Re: Mastercraft Star and Strips
Dont know if this is the right forum but Im buying my uncles mastercraft stars and strips boat that has been in storage for 4 years and wanted to know what I should do to it to get it running? All I know about it is that it has a 351 ford motor in it.
Thanks Guys for any help
Howdy,
Your "new" boat having a 351 Ford engine must make it a early to mid 90's vintage boat?
Mastercraft is still around I believe (although no one uses Ford engines anymore) so if you do not have a Mastercraft owners manual, they can likely supply it.
It should have instructions on normal service etc.
In general, you should consider ensuring the oil has been changed (before storage) and if not, change it. This will include the Velvet drive oil or other drive system. (If it WAS changed before storage, I wouldn't hesitate to run it for a summer......oil really doesn't go bad just sitting there) Some people would remove the distributor and operate the oil pump with a drill motor to "prime" the oil system before running the engine.
You might ask your uncle what service has been performed and if the stuffing box was serviced "recently", I would look closely at it. (The Mastercraft manual might also address it)
Plan on draining ALL the gasoline from the fuel tank, replacing the fuel filter and possibly the fuel pump.
An engine that sits for a long period of time might also have carb issues from "varnish" left behind from fuel inside that has dried out.
Even if the raw water pump was replaced 4 years ago, I would take it apart and either inspect the impeller and/or replace it. (They're cheap enough not to put an old one back in)
I don't know what kind of manifolds that engine has on it, but if it has separate risers, I would remove them and inspect/replace the riser gaskets.
Have a look at the following thread.
http://forums.iboats.com/non-repair-i-o-inboards/adults-only-no-exceptions-511070.html it focus's mainly on I/O's but there's a lot of engine info there too.
Cheers,
Rick
