29' Carter Safari

[oops!]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

.Turns out that little filter in the carb, the one we were talking about earlier, was completely plugged up.:

DOH....x2.......lol

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

well, i wrestled the starter back onto the starboard engine and it kicked, so i threw a little gas down the carb and turned the key, amazingly it sputtered to life for 20 seconds ....but then died..Turns out that little filter in the carb, the one we were talking about earlier, was completely plugged up. I scooped some gas up in it and it acted like a cup, nothing came through..... Sooo, i left it out, undid the fuel line from the tank and dropped it in a fresh jerry can of gas.(i just wanted to hear the thing run!.. haha) Cranked it over for a bit, it sputtered and coughed, but nothing of any time period

One of my friends dad is really good with carbs, and used to tune hundreds of high performance cars and hot rods. He offered to come over and help us tune them, because i have never tuned a carb in my life...... fuel injection has been primary in cars since i was born......

Matt,

There is really no tuning to be done on a q-jet. Set the idle mixture screws at three turns out from fully seated. That's basically it. Idle is controlled by the power pistion in the center that has the primary metering rods connected to it. At idle (high vacuum) this pistion is drawn down to reduce the flow of gas. So for marine applications you only really have idle and off idle conditions. The only way to "adjust" the carb is to change the jet/metering rod combinations. Really no sense in a boat since you are normally running more open throttle and not a range of rpms and loads like in a car. The basic marine set-up is generally the best.

Did you rebuild the carbs? If so you really need to completely disassemble it and soak it in a carb cleaner for a couple of days to get all of the internal passages totally cleaned out. Unless you do that there is generally no improvement in performance. Just spraying with carb cleaner will not work. Then that's when most people start bashing q-jets as junk. I have rebuild several q-jets with good sucess. PM me if I can help with the set-up.

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

i rebuilt the one on the starboard, i did not however soak in carb cleaner for days... i simply dunked it and pulled it out....the port engine one is still in pieces on my bench awaiting new metering rods and jets(the metering rod was bent)

I guess im going to pull the starboard one apart again and do the carb cleaner, and ill do the same on the port before i put it back.

Thanks

Also, i believe our carb troubles are pointing back to the fuel tank....i am slowly loosing the dream that the fiberglass tank is all fine and dandy...

custom 200 gallon aluminium tank wont be cheap.....................

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

im thinking that fuel tank is going to get cracked open tomorrow....... no parts yet for the carb , and the tank is definitely bad......

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

One option might be to install a high-capacity fuel filter. I have 2 Racor's on mine that use big spin-on cartridges. But the filter is going to have to go between the fuel pump and carb.

My tanks are full of junk also. I figure I'll just keep changing filters for the first couple of seasons until one day hopefully the loose stuff will be all gone.

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

The problem with ours is that they are fiberglass. The fuel is eating the fiberglass, leaving a white sludge when wet, and a white powder when dry in our carbs.

I JUST put brand new normal fuel filters on, and they obvious couldnt stop anything....

im going to syphine the tank dry, and ill look at what comes out to get a better idea

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

here is what some of the NON-MARKED gas that came out of the tank looks like.. also you cant tell but there are little white specs floating in it, also it smell really bad

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

today was productive in another direction, since no parts came for the carbs, i did some cleanup and closed up the back end for the first time since i can remember... The deck was a mess and it took me a few hours to clean it all.


its been over 2 years since the back end looked like this, its weird on the eyes! Its also very weird climbing into the boat with the floor, used to jumping down onto the battery box

The Covers fit.... after relocating the starboard dipstick and bending the ground wires around... amazing

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Well, i think we may have found an answer to the fuel tank.... its been sitting in our yard for the last year and a bit.

the tank from this beast we dragged home to kill a weekend

by my calculations its( EDIT: 200 liters), and would fit running length wise. This would involve removing the holding tank as it stands, and running the tank through there. Holding tank is easy to relocate... Its the cheapest(would cost nothing) and easiest solution found so far. far from a custom tank which i was quoted ~$2000 from the local fabrication place

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

That's a BIG tank! I'm amazed you're going to have room for it. My 28' has (2) 60-gal tanks. Anyway you get an A+ for being resourceful!

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

my math failed me... DOH

Anyways, dragged the tank down to the shop to clean it up and get some fittings that will work in its new application

 

[proshadetree]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Dang I like your parts boat. Hope you new tank fits the bill. Old gas will cause havoc in a fuel system. If your ready to clean a different boat give me a shout you can clean mine.

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Pressure tested the metal tank and it held 100psi so its good to go!


Then i cut the tank in the boat open to see whats going on. Filled with water obviously

The sidewalls are solid, not tacky or cracking which i would have suspected if the tank was getting eaten. There is about 1cm layer of sediment at the bottom of the tank, which for sure would have caused some issues, along with a bunch of little strips of something... resin maybe? they are no more then a 1/4" wide, vary in length, VERY thin, and flexible to a point before they snap. At closer look there are little strips like this all along the side wall of the tank... but ONLY the sidewalls, the 5 baffles in the tank show none of this(sealed on with a putty of sorts, seen in the pic). It almost looks like resin that ran down inside the tank when they were sealing it up.... THERE IS NO fiberglass STRANDS in it, and it comes off the sidewalls very easily leaving the sidewall smooth....(AKA not taking any sidewall with it)

Any idea's? Im thinking we may be able to save this tank?

 

[proshadetree]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

That my good man looks like old gas out of a car. Seen many of old automotive fuel tanks with lots of crud that looks just like that.

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

As an engineer let me just caution you about something: a sheetmetal tank isn't designed to take anywhere near 100psi. If a seam had let loose at that pressure it could've taken your head off. I personally wouldn't put more than about 3 psi on a tank like that. Multiply even 3 psi times the number of square inches on any internal surface and you'll see it's a big force.

Tanks built for 100psi are ASME code-welded, have thick walls and real obvious reinforcing hoops around the outside.

Be safe.

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

wow, 3psi... we stood a decent distance away when we tested it... Its pretty heady gauge steel..... Good to know though!

I figure i can scrape that stuff out of the tank, seal it back up, and it should last for a long time yet.

 

[proshadetree]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Wow I missed that. !00 psi really? I saw the results of a man that said he put 50 psi in a cat loader tank to bleed the injectors. That square tank looked like a round garbage tank. I have used 15 psi and a rag to bleed them but never a hundred.

 

[zach103]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Lookin good.. im glad your back at it and that you figured out the carb and gas problem.. carbs are tricky no matter what size or what engine their for..

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

heres a video of the engine we pulled from that donor boat.... this is about 10 minutes after pulling it out of the boat, such a gem! it wont die

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWf2bwkBO18

 

[gypsysoul]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Matt, I am going to agree with proshadetree. looks like old gas. and when I opened the tank on my safari, my sides where not firm. I could actually scrape and mush through the resin into the cloth. I guess you would say it was "gooey", not solid at all. plus when I filled mine with water as you did. it seeped out the bottom into the bilge. another note, mine did not have the baffles as your's does. that looks like a "upgraded tank" compared to mine.
I must agree with the other replies, be carefull with air pressure in tanks. very little will find a leak with a little soapy water. great work again. hope she floats this year. and I hope to get the buggs out of mine also. I am about half way through my flying lessons so far. look forward to seeing more progress. cheers