1980 HydroStream Vamp resto-mod

It should be a noticeable difference. If not, another option would be power prop or custom ground prop. A buddy of mine used to run them back in the day and it really helped. You just need to let the shop making the prop know where you need the power so they set it up correctly.

 

Yeah, I am going to spend the winter fixing up this motor, going to keep an eye out for a nice stainless prop first, but might end up getting a nice custom one made up.

 

Holy crap parts for this motor are cheap.... I was going to try to save some of the electronics by splicing in wires for things that are still good, but I can replace the whole wiring, stator, trigger, and control boxes for less than just a new distributor (trigger) on my 85hp.

This motor is the perfect sweet spot for my boat. Its a 1979, so its period correct. Its the first year of the trigger ign system that got rid of the distributor, so all the parts are cheap and swappable up to 1999. But its just before they changed out the boat side harness plug so it will still plug into my new boatside harness.

This is going to be a sweet motor once I get done cleaning it up and rewiring it all.

 

Adding 2 cylinders & 30 HP isn't a bad thing either!

 

Best part, guy threw in a set of carbs that he said "were from a 150 mercury, and should bolt on" well, they wont, they are not even merc carbs.... but rather they are evinrude for the 110hp v4 motors... and they are selling on ebay for $70-$100 for the pair. I have no use for them, so they are going right on ebay after I give them a nice ultrasonic bath.

If I sell off the parts I dont need from this package, it will cover the cost of the motor and a good chunk of the parts needed to repair the motor.

I really hope the compression is good on this motor. I dont have any signs the guy was shady, he gave me his real phone number, he sold it to me with his wife and kids right there, he kept in a paid storage garage for the past 2 years so it must of been good.

 

OK, so I have been planning and figuring things out on this new motor. I have the parts I need to buy to get it running saved, total is about $430 for everything needed. Looks like all the wiring is actually connected on a single plate, so I will be pulling the flywheel off to get the trigger and stator off, then pulling that plate off so I can do the wiring and install the new parts off the motor in a single part.

While I have the electronics plate off, I can clean the motor and replace the old cracked vacuum line that is leaking.

I have also decided that I am going to pull off my CMC tilt and trim plate that I was using on the old motor to lift and lower the engine. That part is now not needed since the new motor has built in tilt rams and pump. I am going to replace that tilt and trim plate with a simple jack plate, this will allow me to adjust the height of the motor on the back of the boat to get the perfect depth for the lower unit.

 

More happy ideas!
While looking at the control box that came with the new motor, I see that the high idle lever is broken, so its useless for most owners, but its about half the size of my current control box. And I dont actually need the high idle lever since I am switching to the foot pedal once I get longer throttle cables. Well, this motor also came with 4 throttle/shift cables, it came off a big sea-ray boat, and before that it was on a big pontoon... so the cables are the length I need.

But as a bonus, this control box is less than half the size of my current control box, infact, its not much bigger than a shift only box that I would of been spending $200 on. It has choke and key built in so I dont need to dash mount those.

 

Score one for the good guys!

 

Couple of pictures of the motor without the cowls. Looks real clean in there too. Outer shell needs a little bit of paint and new decals.

 

Is that starter as giant as it looks in the photo?

 

It is, its massive. Its half the length of the engine is, I might see if I can swap over the 4 cylinder starter as its much smaller.

 

They must have used it for a reason.

 

Yeah, Im thinking they used the big starter motor back then because batteries just couldnt provide the juice for a smaller motor to turn it over.

 

Compression on the motor is good! Even 90psi on all six cylinders.

So now I'm just working on stripping the old harness off to clean the block and make it ready for the new harness.

 

Stator is off, and she is crusty but functional. So I think I am going to try to save it before dumping $170 on a new one. So, I will be pulling the wire covering off and hopefully I will have enough good wire coming off it that I can solder new wires on and save it.

Trigger has good wires all the way up, so I can reuse that.

So, right now, I need to buy just the main harness. This drops my total cost to repair from $430 down to $200.

 

ok, nevermind on the stator there is a break in one of the yellow wires right at the base of the unit where I cant fix it.

Ordering a new one from Sierra. They are the only ones who sell a sealed one, all the other companies just spray the coils with a coating that can break down.

 

At least you will have a little sense of security knowing the part should be trouble free out on the water.

 

Yeah, I have thought really long and hard about just buying brand new of all the electronics. Would run about $800 total, but everything would be new.

 

Here are the wires to the stator, the one of the yellows was broken off inside the harness, so this probably would never of run if I had not taken it apart.





This is part of the main harness, these had been covered with split loom by the last owner to keep them from touching.



This is the trigger harness, the wires on it are still good, so I am skipping replacing it for now. There are 2 switch boxes that the trigger wires into, each one controls 3 coils.

 

Also something to note, I found out that harbor freight compression testers tend to run very low in their readings. So while my idea of the motor being good is still true, the 90 psi per cylinder is not accurate and its probably around 120-130 psi which is much better.