Help on late 80's Cobalt

[rhadskey]

Here goes,

First time to the site. I obtained a mid to late 80's Cobalt bowrider 20' with a 5.7 Liter 260 hp Mercruiser with Alpha 1 Outdrive. The boat has been sitting for 2 yrs with the plug in and received almost 2 ft of water in her. The boat was winterized before the accident, where the windshield was knocked off by the dry dock forklift operator. He only broke the drivers side front glass and frame I still have the middle and pass side windshield and frame intact. What i'm looking for is the side windows and frames and the bracing that holds the front windscreen up. I believe i'm going to have to replace the starter, no biggie, but how does one get a starter through those small openings? any help appreciated.

Thanks,

Ryan Hadskey
901-581-6808

 

[JCF350]

Re: Help on late 80's Cobalt

As far as the window stuff goes your just going to have to find another boat like yours or use some imagination and replace with homebuilt or off another boat that is similar in size and shape.

Sometimes you just have to remove the engine to get the starter out, but mostly it takes some imagination and fussing to get'em out.

 

[flabum]

Re: Help on late 80's Cobalt

You will also want to pull the drive and check the u-joints and gimball bearing. Water that high in the bilge will be above the driveshaft and the water prbably entered the u-joint bellows through the vent hole in the transom bracket.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Help on late 80's Cobalt

Welcome to iboats.....
All of the above advice is good......
Make sure that you didn't get water in the oil through the dipstick.....​

 

[Lou C]

Re: Help on late 80's Cobalt

If you need windshield glass, the level of difficulty in finding it depends on if it's flat or curved, plain flat tempered glass can be duplicated by a glass shop, if it's curved, even a little it's more difficult. I'd e-mail or call Cobalt and find out who made the windshield, I was able to buy 2 pieces of glass from the OE supplier to Four Winns by contacting them.
Starter, well I replaced one on my 88 OMC last year, not too bad of a job, you need a good 1/2 drive ratchet with a couple of different size extensions. It's a little hard to get the bolt started trying to hold that heavy starter up but I did it in about 1/2 hr. Or you could tie a rope around it and use someone to hold it up for you while you get the bolts started. They go up from the bottom into the bottom of the rear of the block.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Help on late 80's Cobalt

I believe i'm going to have to replace the starter, no biggie, but how does one get a starter through those small openings? any help appreciated.

Ayuh,........ That's the Fun part of DIYing a Boat,.......

You need to Take Apart about 1/2 of the Boat,...........
Just to get a Wrench on the bolt that holds the Part you're trying to Fix........

With 2' of Water in her,.........
I'd make sure it'll even Run, before I went looking for a windshield........

I suspect you'll be replacing More than just a Starter.............

 

[rhadskey]

Re: Help on late 80's Cobalt

Thanks for all the input guys, fortunately for the starter it uses a high torque type that is smaller however it is more expensive. As for that gimble bearing and driveshaft, how do you grease? zirk,new bearing, ?? And also I want to remove the plugs and spin the motor by hand after putting lube on top of cylinders, do you have to remove the water jackets to get to em?

Thanks for your time

 

[95yj]

Re: Help on late 80's Cobalt

You should be able to pull the plugs without pulling the exhaust depending on how much room you have in your engine compartment. As far as inspecting the gimbal bearing and driveshaft, you really want to pull your outdrive and inspect everything. Even if everything is OK, you'll want to grease up the engine coupler splines, u-joints, etc. Pulling the outdrive is something you really want to do every year or so just to do maintenance and in this case, it's almost mandatory just so you know where you sit.