yeller
04-28-2007, 10:17 PM
A lot of you know I bought a new (to me) 22C about this time last year. My other boat was/is a 16C copy that I built in 88. I never fired it up last year or put it for sale, because I was too busy having fun with the new toy.
My friend really wants the boat bad. He doesn't have the cash, but he did talk his boss into buying it. I spent a couple weeks cleaning and prepping it for the new owner. The boat is definately sold, all I need to do is take him for a test drive. We head out and all is well until I open it up.
About 10 seconds of full throttle and the motor starts to lose power. WTF. I throttle back and we cruise for a few minutes and I try again. Same thing, but this time I look behind me and there is smoke coming from the vents. :eek!: Shut it down and lift the hatch. The engine compartment is COVERED with oil! Fire the engine up to see where it's coming from and it's blowing out where the PCV should be. Seems there is so much blow-by that the block is pressurizing and causing the loss of power and forcing the oil out. Nice, very nice.
At this point I'm hoping it's a stuck ring, although I know it's unlikely. Do a compression test and 5 cylinders are good at 215, but I have one at 100 and 2 at 75. Just for the hell of it I try some combustion chamber cleaner, but it does no good, so I pull the engine and rip it apart.
1st piston I go to pull is one of the bad ones and when I pull the rod cap off, the piston literally falls on the floor. Hmmm, that's not good. :bonk: Turns out the ring glands were 50% gone and the rings were in several pieces. No sense in going any further. I suspect I already had a bad piston when I put the motor in as it always had a tad too much blow-by. I picked it up cheap and dropped it in without checking it out as I was going to put in another motor the following season. Now this motor is a 95 LT1 and if you ever price the parts on these things, it'll make your mouth drop, so a rebuild (just to sell) wasn't financially a wise option. It's $300 just for the gasket set and $400 for a set of rings.
I did end up getting lucky and came across a killer deal. A 94 LT1 totally rebuilt for only $800. Putting it in this weekend. Should be able go for a test drive next weekend, although I probably lost the sale at this point.
That's it...nothing spectacular. Just felt like sharing a story.
My friend really wants the boat bad. He doesn't have the cash, but he did talk his boss into buying it. I spent a couple weeks cleaning and prepping it for the new owner. The boat is definately sold, all I need to do is take him for a test drive. We head out and all is well until I open it up.
About 10 seconds of full throttle and the motor starts to lose power. WTF. I throttle back and we cruise for a few minutes and I try again. Same thing, but this time I look behind me and there is smoke coming from the vents. :eek!: Shut it down and lift the hatch. The engine compartment is COVERED with oil! Fire the engine up to see where it's coming from and it's blowing out where the PCV should be. Seems there is so much blow-by that the block is pressurizing and causing the loss of power and forcing the oil out. Nice, very nice.
At this point I'm hoping it's a stuck ring, although I know it's unlikely. Do a compression test and 5 cylinders are good at 215, but I have one at 100 and 2 at 75. Just for the hell of it I try some combustion chamber cleaner, but it does no good, so I pull the engine and rip it apart.
1st piston I go to pull is one of the bad ones and when I pull the rod cap off, the piston literally falls on the floor. Hmmm, that's not good. :bonk: Turns out the ring glands were 50% gone and the rings were in several pieces. No sense in going any further. I suspect I already had a bad piston when I put the motor in as it always had a tad too much blow-by. I picked it up cheap and dropped it in without checking it out as I was going to put in another motor the following season. Now this motor is a 95 LT1 and if you ever price the parts on these things, it'll make your mouth drop, so a rebuild (just to sell) wasn't financially a wise option. It's $300 just for the gasket set and $400 for a set of rings.
I did end up getting lucky and came across a killer deal. A 94 LT1 totally rebuilt for only $800. Putting it in this weekend. Should be able go for a test drive next weekend, although I probably lost the sale at this point.
That's it...nothing spectacular. Just felt like sharing a story.