The big old 80's 340 owners thread

Mark
The "cool fuel" thing wasn't til the 90s, when GM stopped using mechanical fuel pumps on their trucks and, as such, did away with the hole in the block(?) for the pinion for the manual fuel pumps. That's why Merc came up with the dopey fuel pump/water pump thing, which wasn't an "option"...more like the only game in town!
 
Has anybody got a line on new 'knobs' for the the Morse gearshift and throttle levers?
The boat I'm having surveyed has one red and one pink one for the throttles!
 
On our way....

The fisrt half of the survey is done and she is dry and sound!

The only two issues that he had concerns that he had were the external condition of the water heater and
(James, I think you have been down this hole) the rudder post mounts. The picture looks worse than it is but I'm looking
for opinions. The broker is sending his mechanic to have a look at it later this week.

Rudder Post Bracket.JPG
 
My water heater looks bad (rust on the top) on the outside but is in goodworking order. I wouldn't let it concern you as I believe Ron has the same issue too.

There is a seller on ebay that has the SS rudder posts mounts...

I swung through MTC Sat looking for your boat... no luck though. It was locked up and no one was around. Good luck Mike...
 
Hi Jason,

The boat is actually down the street at Harbor Park Marina. I found the SS rudder brackets on ebay thanks!
When I find out what MTC's mechainc has to say, then I may pick them up. They dont look as though they should
be too difficult to change out but I'll let James ring in on that. Also, thanks for the info on the water heater. I'm certain
we will find out its status when we get her hooked up to shore power.

The better half and I had no plans to splash the boat till mid June when we are staying at South Beach Resort on Sandusky
Bay for a long weekend and then make the run back to Cleveland. But Lou at MTC is working on cashing in some favors with
a gentleman he knows over at Northwest Catawba Marina who might be able to put us up for a few weeks prior to that.

Maybe the celebration occurs a bit earlier than I thought :smt038
 
Yup both of mine were worse than yours on the rudder posts. Best thing to do is have someone inside the boat and outside. Have someone push the rudder up and you can see if the rudder post brackets are shot. I did find new ones on Ebay and their were SS. I am glad I did it. I only had one rudder that pushed up, but I bought both. If I remember it was unde $100 and when I took off what I thought was the good one, it was cracked as well. I would push them on it.

Also, may be just the angle of the picture, but are you missing a bonding wire to the part that goes through the hull? I notice there is one where the steering arm attaches to the rudder, but mine also has one on the screws that the rudder bracket attaches to which is your through hull connection. Those are screws andyou will need to have the boat out of the water to replace the brackets.
 
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Mike, hope you can get her in the water sooner. I wanna come check her out when you get her splashed...
 
Thanks James! Thats what I needed to know. I went through the rest of the pictures that I have looking for the bonding wire that you described for the port side post which was in the picture and did not have a better view.
I did find a good picture of the starboard side and it does, in fact, have the bonding wire that you mentioned. I'll take a good look at the port side the next time I'm aboard.

I'll make certain that the surveyor is there before they splash her for the sea trial and I'll yank up and down on the rudders while he observes. In the meantime, I'll see if I can get the current owner to maybe meet me half way on the cost of some new ones.

Thank you again James!
 
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Hey Jason,

Yea, I gotta admit here and now that there is no possible way that I will make it to mid May let alone mid June without loosing my mind if that boat is not in the water. :smt101

Thinking back to all the stops and starts, boats getting sold out from under me, a ride to Tennessee, boats that looked great in pictures only to find out that the pictures were taken 12 years ago and this last little episode with the owners agreeing to a price as long as they could come and take a bunch of stuff of the boat that they had not seen in 5 years but now desperately need... Unreal!

But in the end, I'm way ahead. This one is head and shoulders above any of the others. The canvas is a bit old but its a slope back anyway and will eventually be replaced by a full camper.
It's got less than 490 hours on both engines and 125 on the geny. The electronics are from this millennium and the cockpit vinyl has recently been redone. Clean and well worth the wait :smt001

Jas, when I find a parking spot, you will be the first (oops - the Admiral) second person I let know!
 
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Yeah, the parking/dock situation in that marina is tough to say the least... sounds like your hard work has paid off...
 
Yeah, the parking/dock situation in that marina is tough to say the least... sounds like your hard work has paid off...
 
Changing them out is really not a problem. I think it took me all of about 2 hours. Spray with PB Blaster first. It will help with the nuts. As I stated before, the bolts that hold on the brackets are really flat head screws from the outside. Make sure if they come loose to use 3m 5200 on the outside.
 
getting wet.jpg We finally splashed down! We got alot of the work done. We are not finished yet, but are at the point where we can enjoy her while we finish the work.
 
Shrimper ma good for you... take pictures of your hard work... congrats...
 
Cool, an 87 340DB. You might be the only one on CSR!
 
I'm in the water. Rough start to the season. I had to have the shotty work from the mobil mechanic who put the motors in my boat 2 years and 20 hours ago redone by authorized Mercruiser dealer. Very expensive $13k lesson on the use of aftermarket parts such as risers and manifolds and work done in a back yard. I had 2 motors with 20 hours that BOTH GLM manifolds and risers on both motors leaked water in. Thankfully only 2 broken pushrods with no damage. Now that the boat is back to almost all original w the exception of the heat exchangers, its running top notch.

I did learn that a V Drive transmission sucks when you have to repair it. 2 gears and a shaft were $2300 just for the parts. Ouch..

Giving her a good cleaning and ill try to get some pics up.
 
Keith, ouch man... glad you have your issues sorted now though.

I made my Good Friday goal to splash...
VVVVVVV
 
Keith, save that post (#137) and bronze it for all to see in the future. The next time someone asks about aftermarket non OEM exhaust components, direct them to it.

Do you know specifically what happened to cause the failure? You mentioned heat exchangers so you have a close cooling system. Was the failure at the block-out gasket btwn the manifold and riser/elbow? Were the heads off (ie: a head gasket problem)? Usually that crappy Osco/Barr stuff fails from corrosion, but not typically after 20 hrs? It's even possible it was more "operator" error (the mechanic) than hardware issues. It's very important to know what went wrong, not just to know that something went wrong.

Anyway, glad you got off fairly easy!

Jason, the old girl is standing TALL!!
 
Keith the Cop said:
I'm in the water. Rough start to the season. I had to have the shotty work from the mobil mechanic who put the motors in my boat 2 years and 20 hours ago redone by authorized Mercruiser dealer. Very expensive $13k lesson on the use of aftermarket parts such as risers and manifolds and work done in a back yard. I had 2 motors with 20 hours that BOTH GLM manifolds and risers on both motors leaked water in. Thankfully only 2 broken pushrods with no damage. Now that the boat is back to almost all original w the exception of the heat exchangers, its running top notch.

I did learn that a V Drive transmission sucks when you have to repair it. 2 gears and a shaft were $2300 just for the parts. Ouch..

Giving her a good cleaning and ill try to get some pics up.
Click to expand...
Keith, I wonder if the mechanic new the correct torques for the manifolds and risers, my torques were 25 ft lbs for manifolds and 33 ft lbs for the risers. I also retorqued them after a few hours run time. JMHO, I doubt the manifolds and risers failed with only 20 hrs on them, I don't care what brand they were. Maybe the mechanic didn't prep the mating surfaces good either.:huh:
 
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