PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

[Icyharp]

Re: PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

I agree with WILSONS88. Looks like an Oldsmobile Rocket 350, but could be as big as a 455. Which explains the weird sort of homemade-looking exhaust manifolds, as I don't think any boat builders used Olds motors. Depending on the year car it came out of that puppy could pack some serious HP!

Luhrs, back in the day the Olds motor was the choice of boat builders for a Jet drive, actually was very durable. So now the question what cube is this one.......keep us posted.

 

[WILSONS88]

Re: PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

Did some diggin around on that 74 Tri-sonic. Found one that was a 73 model and it had a 5.0L Oldsmobile engine in it. So it may possibly be a 307 cubic inch motor. The intake on it looks too small to be a big block. Old 455 intakes looked as wide as a football field.
What brand of carb is on it?

 

[westonpowell]

Re: PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

The carb is wrapped up on it right now but i should get to check it out soon. I'll probably go by and take some more pics, then post what i find tomorrow. Can you guys think of anything that I need some close up pics of that would help distinguish the size of that motor.

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

Hey you know what that means? An Olds 5.7 diesel will bolt right up!

Oh nevermind................

 

[spazzer]

Re: PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

On the motor as your facing the rear, there's a series of numbers ( should be 7 ) example 3970010. They should be located behind the head on the engine block landing. Let me know what they are and i can tell you what cubic inch and kind of motor it is.

 

[Icyharp]

Re: PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

Hey you know what that means? An Olds 5.7 diesel will bolt right up!

Oh nevermind................

LOL how did I know you would say something like that?

 

[westonpowell]

Re: PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

Well I jound out that the engine is a 403 Olds, with a quadrajet carb. It seems like abig engine capable of plenty of horse power to push the boat around. Comments?

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

Back in the 1970's very low profile jet boats were quite the thing. Just about every one I saw had a 455 cubic inch Oldsmobile engine and Berkley or Jacuzzi jet drive. They were a good bang for the buck--more noise than bite. I couldn't help to think that they'd do anything but eat fuel.
.
I never understood why the 455 engine was used, as they were very high torque/low rpm motors, and jet boats' speed is limited by their rpm's. Where you would get 65 mph in a jet drive, the same hulls with V-drives were good for close to 100 mph.

There are a # of jet boats running, but they're just not often seen in much of the U.S. This might be a case of putting good money after bad--given that there are just so few parts available--and that the boat hull is a marginal tri hull to begin with.

 

[westonpowell]

Re: PLEASE HELP! New to the boating world

This boat will be used primarily for pulling a couple of kids on a tube, and cruising around the lake. As long as I can get the motor going ok, I think that it will be a good "family boat" for get togethers and fishing trips.