New to Spectra Marine

[PuraVida Victory]

Man I can't believe i just read through almost 10 years of build thread but dam does your boat look amazing!:thumbs: Started reading and just couldn't stop. Took me 2 days HAHA Keep it up. I can't wait to see this beauty on the water!

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Ya this has been a long project to say the least but I would not change a thing as I spent time that I probably would not have spent with my good friend, Uncle Ken who just passed away end of last year and my time with my dad is priceless to me! Good thing my little Sanger kept it together so we still had our water sports fun. I was just thinking about the time and holy crap, it was at the shop for over 40 months and then working on rigging the thing every 6 to 8 weeks max took 3 years as well..ouch.

I got the call from West Coast Marine Interiors that they were ready for the boat and I dropped it off last night. I got a sneak peak at the interior, Cesar just finished sewing it up this weekend and man this guy has some mad skills, the double stitch diamond tuck is so clean, his lines and stitch counts are beautiful, he uses french seams as well and it all just looks very cool and the material is thick feels very nice and I picked some with a bot of a grain in it for a little texture. I gave him liberties to do what he wanted, I went in thinking very subtle and just two colors of gray but I thought I would stretch my self and maybe go beyond Vanilla. Very glad as he added a blue piping and a splash of white in a few spots and I am like a 5 year old at Christmas, I cannot wait to get this thing back, should be about 3 weeks!

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Well, we can almost shut this dam thread down! We will test her out on May 5 at Elsinore and see what happens, headed out with my buddy Bob who has the beautiful purple Spectra20, looking forward to seeing the boats next to each other especially since I copied a ton of crap off his boat Not sure if I am excited or just relieved that its almost done, I have a lot of projects stacked up and ready to go.

Cant say enough about the guys at West Coast Marine Interiors, their work is beautiful and the boat was spotless when I picked it up. They did a great job on the carpet as well, just really pleased with their work and craftsmanship. I didn't think I was going to be able to afford these guys but man they beat 3 other well recognized shops in price as well. I would highly recommend these guys if anyone is looking for upholstery. My contact was Caesar 951-210-8867.

 

[spectra bash]

Looks killer cliff. Congrats

 

[Melloyellovector]

Turned out great!! I'm excited for you, and jealous - mines still in pieces, but getting there

 

[rivergames]

Incredible! :thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup

 

[the lynch mob]

The boat looks incredible. Great work and skills.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Well I would love to say it's done but its not! it did get wet and we ran it around Elsinore yesterday but I have to pull some drive train apart to find a pretty narly vibration. I am kicking myself as I changed everything on this boat but..... I never had the drive shaft checked or changed the u-joints or checked the prop shaft :grumble: I changed shafts in my Flat and my dad's while working on this thing and in my pea brain was just thinking I had this one checked....Crap!!!!

Over all I am very happy, was a piece of cake getting off and on the trailer, having the entire trailer paneled was real nice! No leaks oil or water, just a little too much gear oil but nothing major, had to set float levels and play with fuel pressure and timing a bit but I think we are real close. Need to play with the plates as she is favoring the left side even with a skinny girl driving and she looks low in the water which was objective number 1 for me.

My friend Bob Fitzpatrick went with me with his Spectra, I only wanted one of these things after he bought his and restored it. and it was a bout time we got them on the water together. What was also cool was my Mom and Dad drove all the way down from Visalia to watch us launch this thing and my Brother in law who did so much machine work for me showed up with my Nephew and his wife, Very fun day even with it not being perfect!

 

[KevinR]

Awesome. Both of them!
We had one at Arrowhead in the mid 70s-mid 80s. George Stregal built up a blown big block Chevy for it. Used it ski racing and cruising Arrowhead and Mead.
Such a great set up. Hope I run into you guys on the river or Havasu, would love to see them in person.

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Very nice. I know how great the feeling is. Your boat looks awesome.

 

[Elkidmino]

That shot of the two boats nose to nose is by far my favorite. Congratulations on a job extremely well done!

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Thanks for the kind words guys I appreciate it! I figured out my vibration and it's just a stupid move on my part. I have a two piece drive shaft and when I split it to slide thru my whip guard I didn't put it back together correctly, so I have it out and sending it to be balanced and then marked well so I dint do that again.

 

[KevinR]

Great to hear you've nailed it. :thumbsup

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

I picked up my drive shaft today all new u-joints and balanced, they actually took about 3/4 inch out of the shaft as it was completely compressed when installed, I learned something new. My new prop shaft is on its way from Connolly Marine, I love those guys! When I got home I went to file my receipt for the drive shaft and I did something I said I wouldn't do.....I added everything up, ill keep that number to my self I was actually surprised as I was a few hundred off of what I was guestimating and hell over the amount of time I spent on this it was real cheap spread out over the years.

 

[nrbr]

I haven't checked in here
run awhile, but you made it!!! Really looks great! Hope to see you guys on the lake when we're out sometime soon

 

[shan]

I picked up my drive shaft today all new u-joints and balanced, they actually took about 3/4 inch out of the shaft as it was completely compressed when installed, I learned something new. My new prop shaft is on its way from Connolly Marine, I love those guys! When I got home I went to file my receipt for the drive shaft and I did something I said I wouldn't do.....I added everything up, ill keep that number to my self I was actually surprised as I was a few hundred off of what I was guestimating and hell over the amount of time I spent on this it was real cheap spread out over the years.

A few hundred?? You got off lucky.:tbi

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Well I am finally over being pissed off so let me tell you what happened....

Back in late July I was getting ready to take the Spectra up to Central CA and spend a week at Kings River. I have a friend who races NHRA Super Gas and I had him coming over to look at the boat, I had been fighting a distributor issue and it seemed to be good now but wanted his opinion. I was running a Vertex electronic Mag Look A Like, it was a brand new unit I bought from Hunt Mag in Sacramento, he set the Mag in my flat up years ago and also the Mag look a like in my Dads Wood decker and we have had 0 issues with both of them.

So I had my friend over and we had talked thru some of the issues I was having, then we took a look at everything and he was good with it, hit the starter and as usual the thing fires right up, my friend check timing, looks over a few things and we are good to go, the boat was idling and everything was great then it just shut off, I looked to see if someone had turned the key off but nope... So I knew right away it was the distributor as I was fighting an advance issue with it and in my gut I just wasn't confident with the dam thing. My friend tells me to come over to his house and grab an extra mag he has. So I grab the mag, wire up a kill switch and hit the key, engine fires right up and sounds better than it has...well shit lets go to the river.

So we are at the river and things are good, had the Key go out in my flat so chasing down a Mag ignition was a pain but we found one and no we are good to go I wasn't to upset since I put that thing together in 95'. My daughter is happy she has the flat, I don't feel guilt just screwing around with the day cruiser because the other boat is there for them to use. So we go on a little cruise and I am real happy with everything, come back in and idle down in the 5 mph zone and boom oil pressure drops from 60 to 10, what the hell??. So I just anchor the dam thing up and let it sit all week and paly with the flat bottom.

I get home and the boat sits for a few weeks before I can get the engine out, but when I do its just wonderful news, #1 Main is gone, it gold and the others were starting to get hot. I had strained the oil after my break in and I still had the strainer in a baggy, I strained this oil as well and the only debris in the oil is from the bearings. the cam and lifters are fine no wear and they look great. I currently have the engine at the shop who built my short block, trying to figure out what happened. I was using Valvoline Racing 20/50 with extra zinc. The crank had the be ground but it was saved, just can figure out what happened 4 hours into the life on the engine.

So back to my distributor saga, I had a business trip to Sac so I went by Hunt mag's to chat and see what they had to say, not to much other than mail the unit to them and they would check it out. I talked with them this past Monday and the coil went out, they wanted to charge me to fix the new distributor, I wasn't taking this thing back as I have zero confidence in it, so we negotiated a trade in, my unit for a standard mag and a few bucks. I am still out money but I have had the distributor for 3 years so I can see their point , even if its new with only 4 hours on it my receipt is from 2015. They gave me just under $600 in trade for a rebuilt mag. I had the conversation with them on Monday from LAX as I was headed to OKC, I get home last night and the new distributor in sitting on my table, clean, new plug wires and an extra cap! I spent a couple hours this afternoon and polished it up, now just waiting to get the engine back and put it back together. I should have guessed this would happen as everything has had to be done twice on this project, I just hope its twice only with the engine...

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

My Spectra got wet again! I put the bottom end together this time on the engine, everything measured out great and went together fine, I broke the engine in right after new years but just haven't had the chance to take it out. I did something I really didn't want to do and that is put her is salt water! but Marine Stadium is less than 15 minutes from me and it's a great little place mid week. The boat ran well, we put an hour or so on her over the day pulled some skiers and she felt real good, just a couple issues to work out... We spent about an hour washing and flushing everything on the boat, engine, trailer, gear box etc.... I told the kids if they are willing to put in the time cleaning I am game to keep running her locally.

I still need to come up with a fix for my Cav plates, I didn't run any type of lock out as I figured this thing was manufactured w/o plates so adding plates would just give me the "V Drive Look" I wanted from the back and some down pedal if I needed it. Problem I am having is the plates are getting sucked down when I get an rpm in her, she rides great but it's keeping the boat glued to the water. It's pulling so hard that I can't use my heel to push the bottom of the pedal and pull the plates up. Had some suggestions and have looked at D21's lock out, I have a t handle but really don't want to put it in and take away foot space in the drivers area, so thinking of going with a double spring or possibly putting the over ride handle under the seat?

TAC for the mag, I am using a signal converter and its great up to 2k rpm, after that it just pegs itself at 8k, I believe I need to shield all the wires going to the unit under the dash, looking for more info on this one. My Dad and Brother ran the same set up on their Sanger and the tac never bounced was solid all thru the RPM range but that was built in 69' and the wires aren't shielded in that boat??

 

[SBMech]

Love the way your Spectra came out, looking fantastic! Glad to hear you got the engine sorted as well, did you ever figure out what happened?

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

after pulling the engine apart and really only finding the number 1 main completely smoked and the rest stating to get hot I had assumptions that number 1 had the wrong bearings (miss marked) in it or there was an issue with the bore size.. Not pointing fingers at all as when I got the short block back I should have miked it or plastiguaged it but I didn't. The machine shop went thru the block and did align hone the mains, they didn't take much of anything off but with everything constant same break in oil etc. when I started it this time to break it in I had about 25 less pounds of oil pressure than on the first break in, so I am thinking things were way too tight. After breakin I am running a Valvoline high zinc oli 20/50 and once warm she is right around 60lbs of pressure, similar to my engine in my flat that knock on wood has been solid since 95'.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

My Daughter just finished up her JC work and is transferring to a business program at Long Beach State in the fall, she is working up in the Sierras at a Hume Lake this summer so she will be missing out on any river trips we have. So what did she want to do to celebrate... take the boat out and have some friends come down to hang out, love this kid! I have always been against putting my boats in Salt Water but we are 10 minutes from Marine Stadium and it is usually empty. The kids help wash up so I am in! We spent the better part of Friday out there, my buddy Fitzpatrick came out with his Beautiful Spectra as well and we had the place pretty much to our selves.

 

[SBMech]

You boat looks great on the water! Looks like it rides really nice too! Love the final result, you must be so happy!

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Thanks Bud, it rides like a caddy but still getting used to it, the kids dig it as well and it nice being able to move around in the boat and toss towels and stuff under the deck, no room for that in my little flatty.

 

[Brokeboatin221]

It took me 2 days to read this literally in between things. Super stoked for you and you must have a huge smile everytime you walk out to this masterpiece. Thanks for posting your build it was a great inspiration to my build that I will be starting soon. What a beautiful boat! Your dad has to be proud!

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

WOW, thanks man, I sure appreciate the kind words! We are starting to have a little fun with the Spectra now and digging the bigger boat, nothing beats the feeling of acceleration of a flat bottom, or at least I cant afford the power to beat that feeling in this tug but she sure is comfortable to cruise around in. Still a couple little bugs here and there but what the heck, keeps me out of trouble. Good luck with the build and I sure hope you beat my time on this build What are you doing to your boat?

 

[Brokeboatin221]

That's good to hear I hope you get to enjoy it more you deserve it. I keep going back and forth between building my schiada 22 jet into a v-drive or picking up a spectra. I like my schiada except for the step deck it's a 73 and To me the spectra has cleaner lines. I also like the fact that the spectra would fit in my garage off the trailer. I will figure it out soon.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

View attachment 657216 View attachment 657216 View attachment 657216 When I was building the trailer I didn't want to put the Jack on the side of the frame so we built a swing arm inside the frame so I could hide the wheel. Unfortunately I wasn't able to tuck in in like I wanted due to the jack height needed to lift the trailer off the truck, so I had to compromise a bit and build a box to cover the wheel...had ideas of carpeting the box to match the rest of the trailer, but then I was short on the carpet and have not been able to find anything to match so I still have a panel on the trailer not carpeted but that's another story... decided to just paint the box and match the boat, I wanted to practice painting a little more as well and use all base coat clear coat paints for all the stripes, so much easier as you can tape them off after just a couple hours of dry time. came out pretty good, only cut it to 1000 grit should have hit it up to 1500 but the thing is under the bow and when the boats not on the trailer I wont be looking at it so it is good to go. Also learned that when you cut and buff the Southern Poly clear after just a day it cuts like butter, unlike if you wait 4 years....

 

[Brokeboatin221]

Looks amazing I have another 20 if you want some more practice lol.

 

[footer]

Beautiful boat! Nice work.

 

[78Southwind]

My Daughter just finished up her JC work and is transferring to a business program at Long Beach State in the fall, she is working up in the Sierras at a Hume Lake this summer so she will be missing out on any river trips we have. So what did she want to do to celebrate... take the boat out and have some friends come down to hang out, love this kid! I have always been against putting my boats in Salt Water but we are 10 minutes from Marine Stadium and it is usually empty. The kids help wash up so I am in! We spent the better part of Friday out there, my buddy Fitzpatrick came out with his Beautiful Spectra as well and we had the place pretty much to our selves.

Nice job rebuilding and restoring the Spectra. I kind of forgot about this thread for the last couple of years. The boat came out beautifully. Who ever did the video did an awesome job as well.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Finally had a good day on the water with the Spectra, this thing has been a pain in the butt for way too long.

• Mag issues finally over thanks to Tom CIRELLO! I won't throw anyone under the bus but I would avoid any magneto products coming out of the Sacramento area. I had a bad gear (told him what cam it was going with noting exotic hyd flat tappet) , magnets died after approx. 15 starts, "New Cap" shocked the shit out of me as it was crap, advance gears were installed upside down...
• Had heads worked on (since I had to pull motor due to destroying a distributor gear) and bumped up to larger stainless valves, ran for a couple laps around Marine Stadium and broke and exhaust valve spring. Went to a different head guy, gave him the same cam card and he comes back telling me the valves are 100 thou short... are you kidding me... I was not working with discount back door shops these were done by a pretty big name shop... springs were shot as well.
• Had a new cam ground (when we lost the cam gear it chewed up the cam) install it and index it...its 20 degree advanced from the cam card, check it 3 or 4 times get same reading, put another cam in to double check and its spot on to it's numbers. take the Cam back they say they will check it , two weeks later they say nothing is wrong time stamp on their print out is 25 minutes before I walked in the door. Done fighting I just walked away and order a comp cam... and yes it degrees in perfect.

Ran around Elsinore all day Friday with my buddy Bob and his Spectra and had a great time. We thought we were a couple ballers as a guy rolls up and says, "Nice Schiada's" . for those of you that are a gasp by that error we did correct the gent. I pulled skiers, taught a little guy to knee board ran wide out in the high speed zone, must have been at least 105 on gps (ok 60mph) my plates are getting sucked down and driving the bow down need to build a lock out it just free floating to my pedal now and with any RPM I cant heel the pedal down to lift the plates, I think there is a little more in her. Need to figure out me tac, have a converter box due to mag but it stops at 1,500.

We are headed to Parker Thursday morning, renting a Tiny house at Castle Rock, be there thru Saturday night. Was trying to make the event in Havasu on the 15th but too much going on.

 

[SpectraPat]

Wholly cow! What a nightmare. I’m glad she running good now. Good times ahead

 

[wettrthebettr]

Cliff you did a fabulous job

 

[vdcruiser]

Geez, I just read the last part of this thread , so you had to take the engine out twice after the original install ? just for info, I put a double spring on my cav plate control rod to keep it from sucking down. Your boat does look like its running a little closer to the water than mine. I was also wondering if you had any rocker in the bottom after your bottom work ? The boat looks sweet on the water and looks like it is tracking nicely.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

No Rocker its pretty dam straight from fin back to transom... I haven't posted on this dam Spectra since April /May because I was thinking about sinking it or burning it. My trip to Parker last May was pretty fun, great time of the year to be there, cool BNB Tiny House out at Castle Rock and a great big hole in #6 cylinder. I actually didn't know what the issue was, I thought I had spun a rod bearing (which I did) and really wasn't mad as much as just over it. I got home and stuffed the boat in the garage and covered it up. I finally pulled the boat out a month or so ago and starting to pull the engine, I am getting pretty good at this now. I was planning on doing a leak down on the engine as I thought the spun bearing was from getting water in the oil, I went to pressurizer the water system and I cant get any pressure ??? I pull the exhaust manifold and see metal inside the exhaust manifold. Well shoot, get it out and oh my, twisted rod, nothing left of a piston and a big hole in #6. Block is trash and steel crank is bent and I get to build a new engine. Had several people look at the carnage and still trying to figure out why, kind of like the chicken and the egg thing.

At this point I am thinking that I am getting water past my elbows on my old school logs so the plan is to move to some Dana Marine headers. I had another engine under my bench so its at the machine shop (different shop) that does my friends race car stuff. A new crank and a couple of rods plus I went with Racetec pistons this time, they even put my name on them. We should have everything back and ready to start this all over again soon.

 

[RiverDave]

Don’t give up now! You are on the last corner heading to the finish line after 11 years!!

Do you realize this project is no longer a project.. it’s a life’s work! I lived in California and didn’t even have kids when this started on here. Right about the time you were glassing MySpace exploded and Facebook didn’t exist.. lol. Obama got elected, we have been through a recession, and countless other things.

I almost feel like part of the project having followed along all this time. Lol. I still can’t believe the countless man hours invested and the sheer will power and motivation.

If I can be if any help please let me know. I have some great resources for engines

In reading about your motor problems I couldn’t help but think about your obsession with polishing.. any chance some compound was left over in the fittings?

Final note. When you upload pics, after they upload take a look at the top one.. the very top one looks like a pic but it isn’t, it says “insert every image as” abd push full image.

This thread has gone through all of our software changes etc.. I just spent about 2 hours enlarging all the pics so they appear naturally in the thread.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

you now its almost embarrassing that this thing has just kind of meandered along. When I got hung up in paint with my Uncles health issues I really lost my inspiration for this thing and then it was I gotta finish it more than I wanted to finish it. But here it is.... The water was a strange thing, it wasn't form any fittings, the thing was water tight at all fittings, we were thinking it was bypassing at the intake as the issue would come and go. The week before it blew up I beat on it at Elsinore and it liked it. Oil was perfect no sign of water. I am going with the block was cursed and just like everything on this boat we do it again and now the second block is going in.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

The Spectra got wet again! unfortunately it was just rain as I dropped it off last Monday with Bob at Marine Industries West in Anaheim and they are building some stainless tail pipes to go with the new Dana Headers I am running. Ill ask Bob if he can post some build pics on here, they do some beautiful work.

 

[Tpltrbl303]

I am at the Delta right now picking up a 24 Spectra... I hope its not an 11 year project.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[wettrthebettr]

I am at the Delta right now picking up a 24 Spectra... I hope its not an 11 year project. View attachment 828857

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Nice Catch, How did you find the Old Lady?

you now its almost embarrassing that this thing has just kind of meandered along. When I got hung up in paint with my Uncles health issues I really lost my inspiration for this thing and then it was I gotta finish it more than I wanted to finish it. But here it is.... The water was a strange thing, it wasn't form any fittings, the thing was water tight at all fittings, we were thinking it was bypassing at the intake as the issue would come and go. The week before it blew up I beat on it at Elsinore and it liked it. Oil was perfect no sign of water. I am going with the block was cursed and just like everything on this boat we do it again and now the second block is going in.

Hi Cliff, What was the problem with that engine?
Sorry to hear about it, you spent lots of hours on that Boat.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

View attachment 829143 View attachment 829143 Paul, from what I can tell (there was a lot of carnage) I Hydrauliced the engine, filled number 6 up with water and then the shit hit the fan. For all the mess it made she died quietly, thought I had spun a rod bearing came to idle oil pressure dropped then picked up and then she just shut down. I know that people have run the log exhaust with the snails for decades on these boats but... I have the snails canted a bit as it looked better and I set the engine pretty low to get my drive shaft as low as I could, I only have about a 3/4" cover that goes over the drive shaft. I am leaving the 60's and going with a different exhaust now.

 

[wettrthebettr]

Holley Molley it sure did a number on the cylinder. Sorry to hear, You spent lots of hours and $$$$ on your boat.
Did your Exhaust tips have flappers?. i know you will getter done and back on the water, ya got all winter.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

ya... no flappers, my thinking was that hell my flat bottom exhaust tips are actually under water, I don't need no flappers...

 

[wettrthebettr]

Ya know my Aquacraft flatty had no Flappers either, they were half way under water.
I never had a problem, I always beached her with the bow out with a anchor buddy.
I had someone calling me about buying my Campbell, I don't want to sell it but if I can get 13,000 i'll take it.
Then I'll get another Flatty, and a blonde Girlfriend, ( Labrador). LOL

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Bob over at Marine Industries West started hitting me with pictures today! The new Dana Exhaust is getting all mocked up, looks awesome, they will finish welding them up on the bench and then polish. Getting energized about this boat again. The Guys over at MIW are great, if you haven't used them as a resource your missing out. Right in Anaheim near Kramer and the 91, if you know where McFadden Dale is, they are right up the street.

 

[wettrthebettr]

Sweet Cliff, nice clean set up you got there

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Boats back now gotta finish the engine up, I just used an old block and heads for header build. Need to get the hatch back on this weekend and see where it hits. I had measured before we decided to go this route should just be a little trimming...

 

[Brokeboatin221]

Looking good Cliff! Can’t wait to see her run again!

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Hatch doesn't fit... bummer I hate cutting on things that are finished but I knew this was coming.

 

[NAFLASH]

I have a similar exhaust setup on my boat and have not had any issues thus far. My exhaust tips exit the transom a little higher though.