Austin, TX Mechanic Recommendation

[longhorn24]

I have a 1970 Ski Sporter (302 Ford, Volvo Outdrive) in Austin with a couple issues that I need a mechanics help with.

The previous mechanic that was working on the boat with me, and did a pretty extensive overhaul on the engine passed away last year.

Any advice or recommendations that you guys could offer would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Just Say N20]

There are many on here who can help. What specifically are you looking for help with?

[longhorn24]

I'm having an issue with the cooling system, and my thought is that it may be a piece of impeller stuck somewhere in the system, as the impeller got chewed up late last season (it's replaced now).

When I run the engine off a hose, the temperature stays cool both on the gauge and when you feel the water coming out of the exhaust.

When I put the boat in the water, it cools just fine in neutral and gets good water flow. The temperature is fine when the boat is in gear at idle as well. As soon as the boat is at anything over 1,000 RPM the temp gauge starts to quickly climb.

I don't think that I'm experience enough to go digging around in the cooling system to find the blockage.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

[Ghost]

There have been some threads about similar-sounding problems, you may be able to search and find them IF you're interested in potentially tackling this one yourself. But I think the short version is you just unbolt pieces and make sure each component is clear of obstructions. I'd think your (presumably) raw-water-cooled 302 setup was relatively simple compared to some of the alternatives.

One thing that's helped some people is using a handheld infrared thermometer to take readings from different places, rather than being limited to info from the water temperature sender that feeds the gauge. For instance, is only one side getting hot?

The other takeaway I've gotten from such threads is that when impellers disintegrate, there are often a handful of pieces in the system, not just one. There are some folks here who can probably give you leads on the most likely places for the problem (oil cooler, whatever).

FWIW,

Mike

[Craig S]

Jim Frechette at Fleetwood Wooden Boats would have a good pulse who works on vintage mechanics in the area.

[Jraysray]

any water in travis?

[JayZ]

any water in travis?

I was there last weekend. It is 50 feet low but still probably deeper than anything we have around here.

[osur866]

Give Bob Llyod a call at Full Throttle Marine

[mattyboy]

the ford crank driven water pump is fairly simple. there are a few hose connections that can be disconnected and you can check for kibble and bits. the two for the exhaust risers and the water cross overs on the front of the block. if there are no bits there they are in the block.

a couple of other things if the motor runs cool on the hose but not on it's own you can look at the pump backing plate may be worn the impellor needs a snug fit if there is excess room the water will not be forced thru the system. there is also a paper thin gasket for the backing plate if it's not there or there is a thick gasket it won't work well either. the other thing would be the crank end of the pump if the teeth and the star spacer are worn the pump might not be spinning fast enough to cool the motor at above idle speeds.
lastly make sure the impellor that was just replaced was the right size


one more thing check the fittings on the water inlet to the risers sometimes the get gunked up
hope that helps