am guessing that is the same as an ECU for a car... The water pump was pumping really strong. He could not get the outdrive low enough to check the oil and he did not pull the entire thing. He did not hear any noise from the gimbal bearing. He said he recalls that the exhast was changed but he does not recall how old the current manifolds looked. He told the dealer that he could replace the EFI for a carb set up and he recommended it to me as well since the Volvo parts and service tools are no longer availible. I personally would like to stick with the EFI. What are your thoughts on all of this information? I am still trying to get a hold of the original owner to get some service records.

 

[tommays]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

This deal can NOT be good enough to deal with the problems of a FORD EFI motor that allready has NLA part problems




Tommays

 

[mcleaves]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

I have the 5.0 and can vouch for the difficulty in finding parts. Manifolds and risers were quite a problem, and very expensive.

Let's put it this way. I am already spec'ing out what my exit strategy will be when this engine gives up the ghost. The ECM on my engine in particular scares the hell out of me.

I wouldn't personally be buying into this package anymore. Just recognize that at some point you will might need to be converting from the ford to a chevy which will require all new bolt-ons etc. I bought mine 4 years ago and that was already on the edge of parts availability trouble.

M

 

[NeverEnough02]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

I have the 5.0 and can vouch for the difficulty in finding parts. Manifolds and risers were quite a problem, and very expensive.

Let's put it this way. I am already spec'ing out what my exit strategy will be when this engine gives up the ghost. The ECM on my engine in particular scares the hell out of me.

I wouldn't personally be buying into this package anymore. Just recognize that at some point you will might need to be converting from the ford to a chevy which will require all new bolt-ons etc. I bought mine 4 years ago and that was already on the edge of parts availability trouble.

M

So the ECM is the same as an ECU? Switching motors over would be a huge pain and a lot of money. The harness can be switched out and I can wire up a new mustang plug. Are you saying that you agree with switching to a carb set up based on the availability of the EFI parts? I would think with boat yards, ebay, craiglist, this forum ect.. it wouldnt be too much of an issue to get a hold of parts. Of course, I am knew to this scene.

 

[mcleaves]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

So the ECM is the same as an ECU? Switching motors over would be a huge pain and a lot of money. The harness can be switched out and I can wire up a new mustang plug. Are you saying that you agree with switching to a carb set up based on the availability of the EFI parts? I would think with boat yards, ebay, craiglist, this forum ect.. it wouldnt be too much of an issue to get a hold of parts. Of course, I am knew to this scene.

I am not saying switch engines out of the box to deal with your injector problems. I am saying that at some point the parts will be so scarce and so expensive that it may be cheaper to repower. It's the scenario I am looking at with my own Ford 5.0, for when the time comes. Until then I will run it to the ground. It's running strong and is well maintained and it may outlast my ownership of this boat. Who knows. Then again it's also a '95 so age is not in it's favor with things like the ECM (yes thats like the computer on your car). It's just something to consider as you think about investing in legacy power.

If you can get this boat for 5K and the hull checks out (look like it has taken a beating and there has possibly been some structural separation from what you posted) then hey, you might have a decent boat for the money. The power sounds good with some minor fixes. The OD is still an unknown (thats gonna be 2-3k rebuilt if it's not).

As for used parts. They are very scarce. They didn't make very many of these EFI engines, so there aren't a lot to pick over. Trust me on this one, I own the same setup.

M

 

[dcg9381]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

The ECM (same as the ECU) on these motors probably is not the same as that for a car - the two have very different tunes and the auto versions are designed to operate in closed loop with an 02 sensor.

They may be the same base "computer" - I'd think the tune is going to be very different.


I'd open the wiring harness and simply figure out where the harness is bad - it's likely something rubbed through...

No comment on "rare" 5.8L parts, but the auto equiv's are available when appropriate.

 

[qaztwo]

Re: 1995 5.8 Volvo/Penta

i don't think its a matter of ford or chevy, you are walking into a project and unless you view at as so and price it as so would leave it and let the next guy deal with it.