1980 HydroStream Vamp resto-mod

Needs a good vacuum, but its coming together. Ended up having rain today so I couldnt get the side panels cut. Hoping for tomorrow to be nice so I can get them taken care of.

 

Both rear side panels have been cutout, need to go get some vinyl and cotton batting to cover them with, going to cut out the front panels in a little bit. I didnt go all the way back with the panels as I wanted to leave space for the rear seat to fit there.

 

Front panels are all cut now, I need to get back to the hardware store and get some bigger rivets to install the front panel mounts. The rear mounts are held on with stainless screws as they have a wood backer, but the front is just fiberglass, so I need to use rivets.

So plan for tomorrow is to get the front mounts installed, cut out the backrest for the lounge seats, install the bow tow eye and the front nav light, install the throttle control box and the motor wire harness and thinking I might start cutting the teak trim and get that installed.

Sunday the motor is going on, final touches will get taken care of next week and hoping to be on the water for its first trial on the 15th or 16th.

 

Wired up power to the gauges, all connections soldered. Going to connect the backlight wires to my ambient light switch (for the RGB lights under the gunnels). I need to wire in a single ground stud behind the dash with nothing connected to it, the gauges on the right side all have a single white wire that you ground to change the backlight colors. I was thinking of connecting all the white wires together, but if one gets out of sync then It will be a pain to resync it again.

 

Looks good!

 

This is the reward for all the hard work, now you get to do the cool fun stuff!

Looking sharp !

 

Black marine paint just showed up, so going to paint the float boxes black tonight and let them dry overnight. I thought I ordered a gallon, guess when the package showed up and was much smaller I realize I ordered a quart.... but that should be enough.

 

So much better looking!

 

Alright, nav lights installed, bow eye installed, front trim panel mounts installed, front fuse panel installed.

Tomorrow we have the neighbor kids birthday all day, so sunday the transom is getting drilled and the motor will get put on. I will get the rest of the wiring taken care of next week along with getting the trim panels covered.
I also need to get a bilge pump and toss it into there and quick wire it up.

 

Perfectly centered, but 1/2 inch lower than it should be, I had to put it 1/2 lower to clear the splash well, but to compensate, I can just use the lower holes on the motors mount, this will push it up a little bit.

I do need to order some parts for my tilt and trim though, I need 2 bolts and 2 brackets that are hogged out from the broken and bent bolts. So I will have to call CMC tomorrow and see if I can order just those parts.






These are the parts that are damaged that I want to replace before mounting the engine. I found how bad they were when I took the thing apart to use it as the template.



This one is ok, but the bolt that goes in the top that holds the ram was bent pretty good. The top bolt for the ram was snapped in half and the mount was damaged.

 

Beautiful boat.
Been following along in the shadows.

I have a 1988 Rinker Fiesta Vee 250 sitting and waiting for some TLC. Give me an address and I'll haul it out.

 

Thanks! I have thought about offering up transom replacements and floor replacements, but my garage can only fit boats smaller than 16 foot. I need to expand my shop into the backyard at some point.

 

Alright, today I have a 4 hour window of no rain that I am hoping to be able to get the motor wrapped up and put on.
Then tomorrow being fathers day I am on the fence on what I want to do. I can either sweat away in the garage wrapping things up, or I can take my small boat out to the lake and do some fishing. I also want to drag some giant hooks along the area where my buddy flipped his kayak... there is a $200 rod under the water there that I want to get.

 

Tilt and trim plate is on and covered in tons of silicon marine glue. I put my 4hp on there, technically the boat can go in the water now... not sure how fast it can go with 4hp, but it can go under its own power.

 

Update! Got back from vacation and we finally got a day with no rain, so motor is on, its wired, throttle and shift cables connected. But the motor doesnt run carbs are clean, but im not getting spark. So I will be spending some time figuring out the no spark issue and hopefully getting it solved soon.

 

I think I have narrowed the no spark down to the distributor. I have tested the ign box and coil, I get spark to ground and to my hand holding the wire, but the spark doesnt make it to the plugs.
So I have a spare distributor from my parts motor, I posted on the vintage mercury outboard group to see what the old guys there have to say about testing, I get wildly different ohm ratings from both distributors, but im not sure what number I should be looking for. The spare one looks and feels better than the one on the motor, so I am thinking thats a good one.

 

Started taking the motor apart again to get the distributor off, I need to take off the flywheel, but I need a special puller to get it off. So, Amazon overnight to the rescue. Should be here tomorrow morning and I can get the replacement installed after work. Hopefully this fixes the issue and I dont need to order a new trigger (its built into the distributor) as they are $500+ for a new one.

But while I wait for part for the boat, I got my mini bike running again. I really want to outfit it for fishing, but MN is not known for its friendly offroad vehicle laws.

 

New distributor is on, timing is set, now I just need to finish adapting the wires from the old style to the new style ign box. The spare distributor I think is actually a slightly newer unit (within the last 20 years) as the ground that was on there was backwards, and the wires are in very good condition considering the wires on these motors tend to turn to dust. So signs point to it having been replaced at some point.

 

IT RUNS!!!!

 

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