I'll take a mini convo pro... 😎

I almost went that route myself

really admired the machine wrk just wondering how much weight savings and cost of cosmetic maching to a dominator pump

I haven't had any time to focus on my boat until the last few weeks.  Implementing a CNC has been a lot more challenging than it has been in the past.

Anyway...  I'm growing wary of being a boatless loser, so I am getting back at it, not to mention the years are going by faster and faster.

The rear bearing plate has just been giving me the blues something fierce.  I am really dissatisfied with the quality of the machine work which appears to be the result of dull cutters and insufficient chip evacuation.  It appears that the lack of coolant flood caused galling as chips were drug between the part and the cutter.  Polishing of the part only shined up the galling but did nothing to remove them.

I sent the part to the polishing shop that I have used in the past however, it had new owners that don't have the same attention to detail.  They hit it really hard on the buffing wheel.  Of course this removed the galling, but the part become really lumpy, looking like (as my high school auto body teacher would say) a sack of walnuts.

Sihilling Polishing has a reputation for specializing in polishing parts for high end restorations of Rolls Royce and the like.  It was decided that this part will never be flat again without remachining.  Until last week, I had no way of accurately picking up every surface so that I could remove material from only the damaged surface and not removing any material from the ribs.

I started this a while back as more-or-less a proof of concept for a customer's bubble deck.

The wood in my transom is good, I just want to protect it and give it a more finished look.  This is something I have been thinking about for a long time.

The wood in the transom of the customer's bubble deck was mostly good except for the area right behind and below the pump.  He originally wanted the entire transom replaced.  This would have required R&R of his carpet and added substantial time to his build.  All the glass work became localized to just the bilge area, saving time and money.

After experimenting with different router bits and finding every possible way to over complicate this, I discovered the fastest and easiest way was to cut the wood down to the exterior glass with a Dremel Multi-Max oscillating tool, bevel it with a 4" grinder with a 36-grit flapper wheel, and block sand flat.

I intend (once again) to finish the glass work this Christmas.

Feeling the call to the water again.  I have been on hiatus, from my own personal goals, for far too long.  I have been 100% focused on making, what I feel are some really nice parts (https://www.instagram.com/b1_racing/?hl=en).  I'm excited to start making progress again, focusing my efforts on getting my engine back together.

Scored a Dart Big M a few days ago.  Special thanks to Bostick for inspecting it for me, and to chaosmotox for transportation.

No problem bud... I’ll get her cleaned and checked out in a couple days.


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This is absolutely amazing!  Please keep up the good work.  I hope you keep up with the pictures so I can keep drooling.  You are a genius with the machine work.  She want's to be wet again!

Trying to maintain forward momentum.  I don't know what heads I will be running on this iteration.  With all else being equal, the 70 pound weight difference of aluminium heads would be worth 1/10 of a second in the quarter mile.  Regardless, I like to detail out the casting flash on my blocks and heads.

Loving the attention to detail Joe   Look forward to watching this come together

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This is absolutely amazing!  Please keep up the good work.  I hope you keep up with the pictures so I can keep drooling.  You are a genius with the machine work.  She want's to be wet again!

Thank you

I have been stacking parts, for this build, for a long time.  If my mistakes can help others...

It is best to just save money and build an engine all at one time rather than stacking parts for years, hoping to, one day, have a complete engine.  Believe me, I understand the whole "wanting to see progress" thing.  Here are a few thoughts about why this is a bad idea:

Technology Changes Constantly

A perfect example, just a few months ago, when I bought my Oliver Big Block Max Series rods, that was the best Oliver rod available at the time.  I see that Oliver now has the Big Block Max Plus Series rods, which apparently are rated for higher horsepower applications.  I wouldn't have hesitated to spend a little more on the upgraded set, because I have plans to upgrade my blower at some point.

Cylinder heads are a perfect example of exactly why you shouldn't buy a new castings until you need them.  Port designs evolve constantly as well as manufacturing technology.  The Dart 320s, for example, flow way better today than castings from years ago.

Learning Curve

I actually started my build before I even owned my boat.  I figured that i had to start somewhere.  I bought my 4" Crower crank in 1999.  It is a 6 counterweight, non-twisted forging, 4340 crank.  At the time, I was building an engine modeled after what my friend built for the previous owner of what is now my boat.  I was unnecessarily concerning myself with things like rod ratio and such.  A 4" stroke made sense back then.

Now that I know more about jets, I would have opted for a 4.250 stroke.  A bigger and heavier boat needs a bigger impeller to launch.  You have to make big power to turn a jet pump impeller high RPM.  I don't want low-end, but power at a lower RPM (compared to  a car) that corresponds to the requirements of the impeller.

Depreciation

I have seen many people work very hard to buy a lot of expensive parts and store them for years.  Then some life changing event forces the sale of said parts for pennies on the dollar.

I have found that, the longer things sit around unused, the more they degrade.  These last few months, I have been cleaning house at my shop in preparation to move in my CNC mill.  I marvel at the money that I just threw away because stuff degraded beyond use.

One way or another, it's costing you to store whatever it is that you are waiting to get around to.  I bought an '89 3500 because it had a 454 and a Doug Nash overdrive.  I figure, I could have purchased four overdrives (new) for what it cost me to store that truck.

If you  are not enjoying what you are working so hard to pay for, it's not worth buying.  "Things you own end up owning you" Tyler Durden.

Cheers,

Joe