Big block I/O's Pontoons, I dont hear much about them

[GregF]

Ed are you fresh water cooled? My Buddy (Capt Steve Seigel) ran a Mercruiser for lots of years out of Point Lookout. It is a little saltier down there but the salt killed it (salt water cooled). He was on the second engine when I moved away.

[badmoonrising]

My Starcraft was born and raised on the Honga River/Tangier Sound area - hence the holes I had to fix in the transom from saltwater and bronze/brass and even steel hardware. It's pretty salty down there. The Mercruiser I have in it now is primarily used off of Annapolis (pretty salty down there and we get saltwater fish there).

Both of my boat are raw water cooled. Replace the intake manifold as specified and there won't be an issue (4-5 seasons in saltwater, 8-10 in fresh). I've never seen an I/O engine that died unless it ingested water through a corroded intake or improperly install exhaust. If the manifolds are caked with rust, it's a good idea to remove the head(s) and have them redone too.

Other than lack of oil or sinking from lack of maintenance on the outdrive boots that is...

Outboards are easier to maintain and I'm seeing more NEW boats here with Yamahas more than anything else these days, all our local dealers have mostly Yamaha.

As I get further into geezerhood and can't crawl around in a bilge anymore and if my 3.0 EVER dies, I'd go outboard.

[pond tuuunes]

Ha! Yea it takes 3 hrs to change 1 sparkplug, I can pull engine in 2 hrs, change plugs and put it back in, same day. So in that respect, yes a outboard would be better. But it cant replace the rumble of two 4" exhaust pipes through the hull. JT

[GregF]

"Come on over to the dark side Luke"

[badmoonrising]

Ha! Yea it takes 3 hrs to change 1 sparkplug, I can pull engine in 2 hrs, change plugs and put it back in, same day. So in that respect, yes a outboard would be better. But it cant replace the rumble of two 4" exhaust pipes through the hull. JT

The worst thing to do on my 3.0 is that damn in fuel pump fuel filter. It's all the way down as deep as the bilge goes. I guess I could remove that filter and put one inline, but I never did any research on it. Also if I ever need a new starter, that'll be a nightmare. My Starcraft is on it's original though...usually it's the slave solenoids that goes on Mercs and they are up top.

I am considering aftermarket fuel injection but can't find any legit reviews or raves/rants about this company...although a friend of ours installed on of their kits in his '66 Chevelle and loves it.

http://www.affordable-fuel-injection.com/

"Only" $1,575.00 for a 3.0 liter conversion

[playcat]

My Playcraft barge is not a big block, but I enjoy the decent performance and she is kinda easy on gas. We don't run that fast, but the lack of range vs time restricts our travels at times. Plus, its a two pontoon boat with the I/O in a fiberglass pod that drags thru the water like crazy...not one of PC s best designs. Here is a shot of the ass end...

rear of toon

stern of toon.jpg (69.12 KiB) Viewed 3086 times

[tuned]

I just had to bump this thread because I am about to join the club. Aaand pretty damn excited about it

[onthelaketwo]

I am getting one... as soon as my redistribution check shows up.

[pond tuuunes]

I would just think that as many as we have here where I live, there would be more on this forum. JT

[tuned]

Just ran into a big problem on my build. My steering assist cylinder and bracket don't fit. They are about 3 or 4 inches too long to the Stbd. side.
Have any of you big-blockers run into this? Is there a shorter assist setup available?

[playcat]

Don't do what playcraft did to mine; mounted the brackets further to one side. The outdrive moves about 50% farther to the right than it does to the left!

[pond tuuunes]

Sorry, mine came with a bigblock, I just made it bigger

[ronb]

aw shucks, here's a couple possible solutions..
1. cut a recess into the pontoon tube, custom fabricate a 'glove box' into it for the cylinder and brackets to fit and then make sure to weld/seal it all back together, the tubes only hold 3lbs of air pressure...

How about a picture of the interference area?
2. Maybe you can rig up something like a cantilever and move the cylinder out of the way completely?
There have been some interesting suspension packages available that used this idea... (one random picture from the internets showing what I am trying to describe)

Then you could move that cylinder to someplace out of the way but still get full range of motion possibly? You could also play with the ratios and possilby use a shorter stroke cylinder and still get full range (left/right)

If neither of these work, I am sure I can come up with different ways of doing the same thing...
-ron

[tuned]

Aw you guys....are the best i/o toon buddies a guy could ever have. Of course there are only six of you in the country
Now to business. Although I am willing to modify almost anything on the planet, I am very hesitant to mess with 'safety' parts such as steering. BTW, the boat already has a 'glove box' about an inch deep on the Stbd side of tube.
I finally got ahold of a SouthBay guy that has good knowledge in the area. He thinks that I have an old design steering assist assembly. He is going to send me a new design that he thinks will fit. For $100! God bless SouthBay.
Then I still have to figure out which SeaStar cylinder fits on to it. It MUST have had hydraulic steering as the hoses were already there.

Teleflex rep also suggested an alternative that will work, but spendy. They have a direct fit steering cylinder that wouldn't use the engine driven power assist at all. Lots of room for it. Instead, I would have to add an electric/hydraulic power assist off to the side. Not sure I want to drop two grand into my steering.

Bottom line--this is solvable...in some manner. I feel better now.

[fasttoons]

Dual Whipple Supercharged 30' long x 9' wide Playcraft I/O