305 to 350 build questions

[Lou C]

I actually think just shy of 5,000 is better for engine life because you will have less load on the engine every time it pulls the boat up on plane. That's how I have my 4.3 propped. 4900 rpm. Gets the Quadrajet howl!

 

[Bondo]

A couple people mentioned that since it's hitting 4900rpm that I need a new prop.

Ayuh,...... I'm with Lou,..... Yer right where ya wanta be,......

 

[Scott06]

You are right where u want to be rpm wise.

I also found that the larger engines are much quieter than the 3.0 and you can cruise much easier with a boat full of family...

 

[gr8shot]

Ok, since you guys asked for it, I uploaded a short video clip to youtube just for you. Turn the sound up and you can hear it screaming at the end. Sounds awesome!

We're headed back out again this afternoon with my in-laws along this time. Hoping to catch a few walleye, fingers crossed!

https://youtu.be/fSInDS5iz_s

 

[Lou C]

Great and sounds like the kids approve too!

 

[Lou C]

Indeed, lesson learned, twice! Thats how we did it the final time, and no issues!

Just to show how important determining zero lash is, I did my first Chevrolet hydraulic valve adjustment when I did the top end overhaul 3 years ago. Carefully studied the different methods. Had years of experience with mechanical valve lifters on my foreign cars but never did any of my US vehicles. When I did mine I used the ‘can you move the pushrod up and down’ method and gave it 1 turn after zero lash, and started it up and it ran perfect, So I think the determination of zero lash is actually more important than if you use 1/2, 3/4 or 1 turn since you see all three #s being used as ‘correct’. In the GM shop manuals Ive seen, its always 1 turn....

 

[Scott Danforth]

exactly, understanding that zero lash is the absence of vertical movement vs trying to spin the pushrod with the fingers.

 

[gr8shot]

Yeah it gave me a few new grey hairs getting it right! I'm just glad I didn't do any physical damage to the engine by having them too tight right off the bat. We took it out again yesterday afternoon and it ran great again.

I did find a water leak on the fitting on the bottom of the port side manifold. It's not much of a leak right now, so I'm not sure if I want to have the downtime to mess with it just yet. Might wait until I drain out the break in oil then mess with it.

 

[Scott06]

Great glad to see it all come together. With kids that age in hair picture you will have years of family fun.

 

[gr8shot]

The gimbal bearing was starting to growl on me, so I ordered the puller and a new bearing, figured I'd have it in and out saturday, on the water sunday. Boy that was a challenge. I'm pretty sure it was the original bearing because it put up a hell of a fight. I started with the puller that goes around the studs for the outdrive. Tightened it as hard as I could by hand with a large crescent wrench. When that still didn't budge it, I started using a 2lb sledge hammer to get a few more turns out of it. Still wouldn't budge. So I got mad, put my 3' pipe wrench on the puller and used my 8lb sledge to get a few more turns out of the puller. The dang thing still wouldn't budge!

At this point I was pretty defeated and a sweaty mess. I had resigned that I'd get the puller off and make an appointment at the local shop and let them handle it so I didn't break something. Low and behold I'd gotten the puller so tight I ruined the threads on it. So I couldn't unthread it to loosen it off either. After some time I was able to beat out the middle portion of the puller that expands the teeth that grab the bearing. Then I got the puller out.

I decided to rent a slide hammer and at least give that a try before I threw in the towel. That of course didn't budge it at all. After a break and a couple beers to cool my temper, I thought I'd take a punch and try and hit around the edges of the bearing and try and knock it loose. That went horribly, and I put the punch through the middle of the bearing and flipped the inside of the bearing sideways.

At this point the bearing was toast, and there was no putting it back together. So my last attempt to get it out before throwing in the towel was a long metal blade on my sawzall. I got it in there and was able to cut through the outer bearing race. That relieved enough tension on the bearing that once i knocked the center section of the bearing straight again and got the slide hammer in, the bearing pulled right out.

I had the new bearing in the freezer for several hours, and I purchased an install tool that slides onto the alignment shaft. So I had the new bearing in in no time. Have to pick up a new outdrive gasket today, get things buttoned back up then will be good on that end.

 

[gr8shot]

Also have been trying to figure out a hot restart issue with the carb. The motor starts great when cold. And if you shut it off and restart within a couple minutes, it fires up instantly. But if it sits more than 10 minutes or so, it's a bit of a bear to restart. Will have to hold the throttle wide open, and eventually it'll kind of stumble back to life. Posted the question in a small block chevy group on facebook, and the answer was a unanimous fuel boil off issue. Everyone suggested a carb spacer to eliminate heat transfer from the intake to the carb. So I ordered one from Summit, and it should be here today or tomorrow. I'll get that put on and hopefully my hot restart issue will be a thing of the past.

Also installed a new Clarion bluetooth stereo and 4 new kicker marine speakers. Trying to get all my loose ends tied up for Memorial weekend!

 

[Bondo]

The motor starts great when cold. And if you shut it off and restart within a couple minutes, it fires up instantly. But if it sits more than 10 minutes or so, it's a bit of a bear to restart. Will have to hold the throttle wide open, and eventually it'll kind of stumble back to life. Posted the question in a small block chevy group on facebook, and the answer was a unanimous fuel boil off issue. Everyone suggested a carb spacer to eliminate heat transfer from the intake to the carb.

Ayuh,........ Highly unlikely on a boat motor,......... What carb ya got on it,..??..??

 

[alldodge]

i knocked the center section of the bearing straight again

This is why it didn't come out. If the outer race cocks, it will bind. If you do it again and it doesn't come out on first few try's, knock it back in and try again

Ayuh,........ Highly unlikely on a boat motor,......... What carb ya got on it,..??..??

Agree

Its not fuel boil off. Your carb is probably flooding

 

[gr8shot]

Ayuh,........ Highly unlikely on a boat motor,......... What carb ya got on it,..??..??

Edelbrock 1409. Apparently they're notorious for it. My motor runs right at 170* all the time, so it's possible. Either way, for $25, the carb spacer is worth a try.

 

[gr8shot]

This is why it didn't come out. If the outer race cocks, it will bind. If you do it again and it doesn't come out on first few try's, knock it back in and try again



Agree

Its not fuel boil off. Your carb is probably flooding

Why would it flood after sitting 10+ minutes? But not flood after just sitting a couple minutes, and not flood when cold?

Honestly with the bearing, it was easy enough to just knock the center section sideways and cut the outer race that I'd do that every time if it doesn't come out right away with the puller. Wish I would have done that right away versus trying so damn hard with the puller. Wasted a ton of time trying to get it out with that puller. Once I gave up with the puller and cut the race it was out in just a couple minutes. Either way, live and learn. Was my first one, and I got it changed, just took some extra effort.

 

[alldodge]

Why would it flood after sitting 10+ minutes? But not flood after just sitting a couple minutes, and not flood when cold?

Float level to high
Motor is cold and all excess fuel has drained off and evaporated. Go crank the motor, it got just the right amount of fuel. Motor runs well on gas fumes, not so well on liquid gas

Motor warms up, its shut down and quickly restarted, flooding has not fully happened

Motor is shut down and waits, now fuel puddels

Without knowing more were just guessing.

Shut motor down warm, and look down the throat of the carb, what do you see?

 

[Bondo]

Will have to hold the throttle wide open, and eventually it'll kind of stumble back to life.

Ayuh,..... This sentence screams that the carb is leakin', floodin' the motor,.....

 

[gr8shot]

The way it was explained to me is that the carb gets hot and thats what causes the flooding. I don't know, guess we'll see if this spacer fixes it or not. If not, then it'll be on to the next step.

Also going to drain out the break in oil this week I think. Get some fresh oil and a fresh filter on before memorial weekend.

 

[gr8shot]

So last week I did some adjusting on the carb. The choke wasn't opening as soon as it should be, so I got it adjusted to where it was opening sooner and staying open when the engine was warm. Thought maybe that would be enough to fix the hot start issue, but it really didn't have any affect. Used the boat all day saturday and it did excellent. It was windy and the water was really rough so mostly just going slow, under 2000rpm, but other than having to hold the throttle wide open on warm restarts, zero issues to report.

Pulled the front two plugs on each side of the motor last night to see how they look, and I'd say they look perfect. Very light brown on the ceramic, no buildup or soot. So good to go there!

I installed the carb spacer last night. So i'll see if that makes a difference on the hot restart issue. And in the process of tightening down the nuts on the carb studs, I bumped the wrench on the 12+ terminal on the starter relay. That blew the fusible link on the starter lug and killed power to the whole damn boat, and also skinned my knuckle pretty bad. Turns out thats a $40 mistake, not to mention a pain to get to to remove.

On another note, I was pretty unimpressed with my new stereo system. Had the same speakers on my old boat and loved them. Different head unit and different install locations on this boat and they just don't have the bass the old boat did. So I installed a 10" kicker sub and amp that I pulled out of my old truck before selling it. She bumps and sounds killer now!!!

 

[Scott06]

I’ve seen the same issue from time to time with my1409. Put this on last Memorial Day https://www.edelbrock.com/heat-insulator-gasket-for-divided-4150-square-bore-0-320-thick-9266.html

seemed to help but I only had it out 2-3 times after install and weather was cooler. Will know over the next I think or two if it really works or not