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RESTO Project Dog House: 1996 Challenger

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Pale Rider said:
YOOOO RJ! where are ya Buddy!
Click to expand...

I'm still around.
Recovering from an unplanned knee surgery on Oct 15th.

Had an offer on the GTX this morning. Not quite what I was looking for, but a decent offer. I opted to keep it as I know I can get a good bit more in the spring... but I expect the guy to be back in a week or two after he gets another paycheck.

Started the upholstery on the Challenger right before I hurt my knee. Have to finish it soon.

Thinking about keeping the Challenger... for now at least. I'm sure that will change when I find a 98 speedster for sale.
 
Oh... and the Challenger ran great on the trailer with the new carbs. I've got to go winterize my big boat soon and will likely take the Challenger with me and get it out on the water for a bit.
 
rjcress said:
I'm still around.
Recovering from an unplanned knee surgery on Oct 15th.

Had an offer on the GTX this morning. Not quite what I was looking for, but a decent offer. I opted to keep it as I know I can get a good bit more in the spring... but I expect the guy to be back in a week or two after he gets another paycheck.

Started the upholstery on the Challenger right before I hurt my knee. Have to finish it soon.

Thinking about keeping the Challenger... for now at least. I'm sure that will change when I find a 98 speedster for sale.
Click to expand...

what happened to your knee? Think I tore my ACL playing soccer the other night. Waiting for them to schedule an MRI so I can find out. Removed 60 ML of blood from my knee! YIKES! Fortunately I am in great shape so they say it should be minimized.
 
suke said:
what happened to your knee? Think I tore my ACL playing soccer the other night. Waiting for them to schedule an MRI so I can find out. Removed 60 ML of blood from my knee! YIKES! Fortunately I am in great shape so they say it should be minimized.
Click to expand...

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your injury. Sounds worse than mine.
I just had some meniscus tears and roughness behind the kneecap that needed cleaned up. Tweaked it playing hockey.
I'm in pretty good shape also, and didn't even need crutches the day of the surgery. This is my 4th knee surgery and the only one that I didn't need crutches for. I'm almost 3 weeks from the surgery today and it feels almost totally normal... as long as I stay off my knees. I had to get into my files this morning and the cabinet is on the floor in my closet. Got down on my knees before i remembered that I still have some swelling and tenderness around the incision sites. Just sore when I put pressure on them. No issues at all otherwise.

Sadly, it cut short the end of my boating season, has me missing a TaeKwonDo tournament this weekend, and may (or may not) have me miss a charity benefit hockey game that my team is playing in conjunction with the Hurricanes game on the 24th.
Oh well, nothing I can do right now but continue rehab for a few more weeks.
 
Hey RJ, sorry to hear you are hurt. get well soon, even tho you are mostly healed now!:cheers:

That`s cool that the challenger is up and running well again. let us know how the water test goes...

I`m hoping for a few more rides before the season ends here, but so far the weatherman has lied to us all :facepalm:

stay well friend!:cool::thumbsup:
 
rjcress said:
Hangin' in there.
Ready for summer. :)
How are you adjusting to life in NC?
Click to expand...

:facepalm:, haven`t had a chance to smell the roses, if it weren`t for walking the Dogs in new Bern, I wouldn`t know any other areas. and we have to move again... but the boating was great and we really do like the waters here, we hope to stay in the area...

I`ll save your thread the drama and we`ll talk about this later...

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you and your family!:thumbsup::cheers:
 
Hey RJ, how're things? Still planing on keeping the Challneger? Idk if I told you, but about two engines ago, I started running with a trolling motor in my ski locker. Good thing too b/c about November, I ended up needing it. Lost the MAG piston again. No idea why, but I told myself, no more 787's. At least in the boat. I thought about getting rid of her, but it's just too pretty. I only wanted to move up to a 4-tec, but they just haven't grown on me yet. Not sure if they ever will. So instead, I opted to repower mine with a 4-tec. The project is already underway. Checkout my latest thread :) I hope you have better luck than me. From now on, there'll only be one 787 in my fleet (unless I get that racing ski done). There's not enough time in the world to keep up with two of them :) So yea, my Challnger is soon to be powered by a 185hp supercharged rotax engine :hurray:
 
IDoSeaDoo said:
Hey RJ, how're things? Still planing on keeping the Challneger? ...
Click to expand...

Howdy!
Thanks for checking in.
After a rough summer of pulling and reinstalling the engine over and over the off-season has been equally miserable with another knee surgery in Sept. and shoulder surgery in Feb. Too many years of abusing my body are catching up to me. It is bad enough that I hung up my skates and won't be playing hockey any more... which I though wouldn't happen until I was at least 60 (I'm 41).

Anyhow, with the injuries, surgeries, recovery periods, and a chronic issue that one of my kids is dealing with I haven't even gotten to think about the Challenger in months.

I started the upholstery and have the new rub rail... just need to make time to install them, as soon as my shoulder is healed enough to do it.

Sad that you carry the trolling motor, but I understand.
I can't paddle until my shoulder heals a bit more, so I'll have to keep that in mind before I take the boat out.

With all of that said, I really am looking forward to getting the Challenger out and playing some this summer. I hope to play with it for a while and might sell it if I get a good offer.

Looking to sell the GTX Di right away, but some jackass flags my craigslist ad every time I post it. He has emailed me and says stuff like "nobody wants you weedeater"... just a stupid redneck, but I have no way to stop him from continually getting my ad taken down. It is truly bizarre. I'll find somewhere else to post it.
 
What an ass-hat! You think it could be the guy that lowballed you? Isn't there a way to report abuse? And I'm sorry to hear about the surgeries, but it's probably just a bad year. Everyone gets them now and then. Sounds like you had one hell of an awesome life though :) Fortunately there are other things to enjoy out there (like driving a jet boat!). Wish you all the best in recovery!
 
Thanks.
I don't think it is the guy that lowballed me. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy.

I have had a very good life and can't wait to drive the jet boat again as soon as we get past the threat of freezing temps.
Can't wait to get back out there on the water with the kids. I'm optimistic that the problems are behind me. If so, then I'll teach the kids to drive the boat. That will be a blast. They are too little to "really" drive it (oldest is 11), but they will enjoy sitting in the drivers seat, even if I am less than an arms length away. :)
 
IDoSeaDoo said:
Hey now, you're making me want to have kids :D Too early for me still...
Click to expand...

Oh... nearly forgot. I wanted to compliment you on your use of the term "ass-hat". I hear that term misused sometimes, but you were right on the money. :cheers::facepalm::thumbsup:
 
Instead of working on my taxes yesterday (:thumbsup:) I started moving things from around the Challenger trailer so that I can get it out of the garage soon. Funny how much stuff accumulated in and around the boat over the winter. The boat made such a convenient place to stage my hunting gear instead of taking it in the house where it would pick up too much people and dog smells.

Anyhow, noticed that one of the kids knocked off the clear plastic "bearing buddy" on the port side of the trailer. Must be an old brand. Printed on the cap "Auto Lube Acutek No 604". Googling didn't turn up anyone selling that brand, and only a few OLD forum posts of people mentioning not being able to find info on them. I guess I'll have to hit the hub with the digital calipers and see what size Bearing Buddy replacement to order.

I think that I'm still a few weeks from being able to dig into the reupholstery work, as I'm just 8 weeks post shoulder surgery and I still can't really do much with my left arm without risk of undoing the stuff that the surgeon put back together.
However, I can start on some of the smaller stuff to get ready for the upholstery, and I haven't run the engine in a month or two, so I can do that.

Also have to figure out how to go about painting the hideous PURPLE rub rail.
I tried a couple of inches as a test, taping above and below the rail with blue painters tape, but the krylon fusion paint still got up under the tape and made a mess. I think I'll try using a solvent to clean off all the wax on those areas so that the tape can stick better.
I was VERY happy with how the krylon looked on the rub rail though. It looked like the plastic was originally black. Actually got me thinking that it could be worthwhile to pull the rest of plastic (dash, grab handles) and shoot it... but not sure what color. I went with grey/silver and green on the new upholstery, so probably one of those. :)
Once the purple is covered I'll install the new black rub rail insert. Should improve the look of the boat tremendously.
 
Does it look like this

https://www.easternmarine.com/loadr...tor-201904-0?gclid=CPndst7Ozr0CFaMcOgodbjIAbw


128.jpg
 
You have to prep that rub rail like no ones business.I use lacquer thinner. I actually removed the rub rail from my HX to paint it, your boat I probably wouldn't with your arm. You can twist the rub rail 360 degrees and the paint will not flake off. The other thing you can do is use Frog tape, it has edgeblock technology where once water-based latex touches it the edge seals. So if you put it on, just take a damp sponge and quickly run it down the edge of the tape so it will seal to the fiberglass. Then paint, and remove.
 
racerxxx said:
You have to prep that rub rail like no ones business.I use lacquer thinner. I actually removed the rub rail from my HX to paint it, your boat I probably wouldn't with your arm. You can twist the rub rail 360 degrees and the paint will not flake off. The other thing you can do is use Frog tape, it has edgeblock technology where once water-based latex touches it the edge seals. So if you put it on, just take a damp sponge and quickly run it down the edge of the tape so it will seal to the fiberglass. Then paint, and remove.
Click to expand...

Frog tape. Excellent. I'll order that, some lacquer thinner and the bearing buddy so it will be here for next weekend.
 
rjcress said:
Frog tape. Excellent. I'll order that, some lacquer thinner and the bearing buddy so it will be here for next weekend.
Click to expand...

Walmart carries the Frogtape back by the paint and caulk. It's lime green. HD has the lacquer thinner.


My old ski trailer had the clear plastic Bearing buddies and I loved those things, you could tell immediately if you had water in the grease. Just so you know I think I Googled clear plastic bearing buddy.


Just found them for $4.40!
http://trailerpartsdepot.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=B62&eq=&Tp=

Measure your hubs, the above are 1.98 but the pic shows Autolube 602, not 604. Bit that is just a pic, you need the measurements!

http://www.tiedown.com/acovers.html


B62.GIF
 
Last edited by a moderator:
racerxxx said:
Walmart carries the Frogtape back by the paint and caulk. It's lime green. HD has the lacquer thinner.


My old ski trailer had the clear plastic Bearing buddies and I loved those things, you could tell immediately if you had water in the grease. Just so you know I think I Googled clear plastic bearing buddy.


Just found them for $4.40!
http://trailerpartsdepot.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=B62&eq=&Tp=
Click to expand...

Yeah. But I am lazy.
I mean efficient.

Ordered it all from Amazon so I don't have to drive around to different stores looking for stuff.
Plus, the shipping from trailerpartsdepot.com was MORE than the parts. I've got a Prime membership at Amazon, so shipping is free. :)
 
Can you please take a shot of the carbs and tell me which side the cable to the oil pump goes to and which the throttle goes to. I didn't label mine when I took the carbs off. I believe the oil pump cable goes to the stern, PTO carb and the throttle cable from the controls goes to the Bow , MAG carb.

Thanks,
Lee
 
lswaffield said:
Can you please take a shot of the carbs and tell me which side the cable to the oil pump goes to and which the throttle goes to. I didn't label mine when I took the carbs off. I believe the oil pump cable goes to the stern, PTO carb and the throttle cable from the controls goes to the Bow , MAG carb.

Thanks,
Lee
Click to expand...

Oil pump cable should go to the pto carb.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk
 
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