New to me Chevy 468 - Advice

[J 2]

Looking for some straight forward thoughts on this. Picked up a 21' open bow jet at the end of the season last year. Super clean 20 year old boat, I'm fine with the issues it has, it's used. Started my process of going through every detail of the boat a couple of weeks ago to get ready for the season. I'm a pretty decent garage mechanic, came out of high school in the early 80's and went to work as a mechanic in training at a couple of old school service stations. Grew to hate it as a job after about 5 years. Enjoy it when it's my stuff. Previous owner told me engine was rebuilt by a old guy they know who used to build engines not to long ago, hoped he was one of the good ones, not so. Compression check all over the place. Attached in pics. This boat I won't run hard ever, it's to hang out and enjoy the water. I have a different go fast boat for that.

My thoughts are I can get through this coming season with the rings not being so great, #6 the worst. I'm thinking I'll oil all of the cylinders (Marvel Mystery) and run a compression check again to confirm. My real concern is the evidence of water in cylinder #7. I could pull the plug after every trip to see if it's getting worse. Water is the unforgiving part, too much and boom. If I'm gonna rebuild it I'm gonna have to do it right and I would prefer not to spend the money right now. Previous owner told me there's a oil leak, either the oil drain hose, I hope, or because they set the engine to low I hope the pan didn't rub the intake. Drive line was binding, I could feel the vibration at idle when I ran it a couple times. Angles are off. I'll correct this too. This CV-19 shit hasn't affected my business that much, but this is one of those unnecessary expenses I would prefer to postpone.

 

[brgrcru]

Leave engine alone , if it runs good and does what you want it to do .
Plugs look okay from my view
Fix other little stuff.
Run it and enjoy it.
Keep an eye on it .
Enjoy your summer

 

[Ladsm]

Dump a can of "Restore" Engine restorer in the oil and run it for the summer. See if you like the power and rebuild it next summer. Might want more power and a blower or might be just fine and need a freshening up. Plugs look good

 

[J 2]

Thanks for the reply's!

 

[sintax]

Leave engine alone , if it runs good and does what you want it to do .
Plugs look okay from my view
Fix other little stuff.
Run it and enjoy it.
Keep an eye on it .
Enjoy your summer

YUP! My feelings as well. The numbers look good, the plugs look good. Run it!

To put things in perspective, after last season I had 3 holes under 100 psi, one hole under 70. Crazy amount of blowby and a good amount of oil on a few of the plugs. It was time for a rebuild.

 

[J 2]

Pulled the engine today. If I drain the oil, can the pan be welded without removing? Hamburger's oil pan, steel. I could set this in the back of my truck tilted in a way that it could be accessed and done right there.

Morons set the engine about 3/4" lower than it should be. Set right you have 1/2" gap above those bolts when they're topped smooth at the nut. Thinking back to the conversation I had with the previous owner, he knew it wasn't the drain plug. That could be reached and confirmed it wasn't leaking. Good thing I have all of the tools needed plus I've stripped and rebuilt a 1987 21' closed bow Eliminator jet, 1974 18' Rogers Bubbledeck jet & 1981 19' Eliminator Daytona jet over the years I do enjoy this shit!

 

[Todd Mohr]

I had a pan leak and JB Welded it, worked for 5 years. Only reason I had it fixed the right way was because I had the motor out to freshen up, probably would have lasted
forever.

 

[J 2]

I had a pan leak and JB Welded it, worked for 5 years. Only reason I had it fixed the right way was because I had the motor out to freshen up, probably would have lasted
forever.

Hmm good idea. I'll look into that. It is a pretty small crack. Thanks!

 

[sintax]

i'd try some of JB weld Steelstik, its a bit more fitting for this kind of repair. I would try to get it as clean as possible with zero oil and clean it with some MEK or something similar. You can always try this first, and then do a proper repair down the road if this fails.

I'd honestly be afraid of cooking off the oil remaining in the pan and starting a fire. The right way would be to pull the pan repair it properly.

 

[obnoxious001]

Best way is to pull the pan since the engine is out. Get someone who knows what they are doing with an oil pan.

Temporary shortcut is clean the heck out of the outside and apply "The Right Stuff" silicone.

While it's out of the boat and easier to work on, do a leak down check on it, then you will know for sure what's leaking, you can hear the air escaping.

 

[J 2]

Best way is to pull the pan since the engine is out. Get someone who knows what they are doing with an oil pan.

Temporary shortcut is clean the heck out of the outside and apply "The Right Stuff" silicone.

While it's out of the boat and easier to work on, do a leak down check on it, then you will know for sure what's leaking, you can hear the air escaping.

Thanks guys. I drained the oil then used a wire wheel on my drill to clean it down to metal, wiped with acetone then applied JB weld. I know there's rings issues since the compression came up significantly with a couple shots of Marvel Mystery oil in a few cylinders. My only real concern is #7, I see effects of water in the cylinder on the plug. If I pull the pan then I'm pulling everything which means new bearings, rings, gaskets, valve job... Prefer not to right now if I can help it. This was a easy engine to pull compared to some I've done. I also feel with all that's going on this will be a boat close to home summer. This boat I won't be running hard, but it is a jet so I'm going uphill all the time.

The fun will be moving the rail kit up about 3/4" where it should have been installed before this motor went in. Driveline was way off, vibration I felt was pretty bad. More about this in the Jet Boat section. I know nobody checks the jet boat section