Re: Winter Upgrades
 

you have a z302 ?

Hopefully this sunday i can work on it again some and Ill show you mine. Nothing else, Ill make sure these fit and take some pics. I made them thin enough to put clear rubber nubs on the bottom so it wont rattle either. I had em put the beverage holder holes nearest the passenger as it's the shallowest of the recess. that way, stuff can still be in the cubby further forward. I plan to use some sort of soft drawer liner material as well so stuff stays put and wont damage things like cameras, glasses, etc.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

My best idea (at least I think so) is going to be the back seat. I picked up an opaque colored "cooler tub" from Great Lake Skipper. I plan to build my back seat(s) around it.

When Im done the center rear seat under the cushion will be a built in cooler, with a drain directly to the bilge. I plan to use blue colored LED strip lighting around the entire area so at night the cooler will glow blue with ice and beverages in it. NO MORE cooler riding around inside on the floor (Yeee Haaaa).

Then in the corner seats I will mold in designated sub woofer speaker boxes and mount the speakers from the backside (like boat crazy did) and flush mounted grills paint white . Behind them will be storage also light in red LED strip lights to match the LED bulbs Im placing in all the courtesy fixtures throughout.

Were gonna lay out the plans for the rear seat this weekend and start making the center section.

Im replacing the strip lighting in the mid cuddy as well with red LED too (for mood enhancement) and all others will be white LED.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Yeah buddy, a '99 Z302.

I tried having a piece of StarBoard cut out to fit that area, but it didn't fit at all. I really like your idea for the cupholder cutout -- as I said, if the shop that did it for you has a template still, I would definitely be interested in seeing if they would fabricate another one. Anxious to see pics!

I really like your cooler idea as well. That is going to make your a whole different boat. I have a Evakool E047 Products - Evakool that I carry aboard. It fits perfectly right inside the aft portion of the mid-cabin area (on the floor.) The top of it sits flush with the cockpit floor and it is just wide enough that it can't slide to the port or starboard at all. It was pricey, and I had to have it shipped from Australia, but it keeps ice for days and looks like it was meant to go there.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

I like the blue led idea. I have 8' of blue led in 4 sections I wanted to put in my boat last summer. Glad I saved it, Ill be putting it in my 250 instead. I plan on mounting it out of sight so you only see the blue from surfaces it reflects from and not the led's directly. Any pictures? I saw AndyB's, it looks nice IMO

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

thanks for the complement :wink_thumbup:
always wanted to fit these, but the thought of cutting holes below the waterline always got the better of me....
OceanLED TV LED underwater lights on a 33' Searay Sundancer - YouTube

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

I bought these. They only require a couple of screw holes and 1/4 hole for the wire to go thru the transom.

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...g/IMG_0885.jpg

They arent as bright at the Ocean LED ones, but they are nice. The kids (and parents) like em, as they can see the outdrive when exiting the water up the ladder after dark.

I like the effect at the dock and while running.

these are cool and cheap. ive seen pics and they work Blue LED Drain Plug Light 1 2" NPT 12V Underwater Boat Waterproof Drainplug | eBay

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

I picked up the jockey box lid last week. It first perfectly.

I had it made out of 1/4 acrylic. I did clear so you could see if there was stuff underneath. Im afraid if you did it in a solid black it would get too hot and warp, but I bet a smoke or solid white color would work well too and I may make another that way.

Total cost was just $30. There is NO sales tax in Oregon either. This includes 6 sticky clear lil bumpers that I will place underneath so the lid doesnt rattle. Im gonna put the bumpers on the boat and not in the lid.

Those of you with a 302 or any other model with this in their dash, TAP Plastics now has a pattern. They can be reach 503-620-4960. Youll want to tell em it was the cover they made for Steve Hershberger on Feb. 5th, 2013, invoice number 696453. Other colors might be slightly more expensive.

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...19479EF04B.jpg


The line you seen drawn across the base of the cut outs is in pencil in the protective film that I have not removed yet. I had em cut the drink holes there so that stuff that is in the box would roll forward into the deeper section of the box. My plan is to put some sort of soft spongy drawer liner in there as well.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Picked up a Scat forged crank, Scat Rods, billet gears/double roller chain and JE 10.2:1 pistons Friday. This whole assembly was blue printed/balanced together. Just now need only buy a cam/lifters/pushrods, freshen the heads and bore the block and she'll be ready for reassembly.

Gonna pull the outdrive apart, sand blast the lower (may polish it) and rebuild with all the XR stuff I can find (and afford). Picked up a used factory XR billet finned top cap already.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

I hate this. One step foward, 2 steps back.

Pulled the motor and outdrive tonite.

Motor is toast. So much corrosion underneath and on the back of the motor really not worth trying to rebuild. So now Im n the hunt for a 454 or 502 core at a reasonable price.

Outdrive lift rams had milky fluid, so I guess I rebuilding those now. Gimble pivot is badly worn. Well see what that looks like this week. The rest looks fine.

Im so ready to start the re-riggin tho. When Im done, there will be few wires that you can see and most everything on the transom will be relocated for a much cleaner look.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

JNmarine.com has some cool stuff I was telling you about the other day. Mostly drive components like gimbal related stuff.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Where will you find a motor?
Search - OffshoreOnly Classifieds - Boat Classifieds - Boat Parts
They have some crazy stuff!

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

we have an engine exchange company here in town. They have several Gen 5 & 6 454's, but NO 502's as of today.

Im on offshore only every day. ive bought several parts from peps there already.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

thx Ill check em out. Everything that I need to do, just requires rebuilding. it's only time and money. Not HUGE money, but definitely time consuming.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Cant wait to see what you come up with for a motor! And as for JRmarine, I will be getting the gimbal shaft kit to get the work done sometime before the season gets going. Just ordered a slew of parts today an managed to stay under 600$ which is far short of my estimated 1k for this prop shaft and gimbal shaft issue. Found a stock prop shaft on ebay for 300 shipped opposed to buying an affordable aftermarket at 450+s/h. (The next step would have been the $800 1 1/4" shaft billet kit but I want to save some money for other fun things!)

Im going to call around today and see if anyone locally can weld and machine the gimbal ring for me. $245 + shipping and about two weeks time through JRmarine. I saw a post on offshore that a guy had a local shop do his for $50...

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Here's what I have so far collected:

Scat forged crank 4" stroke (stock 454 or 502)
Scat I-Beam rods
JE 10.2:1 pistons (+.030")
Billet timing gears and double roller chain
Crane "GOLD" pro 1.7:1 roller rockers with locks and guide plates
Miloden high volume oil pump with both deep (8 or 10 quart) and standard (6 quart) pickup tubes if I can ever find a BIG pan for a reasonable enough price used.
088 Magnum heads (used with very low hours) 220cc intake ports vs. 180cc ports on the MPI heads.
Magnum intake system (intake manifolds, distributor, engine wiring, fuel pump, stock ECU, air filter,etc.)
Fuel cooler (additional to factory unit)
2.3 liter Whipple side mount super charger.
EMI Thunder exhaust manifolds

I need only procure now a 454 block, have it bored .030"......or......find a 502 and buy new pistons to fit what ever bore I end up with.

I need a Cam shaft with 230-240 degrees of duration (at .050" lift) and around .575" of lift, roller lifters and pushrods.

Of course, Ill need gaskets, rings, bearings, seals and an over sized thermostatically controlled oil cooler that can integrate both the engine oil and power steering fluid simultaneously.

With the blower, Whipple recommends you do run over 10:1 compression and 3 lbs of boost. So if I use all these parts, Im gonna have to run a thicker head set or shave the tops of the pistons some and put on a smaller blower pulley (they recommend 1-2 lbs with 10:1...I have a 5 & 7 lb pulley). You also dont run an engine thermostat to keep the water as cold as possible in the inter-cooler. Thus the need for the thermostatically controlled oil cooler to build some heat in the engine.

There are a lot more items that Im going to replace as well (coupler, high torque starter, etc.) and rebuild items like the sea pump and power steering pump.

We did a compression/leak down test last night before removal. This time after the motor was warmed fully. the stock motor new should have around 120-125 psi in each hole. I had 125 in one, 115 in another and 110 being the lowest in one hole, the other 5 were all at 120. Not bad for 13 years old and 600 hrs pushing a boat my size and hard as I run it sometimes. Leak down was all around 10-12%, except the two lowest and they were 15 & 22 %. You could hear air hissing back up in the valve cover, so Im assuming worn seats and valve guides. A good sealed motor should be around 5-10%. This motor ran fine and actually preformed quite well. I could only imagine what a fresh 7.4 MPI would be like, then dreaming of the motor Im gonna build.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Yeah sounds like quite the extensive list! I always wanted to tear down and motor and build it from the ground up. Im assuming that is your shop the boat is in? We are working on getting a 30x40.

Not my shop, but a buddy's. he'll be doing the wood work building the rear seat and was helping me with the windshield.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

motor is out.

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_2698.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_2699.jpg

time now to de-rig the boat and get it all ready for re-install and new (much cleaner rig job)

The bilge was filthy

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_2712.jpg

Much cleaner today

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG_27371.jpg

Great idea on the cup holders. I picked some up today and will cut them tomorrow to fit. I've also gotta cut and bent build one for the helm area my boat doesn't have to one like you all have in front of the nav screen. So it's coming out and dropping a acrylic box in its place.

I'm sure you've said but don't remember What's your goal HP on the new build?


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Re: Winter Upgrades
 

NA = 425-450hp
force fed = 500-550hp

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

motor is torn to the ground. off to the machine shop this next week

weather warmed a bit last week, so we got out our "other boat" and took it for a spin.

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...30207DC213.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...3019C6070E.jpg

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

These were two new holes your cut, correct? Did you add one to the existing drain hole?

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

I didnt do the drain hole model, but a friend did this winter and were all waiting for it to warm up enough to stay out after dark to see it.

Mine are surface mounted with only a 3/16" hole for the wire to go thru. I wired them into the same circuit as the swim step light and pulled the bulb from that recepticle

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Oh I see I thought the link you shared with the led lights was what you used. I ordered two of them thinking I would have to cut out a hole and make it like a drain plug. Oh well maybe it will work out.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Steve,

Got my jockey box cover w/ cupholders from TAP a few days ago. The guys there were extremely helpful. They even went so far as to package it and ship it to me. I got mine in white. Haven't had a chance to take it out to the storage building yet, but I'm excited. Thanks again for the tip. Good luck w/ the motor.

Nick

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Lets see pics of it when you put it in.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

back seat is taking shape.

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...737C242E86.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...73764080CA.jpg



the two outer seats will have a back rest equal to the center section. they those two areas will become storage. the center section that is moved forward will now house the stereo electronics and 12v converter. not to mention, it will add additional space. the outer seats have the forward sealed boxes for the subs and each section will be lit in LED lights.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

woo hoo, the basic frame work is done.

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...D1446C4495.jpg

ive got to test fit next (but it should fit perfectly as i have the original sitting right next to it and my measurements were the same. Ive got to cut down the sides and build arm rests yet.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

windshield is on, rear seat is fitted

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...D1547EA830.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...D14A04624F.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...D15970CBB8.jpg


http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...C8D4001249.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...C8D869EE26.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...C8CF73126B.jpg

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Are you seeing any weight saving with your new bench?
I know it probably doesn’t make a lot of difference in your boat, but the one thing ive noticed in my 180 Diablo is how heavy my rear bench is!
It was one of my concerns when I found that my boat was stern heavy.
I’m considering building a light weight seat frame for my boat next winter out of fibreglass.

Oh and that windscreen looks dam good mate.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

I'm sure it actually weighs more then the original with the extra storage and dividers.

The windscreen is approx 4" shorter

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

just gotta build the sun pad now and start covering it all.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Working on the swim step today

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...F4E9B6CA2A.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...F4E4ECAF42.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...F4DFF23422.jpg

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

finishing up the rear seat.

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...E95F7901FE.jpg


http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...0DB6B0EE61.jpg

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

You are doing the swim step yourself or just the templet?

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Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Doing it all. Gonna build the frame, powder coat it, plank it with boat board then cover it with sea-dek

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Excuse my ignorance, but is that swim platform not a little low?
I know it’s a big boat and thats what may be confusing me, but don’t they usually fit above the outdrive tunnel
Just thinking about back wash pressure and dipping when making turns.

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

That is legit! That sea dek stuff will be a nice touch to finish it off.

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Re: Winter Upgrades
 

the 302 sits sooo high out of the water. here is another shot of the rear with the drive all the way up. as you can see that body line is like 20+ " above the top of the outdrive.

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...g/IMG_0588.jpg

Re: Winter Upgrades
 

Here are pics of the Challenger model. Ill be moving our step down just 3 inches
http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/.../302set2-1.jpg

Running shot

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/.../Running-1.jpg