www.iFourWinns.com

Hey all, I know I haven't posted recently about this but you know how life goes. Honestly I've been using it more of a cronicle for any future fourwinns owners to stumble over in case they run into a project that they want to convert from a stringer drive to a newer design. I finally was able to get the 4.3L picked out of the boat and finally into a garage (another friend's garage. Being in an apartment during a project like this is not fun). We spent last weekend tearing the engine down. Long story short. the 4.3L is salvageable. it'll need a new air intake, carb, pistons gasket kit and the block and the heads a good scrub down by the local machine shop. the sad thing is when I popped the head covers, the inside was completely clean, the gaskets were still orange, the pushrods and everything looked beautiful. in fact when we flipped it over the rods were numbered so it was rebuilt before I got my hands on it. it seems like it was rebuilt, ran for maybe part of a season and left to rot. Poor boat. anyway here's the pictures of the engine teardown. Sorry for some of the blur, it's the camera on my phone and it was being a pain in the ass. the last couple of pictures you can really see the rust. we'll be getting the pistons, crank and the rest out in the next couple of weeks. I have a motorcycle ride this weekend so no boat work for me.















Alternator wires cliped

Alternator mounting bracket

fuel filter

fuel filter mount

Salvageable? Yup. Not that bad.

Do yourself a BIG favor and vortec convert it. You can ebay the parts used for dam cheap since theres millions of them. You'll go from 160hp to nearly 230hp.

Example of what happens when you go from non-vortec 4.3 to vortec heads/cam/intake/4bbl

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=335053

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

Hey Ric, thanks for the advice. I still need to see the cost to get the block and heads cleaned up but if it isn't that expensive I'll do a vortec conversion. As it stands I've been working with my hotrod mechanic friend and he says that I can get 300 HP without too much cost. and I think 300HP in a 17' boat isn't half bad.

300hp out of a 4.3 is childs play. Basic off the shelf parts no custom work what so ever. NASCAR in the 80's used the Buick V6 (Non turbo buick grand national engine) but since that engine is quite rare all smaller forms of racing jumped on the GM 4.3 bandwagon as their intermediate class engine. Still very popular today in racetracks all over the world and GM still backs it in their Performance Parts (racing) outlet. It's quite literally bulletproof as long as good rods/pistons/bolts are used (which cost nothing these days).

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

oh yea, I decided after your email to check out ebay. guess who's going shopping after he sells his 5.7

Yes I know I can get more out of the 5.7 but if I can get 300HP out of the 4.3L that's more than enough for this little boat. Plus the 5.7L has a higher resell value since it was rebuilt already.

you already have the 4.3 manifolds and stuff. Going to a 5.7 will incur some extra costs and trying to source hard to find exhaust parts.

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

actually I have the exhaust for both engines. All that's really needed on the 5.7 is a new 4bbl carb, and a couple odds and ends and basically a drop in.

Oh... Well u can pick up reman holley 4bbl marine carb off ebay for around $300 from holley

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

very true. But I'm aiming on selling the Stringer hardware and the 5.7 to cover the cost of this project and though I do like the idea of the 5.7 pushing this boat through the water, I think that the 4.3 will be more than enough and i'm trying not to Tim the toolman it here. It's hard but I'm trying

The picture of you transom shows whats left of a OMC "Stringer" Drive, not a Cobra drive. The Cobra to Merc conversion kit will not work there. Also, the cutout in the transom is much larger than the cobra or merc cutouts. Some Stringer drives might be available, but they were a more primitive design that used a "knuckle" drive instead of universal joints. The Knuckes wear out quickly (2 years?) unless the outdrive is used trimmed all the way down. And nobody wants do drive a 17ft with the engine trimmed all the way down. So I wouldn't put a stringer drive back on unless the price is super low.

I think you are looking at attaching a large aluminum plate (perhaps near 2' square and 3/8" thick minimum) on the outside of the transom to close off the hole and allow you to add whatever new cutouts and holes you need for your replacement drive. You might also need a plate on the inside (1/4" thick?) for the steering mechanism to mount to, and to act as a sandwich over what might be weak transom area. If you could figure out the dimensions of the plate and cutouts, you could have a local shop with a waterjet machine or milling machine cut them for you. Otherwise you will be spending a lot of time with a drill and jig-saw. You would also want to seal the wood any way you can to prevent water intrusion.

Your 4.3L has the "bat wing" style exhaust manifolds, which have not been available for about 10 years (which means they probably need replacing). The solution is to convert the exhaust to the mercruiser style. http://www.ebasicmarine.com or http://www.marinepartsexpress.com sells the whole convertion set of new parts, but your looking at $900+ At least take off your exhaust manifolds and run water through the raw-water inlet to see what condition they are in. Water should flow out of four ports at the exit end. If any of these are rusted shut, the manifold is on it's last legs. fyi, if a manifold rusts through to the exhaust air passage, water goes back to the exhaust valves and into the cylinders...which pretty much causes a rebuild to be necessary.

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"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

To put a Merc or Volvo system in that boat you are going to have to rebuild the transom and that is a big job. The stringer drive system put most of the loads on the engine stringers hence the name and often the transoms on boats so equipped were not strong enough for a transom mount I/O like the Merc/Cobra/Volvo systems. On a boat that age it may need a new transom anyway. Another suggestion but more money is putting a bracket on it with a light 2 stroke outboard. That would cost more but add a lot of room in the boat. Yes the 4.3 is a very good engine and can be built up to produce a lot of power. But in a 17 footer the I/O system takes up a lot of room and adds about 450 lbs right in the stern. I bet that boat would perform great with a 130 hp 2 stroke.

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

I don't think the engine and wood look too bad for that age.

Your 17ft probably moved along pretty good with the stock 160 or 170HP 4.3, and anything over 200HP will really scoot. Many boats like yours only came with a 4 cylinder. LouC said " I bet that boat would perform great with a 130 hp 2 stroke." I agree.

When you get to job #1134: I have used Indoor/Outdoor carpet from Home Depot (made from Olefin) on older boat fix-ups. I used the type that comes in blue, grey, or green, and has loops (not like grass) and the loops form straight ridges. When the ridges are installed fore-aft, it does not hold a lot of water. Just attach with spray adhesive (such as 3M Adhesive #80). It can be pulled back up in the future if needed, but the adhesive will keep it in place well.

Job #1403: Coat your teak with "Sikens" coating (preferably after cleaning with a teak cleaner/brightener)

_________________

"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

Thanks for all the good advice. First about the stern drive.
I know it came with an OMC stringer system. Tt was really well taken care of and probably cleaned up when the engine was rebuilt but as parts are rare so I'm getting rid of it. I know that I can't do just a strait conversion and that I need to plug the opening and structurally reinforce the transom. the transom is in great shape. it's been sanded down on the inside, cleaned and the wood checked and it's fantastic. What I'm planning on doing kind of hard to explain. on the exterior, I'm going to cut into the transom by about a quarter inch deep and about an inch or 2 (I haven't decided yet) out away from the hole, move in about a half inch, repeat the process until I get to the hole. This will allow me to layer some marine plywood in each set of cutouts adding some structural support to the patch. On the inside I actually need to thicken the transom by about an inch. From my research I've found that Mercruiser recommends between a 1 and 7/8" inch to about 2 1/4" inch thickness to mount one of their Gen 1 drives to the boat. this should provide the majority of the structural strength to the transom. I'm also going to analyse the torque from the engine to see if I need to enforce it any more. As I need to extend the mounts up for the engine (because I removed the hydraulic trimming system) I plan on incorporating the mounts with the old stringers and the transom enforcement to hopefully increase the strength.

As for the exhaust and exhaust headers. I need to go through the headers, I'm thinking I'm going to check at local marine shops to pressure check them to make sure I don't have a blowout and still usable. As for the mating from the headers to the Mercruiser exhaust which is what I'll have to do, I figured I'd have to custom make something. there's an exhaust shop down the street from my house and they do a lot of stainless steel double wall mandrel bending. the runs are short and not going to have any complex bending in them, so I would imagine they'll be able to hook me up for a decent price.

Louc. You're right that this beast is heavy and takes up a lot of room, but I like the idea of having an I/O. I know it's stupid, but I think I'll keep it an I/O. Maybe my next boat will be an outboard. Plus I have a new interior designed to model newer boats while still providing plenty of space in the boat.

Rpengr. The engine looks like it was rebuilt right before the boat was put out to pasture. The hull and the wood is in amazing condition. I actually cut up some of the deck because I thought I had a termite problem. Turns out, just a moisture ant problem and the decking has no sagging and is in amazing condition. I agree I'd move along quite fast with a 130HP engine, but seeing as I already have the 4.3L and so far pricing out the rebuild of it has so far yielded a cheaper cost than the outdrive so I'll use what I have. I love your idea about the carpet, and that would save me boatloads of cash (pun not intended). I'll be pulling the teak and reconditioning during the process of cleaning up the exterior which is the last part of this project as what good is a boat that looks good but doesn't move?

Thanks for all the awesome suggestions!