1963? Hydrodyne custome deluxe 1700 restoration thread

So I got the new white rubber strips in, now to finish trimming them and glue into place. Gas tank looks good, but having a hard time figuring out how to hook up the fill spout. It has to go from a 2" on the top assembly to a 1.5" tube on the tank inlet. I have a steel bent tube to help shape it, but I am thinking about modifying the deck filler to have a 1.5" diameter stub on it and just make a connecting piece. Not sure, the tank doesn't want to line up with the metal filler tube where the extra piece of plywood was for it. Oh-well. I have to get the tank secured before I drop the motor in though.

Brian

Edit: Rubber side strips are profile # 4615 in white from wefcorubber.com Cost was $6 a foot plus delivery, took a little less than 3 weeks to get as it was not in stock. Happy happy happy! Will replace bow piece after I get this thing running.

 

Hey Brian:

Was not paying attention when you posted your last post. If this is a WEFCO product with an insert trim, it has to be heated up (in the sun works best or a black plastic bag or lay on asphaly on a hot day) and man-handled with a couple three guys to stretch and secure with a bunch of stainless panhead screws to really make it work best. The insert covers the screws as a trim piece and can dish out (and back) so fun as well but WEFCO is a good product but you need to stretch is to make it seat right. Did two HD 18 Tournament skiers with this type product a while back and I don't think the installation has changed, but the price has a lot. There are some strings on this site regarding WEFCO and you might want to do a search for "WEFCO" or "Rubrail".

My best,

KevinB-

 

The wefco product I am discussing here is the white side step material, not the rub rail. I will replace the rub rail at a later date once the boat has been running. Right now my concentration is on getting the motor back in the boat and to get it running. After that the upholstery will be worked on. Need to get the motor back in the boat as I just bought a 2000 jeep wrangler for the kids. Seems in decent shape except it is missing motor, trans, transfer case, drive shafts. Other than that, it is decent. Actually I have four drive shafts, two original and the two that came out of a 1/2 ton chevy pickup to go with the TH400 transmission and N205 transfer case. All of this will be bolted to a 350 I have sitting in storage, which was one of the original motors that came out of my 272 Formula project. So finally get that put to use. I need the engine stand that the 2.0 is bolted to for the 350 jeep project.

Now my current problem has been the exhaust on the Volvo. The 2.0 I bought came with the exhaust set up for a 270 drive that exits out the back for thru the prop exit. The 1.8L Volvo should wrap around the front of the motor for the separate exhaust, which is what I am doing. Luckily the exhaust log is the same setup and can exit either end, depending on what pieces you bolt on. I had bought a spare 1.8L and drive awhile back, so I had two of the silver exhaust elbows, but if you look at the picture they are both extremely corroded. The double wall area has been eaten away, guess that system didn't weather too well. So what I am going to do is take the rear black elbow from the 270 drive and bolt it onto the front of the exhaust log. Then I can cut the old exhaust tube removing the corroded top elbow and connect it to the black 270 elbow with some tubing . That should work fine as the end of that piece was connected using tubing back to the exhaust that went through the transom. The black elbow is cast iron and in really good shape for its age. Again, this boat is NOT going to be a show queen, just a good looking boat that gets used by the family.

 

And here are the Wefco rubber strips I was talking about, forgot the picture that started all this response.

 

Boat is officially mine now! Finally got around to going to the BMV to transfer the title of the boat and trailer into my name, so no longer a mastermind criminal working on an unregistered watercraft or trailer.

Other big news is the motor is not longer on the stand shown, it is actually sitting in the boat! Went back in really well. tongue weight on the trailer was a bit low and I still had to put the outdrive on it, so I moved the trailer axle back about 4.5" to get some tongue weight. Ended up pulling just fine with the new location. Granted, pulled it with a 8.1L suburban, so not sure I would have noticed it back there even if the axle fell off.

Following pictures are the engine on the stand ready to go in. This is the rebuilt 2.0L that a local contacted me about that they had. Had been rebuilt with the 270 drive, but the gentleman passed away so his neighbor had it. Ended up staying with the AQ100 drive as I have two of them and it fits the boat better.

The other picture is the rear mount for the gas tank. I made a U channel out of aluminum, painted it black and mounted it on 1/4" spacers. This will keep the gas tank bottom off the bottom of the boat and give it a 1/2" slope forward to help get fuel to the pickup. I will have to post a picture of the gas tank and engine installed, just realized I do not have any pictures of that yet.

Boat is back in the garage and I just ordered some switches as it is time to start on the electrical and instrument panel. Then upholstery!

 

Got the outdrive on, not much else major stuff. Working on the dash and wiring now, lots of stuff that takes time put doesn't show anything! I removed the steering wheel in hopes I could get the middle bar to trigger the horn like a car. No luck, no mechanism in there for contacts. So I recentered it and applied a fair amount of grease to the gears inside.

Made a fuse block that will mount to the backside of the dash, but is hinged so it will fold down to check for a blown fuse. I do NOT fit easily under the dash now that the bench seat is back in it. As I get older, I do not forsee it getting any easier.

Huh, no picture. Seems I saved it on my other computer. Will post in a bit.

 

Here is my fuse holder. It screws to the underside of the dash and is held in the up position by two magnets. You can just reach up and pull on it and it hinges down so you can check a fuse without having to stand on your head in the front bench seat. Works great. I ended up cutting the center common bar so I have two incoming 12V lines. One off battery for horn, bilge pump and bilge blower, the other off of ignition for everything else.

Also attached a current picture of the dash. I put in a new key switch with the run and start postion, so I could get rid of the push button start. Made me nervous with others in the front seat or kids. In the push button spot I put a double USB port with a rubber cover. Got rid of a couple of the cheap toggle switches and went with black rocker switches with LED indicators in them. Blue for bilge pump (water) and green for bilge blower (air). Thought the color pattern made sense. idiot lights for charge and oil will still work, but I installed a digital voltage indicator to the right of the steering wheel that comes on with the ignition. New fuel gauge is to the left of the wheel with a new LED let horn button that will fill the hole next to it.

Almost all wired up, just waiting on a 10 spot junction block to finish up my underdash wiring. Install my shifting and throttle cables and the rest of the work is in the engine compartment to get it running. Might order all my foam and vinyl supplies here soon as Sailrite has a sale going on right now until January 8 I think. Going to order from them anyways since they are in town, should use the small discount I guess.

 

So I got the horn mounted up and wired in, which I think means all the under dash wiring is complete! Oh yeah! Got the zip ties all trimmed up and the inside vacuumed out again. foam for the seats is wrapped up and sitting up on the front deck, vinyl is purchased along with piping. All from Sailrite.com which is a great company to deal with.

Nice to see the dash all done and I can start laying out the rear benches now.

Also got my new steering cable mount painted black and installed on the transom. The steering rod that came with the boat ended up being bent. Good thing I had purchased that complete drive / motor combination from grand rapids, as the trim cylinder from that looked good and I ended up needing the trim pump motor from that one as mine was missing.

 

The screw holes for securing the firewall had been wallowed out over time also. I fixed this by cutting blocks of aluminum, tapping the 10-32 and securing them in place with PL5200 marine adhesive. Now the rear part will be easy to mount up and secured. You can see three of the little blocks on the backside of the mount in this picture.

 

Working on the bench layout. A 2x2 will be glassed into the boat on the top of the chine, where the original chunks of 2x2 were. The seat is made from 7/16 plywood with a 2x2 framework glued / screwed to the bottom. This will sit on top of the 2x2 attached to the chine and the two will be attached together with an aluminum plate. Two legs will support the seat giving an open sided structure.
The wood will be painted with urethane to water proof it, but parts will be left exposed on the bottom. The thought is to give it some good surface area to dry out IF the wood ever gets wet. My boats stay dry so minimal exposure to the weather. The tops and sides will be well sealed to shed any water. But it will always find some way in, so I try to think of a way for the wood to dry out. And the seats are removable with two screws, so they can be taken out and stored inside.

Still working on wiring and such. Putting shift and throttle cables back in now. Lots to do in back hooking everything up and trying to make it look neat. Few months hope to be on the water or ready for it. May?