[Oregondunes]

Originally Posted by luke7575

Man i just finished reading this write, and i got to say great job, i like the back seat, also can u post a picture of the swim deck im very interested in something like that, and like u my Volvo Penta 7.4l wasnt enought i ordered a week ago a 540 and a bravo xr for it to b installed this winter

thanks. Its coming together nicely. I know, to some, Im straying away from OEM, but Im liking the updates that I have been doing. By next year, Ill have it just the way I have been dreaming it to be.

[Oregondunes]

I just went thru and cleaned up some picture links and updated a few photos as well

[Boatcrazy]

Damn Oregondunes............................Hats off to you for a fantastic job well done. Glad I am not the only looney on this forum. Been gone for awhile (No, not upstate) as work and life has been very busy. Just getting caught up with MOC and came across this and had to let you know that I was impressed with the job well done.

Tell me more about the motor? My 509 is running great but killed my bravo three after hitting something that did not move underwater at speed and tore all the gears in the lower unit but found a newer swept back design one and it has been working great. Keep up the good work.

[Oregondunes]

I had a bit of set back this past couple of years.

When I put the new motor together last year, I bought a set of used merlin heads. in my haste, I didnt have them magnafluxed and as it turned out, one was cracked. it didnt rear it's ugly head until the middle of this summer while I was amidst my tuning. needless to say I never did get it tuned before she really started flowing water where it didnt belong and hot exhaust gasses into the coolant channels.

Yanking the motor the week after the 4th of july and getting a machine shop to make the repairs was pretty quick. putting it all back together was not. It's done now, but as with most folks that live North of Interstate 10, it's winter time. Today the high is supposed to reach 36, so the boat is winterized and put away with it's warming blanket til March sometime.

The tuning curve should be relatively quick as I bought some risers with O2 sensors bungs and a data logger.