That guy is way classier than me. Break into my house and I'm not giving any warning.
Escape From the Prison Planet
- Thread starter DRIVEN
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European gentleman.
Don't let his accent or the Euro cars in the driveway fool you. He's probably one of the most old-school Americans you'd ever meet. The first time I met him he literally offered me the shoes off his feet. No joke. He'd just done a liquidation buyout of a shoe store. Asked me what I did for work. I told him I was working in a warehouse (at the time). 2 days later he dropped off a new pair of Danners.
Don't let his accent or the Euro cars in the driveway fool you. He's probably one of the most old-school Americans you'd ever meet. The first time I met him he literally offered me the shoes off his feet. No joke. He'd just done a liquidation buyout of a shoe store. Asked me what I did for work. I told him I was working in a warehouse (at the time). 2 days later he dropped off a new pair of Danners.
A guy I know over here was getting rid of some rocks/boulders. All I had to do was haul them out. 1 trailer load hauled out by my dad and 2 loads on my trailer. We loaded and unloaded all of them by hand. Not sure where they're going to end up yet but it'll give me something to do in the spring. Rocks are heavy.
We have guys show up and park on the side of the road into town with loads of moss rock from somewhere not close by. Man, that's a lot of work for a few bucks, and those rocks generally look weird out of context. But, maybe some free rocks will keep the Snake out of your Dad' living room?
By the way, I have shop envy.
By the way, I have shop envy.
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I'm not jealous of the new paint colors but the shop is pretty sweet. Bigger than it looks too, 40x60. Left side is largely a wood shop. Right side has a parking bay inside the rollup door and the right rear corner has a 20x30 room for his wife's sewing stuff. There's also a long skinny room upstairs (see the window?) That is a sunlit reading with a bunch of books. Only 6 or 8 feet wide but 60 feet long. Its also completely heated and air conditioned.
The house is pretty sweet too. It was a bank repo they bought really cheap about 8 years ago. Probably paid 1/3 what it's worth now. Right time, right place.
The guy was my boss at two different places years ago. He and his wife have been really good to me over the years. Going back over in a couple hours for dinner.
The house is pretty sweet too. It was a bank repo they bought really cheap about 8 years ago. Probably paid 1/3 what it's worth now. Right time, right place.
The guy was my boss at two different places years ago. He and his wife have been really good to me over the years. Going back over in a couple hours for dinner.
Well, the freeze plugs came in and we got them installed. Had to pull the motor mounts and suspend the engine from the hoist.
After my dad put it all back together we took it down to the river and ran it on the trailer for about 15 minutes. Sounded and ran great! Temp and oil pressure was great!
Just one problem...water in the oil. Dammit.
The old man did all the work getting it out and on the stand. I went over this morning and helped him tear it down. Since we never found an obvious smoking gun, we completely disassembled it and he took the block and heads to the machine shop to be pressure tested. Should know more next week. They're also going to pressure test the intake and exhaust manifolds.
While he was working on that, I was doing a pretrip service on a guy's Winnebago. Gross.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the crew came up to bury the electrical conduit from the box up to the house. They also carved out for the footings at the low side of the basement.
The next scene was almost comedy. We called the guys who dug the well years ago about whether or not the existing pump would be adequate to push water to the top of the hill. They suggested doing an output test. Since we weren't seeing useful numbers, they volunteered to come out and test it properly. First thing they found was a defective pressure gauge. In the process of replacing that they managed to crack the brass manifold. Well, sh*t. After they replaced that they discovered that the bladder was ruptured and the tank was waterlogged. sh*t, sh*t! Now I have a new tank too.
Since I was gone when they finished up we still don't know if the pump is up to the task or not.
Now we wait for concrete.
After my dad put it all back together we took it down to the river and ran it on the trailer for about 15 minutes. Sounded and ran great! Temp and oil pressure was great!
Just one problem...water in the oil. Dammit.
The old man did all the work getting it out and on the stand. I went over this morning and helped him tear it down. Since we never found an obvious smoking gun, we completely disassembled it and he took the block and heads to the machine shop to be pressure tested. Should know more next week. They're also going to pressure test the intake and exhaust manifolds.
While he was working on that, I was doing a pretrip service on a guy's Winnebago. Gross.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the crew came up to bury the electrical conduit from the box up to the house. They also carved out for the footings at the low side of the basement.
The next scene was almost comedy. We called the guys who dug the well years ago about whether or not the existing pump would be adequate to push water to the top of the hill. They suggested doing an output test. Since we weren't seeing useful numbers, they volunteered to come out and test it properly. First thing they found was a defective pressure gauge. In the process of replacing that they managed to crack the brass manifold. Well, sh*t. After they replaced that they discovered that the bladder was ruptured and the tank was waterlogged. sh*t, sh*t! Now I have a new tank too.
Since I was gone when they finished up we still don't know if the pump is up to the task or not.
Now we wait for concrete.
Output test on the well came back great. Looks like I'm done messing with the water except for just running a new line from the tank up to the house.
Concrete guys showed up yesterday and started laying out for the footings. Looks like it's going to be 3 pours.
We discussed the retaining wall above the house and at this point it's going to wait until the concrete is done. My back already hates me.
I went over and picked up my daughter from school last weekend and my wife came over late Tuesday night. We've done very little since. Late Thankgiving this afternoon with my parents the girls both go back in the morning.
We tore the boat engine down last week and dropped the bare block and heads off at the machine shop.
They called on Monday to say the block was wasted. What's the fix? Obviously, drive 4 hours to buy another boat.
Just one small problem with this one. It was in a shop fire that burned off the transom.
So at this point my dad is weighing options. Either pull the drivetrain out of the blue boat and drop it in the red one or part out the blue one and use the profits to machine a new block for the original engine in the red boat which was recently rebuilt. Either way the blue one gets parted out after giving up a couple small parts to complete the red one.
It's pretty rare that these old Nautiques come up for sale, really. Very surprising that two come up within a few hours of BFE Idaho only a couple weeks apart. Wasn't really planning on this deep of a winter project but I guess it just found him.
Concrete guys showed up yesterday and started laying out for the footings. Looks like it's going to be 3 pours.
We discussed the retaining wall above the house and at this point it's going to wait until the concrete is done. My back already hates me.
I went over and picked up my daughter from school last weekend and my wife came over late Tuesday night. We've done very little since. Late Thankgiving this afternoon with my parents the girls both go back in the morning.
We tore the boat engine down last week and dropped the bare block and heads off at the machine shop.
They called on Monday to say the block was wasted. What's the fix? Obviously, drive 4 hours to buy another boat.
Just one small problem with this one. It was in a shop fire that burned off the transom.
So at this point my dad is weighing options. Either pull the drivetrain out of the blue boat and drop it in the red one or part out the blue one and use the profits to machine a new block for the original engine in the red boat which was recently rebuilt. Either way the blue one gets parted out after giving up a couple small parts to complete the red one.
It's pretty rare that these old Nautiques come up for sale, really. Very surprising that two come up within a few hours of BFE Idaho only a couple weeks apart. Wasn't really planning on this deep of a winter project but I guess it just found him.
Was the blue one on fire? Never seen decomposition like that before.
Was the red boat engine a 305 or 350? It seems like you could get a 305 block for about free. If it was a 350, Summit sells blueprinted blocks for about $700.
Was the red boat engine a 305 or 350? It seems like you could get a 305 block for about free. If it was a 350, Summit sells blueprinted blocks for about $700.
Blue one was in a shop fire.
Both are 351W, which isn't all that rare, but just to be complicated they are reverse rotation.
I guess that's mostly just a cam swap and externals but still makes it hassle-prohibitive to swipe one off CL unless it's already set up. The engine in the red boat doesn't have many hours since it was rebuilt so we'll probably just come up with another block and reuse most everything else. Still officiallly undecided.
Both are 351W, which isn't all that rare, but just to be complicated they are reverse rotation.
I guess that's mostly just a cam swap and externals but still makes it hassle-prohibitive to swipe one off CL unless it's already set up. The engine in the red boat doesn't have many hours since it was rebuilt so we'll probably just come up with another block and reuse most everything else. Still officiallly undecided.
Well, duh. Look at the exhaust ports, and it's not a big block.
How about here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MARINE-Ford-351W-5-8-Short-Block-1975-1983-Reverse-Rotation/251268281985
Shipping may be a deal breaker, but I bet an automotive 351 Windsor block will work...the yards ought to have one of those...it looks like you kept the lifters sorted by cam lobe, can they be re-run?
How about here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MARINE-Ford-351W-5-8-Short-Block-1975-1983-Reverse-Rotation/251268281985
Shipping may be a deal breaker, but I bet an automotive 351 Windsor block will work...the yards ought to have one of those...it looks like you kept the lifters sorted by cam lobe, can they be re-run?
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