Teague_JR
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2018
- Messages
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Thought some people would enjoy the work that went into my personal Fountain. The boat belonged to my brother in law's dad and was on a hoist in front of his house in Discovery Bay for 15 years before I bought it in July of 2019. I got it as a good all around do anything boat that could haul ass to catalina and also be convenient with two kids at the river... and it ended up being a good fit for that task. Its big enough to take down some serious water but still easy to store and launch anywhere. Plus it had a lot of good components already, blower motors, TCM XR drives, CMI Exhaust, Fully redone dash, and a bitchin paintjob (in my opinion)
In the first year of ownership I already did the following:
Removed large diesel generator and 110v Air conditioning
Redid the one piece 4.5" dry tails so they dumped water 13" from the end
Carpet Kit and Custom seadek swim step
Replumbed most water plumbing and installed aeromotive fuel pumps
August of 2020 I blew the starboard engine running a bit harder than usual on a super smooth ocean day coming back from Santa Barbara. I had planned on rebuilding the engines that winter so I figured oh well we will get an early start on it. Little did I know it would be 2 days short of a year before the boat hit the water again.
With the help of some friends we pulled both engines and had them down to bare blocks in one Saturday. The blown engine must have lost a mechanical fuel pump and ran away from fuel pressure because it went nuclear lean until one piston had a huge hole in it. (yes it made an epic huge blue smoke cloud) The tune on the other motor looked perfect. Mechanically, they were a trainwreck. One was a 540 and the other a 548 with shitty eagle rotating assemblies. Worn out everything, super loose timing chains, one broken intake valve spring, two different lifter sets, crankshafts had hit and self clearanced the piston skirts, flywheels weren't neutral balanced correctly, two different motor mount patterns, mickey mouse power steering setup... etc etc.
Quickly made a game plan to only reuse the World Merlin blocks, Canfield heads (kinda comparable to a brodix bb2extra non-cnc) and dan olson pans. Sent the blocks and heads to Van Dyne engineering in Huntington beach for machine work (cousin of a long time friend of mine)... Over the next few months I gathered parts and had him do the short block assemblies and Revco did the balance, then I assembled them the rest of the way in my garage mostly late at night... I Dyno'ed one engine at 870/870 HP and Torque at only 7 PSI boost and 32 deg advance on 91 octane.
Engine Specs:
523 cubic inches (4.560" bore 4.000" stroke)
Callies rotating assemblies with ATI super dampers internally balanced
CP Pistons custom dish for 8.5:1 static compression and Mahle Rings
Crane 661 cams (256/264)
Ferrea 11/32" valves (SS intake and Superalloy Exhaust)
ISKY tool room springs (about 500 lbs. over the nose)
Johnson short travel hydraulic roller lifters (TCM Special spec)
TCM/Trend Pushrods, COMP steel rockers, JOMAR Stud Girdles
BDS intakes (original) but freshly flow ported
BDS 10:71 blowers (original) but with new proper length snouts
TCM Superchiller Intercoolers and Holley 850 Double Pumpers (new in 2013)
MSD Ignition (mostly new during rebuild)
Merc HD water pumps
Merc accessory brackets with TCM SS extras
TCM Oil Filter Heads, TCM ignition brackets
New engine harnesses on cool takeoff KE brackets and warning switches for oil, fuel and water pressure
Went from weird purple/blue paint and shitty chrome on the engines to gloss black and blue powdercoat with blue ano pulleys. Might still do the blower pulleys and air filters blue ano in the off season.
Meanwhile, I also stripped the back of the boat and de rigged it to the firewall. I knew there was a soft spot in the transom below one gimbal from years of leaking and it was full of old holes. In actuality, the bottom half of the wood was junk and the gimbals were rotted and worn out beyond repair. So off it went for a new transom! Filled about 20 random old holes as well. Rerigged the back of the boat with new HD gimbals, raised the x-dimension 1.5" when I redrilled it after consulting with Reggie III, new TCM intercooler pickups and dumps, TCM steering bulkheads, reloomed and adelled all the plumbing and wiring. I also switched the drive lowers with the DCB I had to gear the DCB taller and the fountain shorter. I got a taller set of props from TCM so I'll have 2 sets for big water and smooth water...
I had to redrill and reprofile the front engine mounts, notch the rear gunnel to clear two tailpipes, and cut holes in the engine hatches for the air filters to stick into (but still be below the top hatch pads).... otherwise raising the motors seems to be a win win. I had to redrill the whole transom anyways.
This turned out to be a MAJOR undertaking. I probably have 300 hours into the project. We floated it last weekend and it ran great on some loaner props, I still need to get my labbed maximus sets back from havasu and check the tune on the other engine before I wring it out. Next up Ill be redoing some interior pieces and hope to recarpet the cabin in blue during the off season...
Oh and if anyone has an aluminum trailer sitting around for a fountain hit me up LOL
Also I decided to rename the boat… “Family Affair” is my current top pick..
JT
In the first year of ownership I already did the following:
Removed large diesel generator and 110v Air conditioning
Redid the one piece 4.5" dry tails so they dumped water 13" from the end
Carpet Kit and Custom seadek swim step
Replumbed most water plumbing and installed aeromotive fuel pumps
August of 2020 I blew the starboard engine running a bit harder than usual on a super smooth ocean day coming back from Santa Barbara. I had planned on rebuilding the engines that winter so I figured oh well we will get an early start on it. Little did I know it would be 2 days short of a year before the boat hit the water again.
With the help of some friends we pulled both engines and had them down to bare blocks in one Saturday. The blown engine must have lost a mechanical fuel pump and ran away from fuel pressure because it went nuclear lean until one piston had a huge hole in it. (yes it made an epic huge blue smoke cloud) The tune on the other motor looked perfect. Mechanically, they were a trainwreck. One was a 540 and the other a 548 with shitty eagle rotating assemblies. Worn out everything, super loose timing chains, one broken intake valve spring, two different lifter sets, crankshafts had hit and self clearanced the piston skirts, flywheels weren't neutral balanced correctly, two different motor mount patterns, mickey mouse power steering setup... etc etc.
Quickly made a game plan to only reuse the World Merlin blocks, Canfield heads (kinda comparable to a brodix bb2extra non-cnc) and dan olson pans. Sent the blocks and heads to Van Dyne engineering in Huntington beach for machine work (cousin of a long time friend of mine)... Over the next few months I gathered parts and had him do the short block assemblies and Revco did the balance, then I assembled them the rest of the way in my garage mostly late at night... I Dyno'ed one engine at 870/870 HP and Torque at only 7 PSI boost and 32 deg advance on 91 octane.
Engine Specs:
523 cubic inches (4.560" bore 4.000" stroke)
Callies rotating assemblies with ATI super dampers internally balanced
CP Pistons custom dish for 8.5:1 static compression and Mahle Rings
Crane 661 cams (256/264)
Ferrea 11/32" valves (SS intake and Superalloy Exhaust)
ISKY tool room springs (about 500 lbs. over the nose)
Johnson short travel hydraulic roller lifters (TCM Special spec)
TCM/Trend Pushrods, COMP steel rockers, JOMAR Stud Girdles
BDS intakes (original) but freshly flow ported
BDS 10:71 blowers (original) but with new proper length snouts
TCM Superchiller Intercoolers and Holley 850 Double Pumpers (new in 2013)
MSD Ignition (mostly new during rebuild)
Merc HD water pumps
Merc accessory brackets with TCM SS extras
TCM Oil Filter Heads, TCM ignition brackets
New engine harnesses on cool takeoff KE brackets and warning switches for oil, fuel and water pressure
Went from weird purple/blue paint and shitty chrome on the engines to gloss black and blue powdercoat with blue ano pulleys. Might still do the blower pulleys and air filters blue ano in the off season.
Meanwhile, I also stripped the back of the boat and de rigged it to the firewall. I knew there was a soft spot in the transom below one gimbal from years of leaking and it was full of old holes. In actuality, the bottom half of the wood was junk and the gimbals were rotted and worn out beyond repair. So off it went for a new transom! Filled about 20 random old holes as well. Rerigged the back of the boat with new HD gimbals, raised the x-dimension 1.5" when I redrilled it after consulting with Reggie III, new TCM intercooler pickups and dumps, TCM steering bulkheads, reloomed and adelled all the plumbing and wiring. I also switched the drive lowers with the DCB I had to gear the DCB taller and the fountain shorter. I got a taller set of props from TCM so I'll have 2 sets for big water and smooth water...
I had to redrill and reprofile the front engine mounts, notch the rear gunnel to clear two tailpipes, and cut holes in the engine hatches for the air filters to stick into (but still be below the top hatch pads).... otherwise raising the motors seems to be a win win. I had to redrill the whole transom anyways.
This turned out to be a MAJOR undertaking. I probably have 300 hours into the project. We floated it last weekend and it ran great on some loaner props, I still need to get my labbed maximus sets back from havasu and check the tune on the other engine before I wring it out. Next up Ill be redoing some interior pieces and hope to recarpet the cabin in blue during the off season...
Oh and if anyone has an aluminum trailer sitting around for a fountain hit me up LOL
Also I decided to rename the boat… “Family Affair” is my current top pick..
JT
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Glad to see it back on the water.
