1997 Speedster Saga

[SpeedsterRob]

Hi All!

This is my second post! I recently picked up a 1997 Speedster with one blown motor because I just wanted to do a little tinkering I guess :facepalm:. Its been a long winter and I thought the price was right and the wife wasn't threatening divorce so I hauled her home.

I've been out of boating for a few years. My last hole in the water was a 1988 Luhrs 342 Tournament that I co-owned with my Dad (he is the one who got me into boating in the first place....not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing). That was a pretty good boat though as I owned it from 2004 through 2011.

Now onto my next adventure :banghead:.

The port motor starts and runs pretty good. It is the stbd motor that I knew needed to be rebuilt.

I started stripping down the motor the weekend of 5/17/14. Prior to this I tested the compression and got about 140+ on the mag cylinder and about 30 on the pto cylinder. It appears that the pto piston threw its wrist pin c-clip (rear most) and this bounced around a bunch and pretty much 'stapled' the rings into the piston. I'm not quite sure how this happened but at one point the pto cylinder cracked (outside wall) most likely do to freezing/expanding water and maybe this tweeked the piston and 'un-seated' the clip. The cylinder in question had been repaired (at least to keep water from leaking).

I purchased a Cylinder exchange kit from SBT at this point believing that this would be the quickest way to get me on the water (it was my hopes at this point in time to be up and running by Father's Day :driving.

The Cylinder Kit went in pretty good the following weekend (5/24/14) and she fired up! Now, prior to putting the pistons/cylinders back on I did indeed ponder whether or not I should pull the whole motor and crack the cases just to make sure all of the c-clip debris was removed. Of course I did not do this...and I jammed up my rotary valve and stripped by brass gear (the brass gear could have been previously a little stripped though - not sure). Anyways, this all happened late Saturday night when I just got it back together and then it seized when I put it on the hose the next morning....

 

[AdamXP800]

Dang man, that really sucks. This is one of the reasons everyone on this forum recommends splitting cases. If you split the case why not fully rebuild it so you know you have a solid motor. You live and you learn right, I hope you get this thing back on the water, they are a blast

 

[Coastiejoe]

If you remove the plugs does it crank at all? Curious as to if you have water in the cylinders.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SpeedsterRob]

1997 Speedster Saga 2 of 2

....Continued:

Ordered more parts and started to strip down the motor and put it back together the weekend of 5/31/14. I get everything back together and the motor in the boat and fired up. No time left in the weekend for a shakedown cruise.

Shakedown cruise/break-in weekend of 6/7/14. The boat gets wet, the motors both fire and idle, and off I go to idle - 3000rpm for break-in. I do finally get the boat up on plane (not sure if either of the accelerator pumps were functioning at the time) and I plane around 'mid-rpm' for a while. I got the motors up to ~5500-6000rpm from about 3500-4000 and she seemed to perform well. At this point I was cruising for around 1/2-hour and I went back to idle speed - 2500rpm. Stbd motor dies but restarts. It does this a couple times and then it doesn't want to restart. I pull the boat and back home I go. I was on the water about an hour.

I get the boat home and start to look at the carb. I notice the accelerator pump rod isn't even sticking out far enough to reach the cam so I pull the carb. The accelerator is all clogged up with what appears to be a red dirt / fine powder. I clean out all of the holes the best I can and I rebuild the carb with a carb kit (but without the accelerator pump diaphragm or needle/seat as these didn't come with the kit).

To Be Continued....

 

[Greg]

Part 3 from SpeedsterRob:

Between last weekend and Father's Day weekend I get the carb rebuilt and put back on the motor but she seems to fire and only stay idling for between 3 and 30 seconds. This is my latest pain. She will fire, die, and immediately fire again.

The cylinders are both at ~150+psi.
Its getting gas (maybe too much - maybe to little)
Carb: pop-off at ~39psi, LSJ @ 1-1/2 turns out, HSJ @ 0 turns out.
Fuel filter under the computer looks good.
I blew back through the fuel lines through the on-off-reserve valve.
I double and triple checked my gasket rebuild on the carb and that is correct (I used the original spring and arm).

At this point I'm perplexed. Any guidance or suggestions as to what my next steps should be would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SpeedsterRob]

hfgreg - Thanks alot for helping me get through my first post!