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Here's the link to my round 1 build. I figured I should start another thread for round 2 since it deals with different issues.
Here's how the spring started out. I took it out for the first time this spring drove it across the lake to put it onto the lift when I heard a bang. Lifted the hood and the hull was full of smoke. That cannot be good. I pulled it out of the lake to see what happened. The coupler hose on the PTO pipe stinger had blew, the cooling line from the Jet Works valve had melted and the paint on the collector was starting to turn dark. Wonder what caused that.
I pulled it all apart looking for a cause and found the ball in my Jet Works valve was completely stuck in the hole. Some water could get around it at very high pressures, but none at low which would explain why it seemed like I had good water coming out of the pissers when I was going across the lake. Ordered the Delrin ball from McMaster-Carr and problem solved.
BTW, I have 99 spare balls if you need one.
Took it to the lake for a weeks vacation. This thing was running perfectly screeming up and down the lake. I was the fastest one out there or at least any of the ones that I came up on. I went to raise the dock out of the water when I noticed my trim nozzel linkage broken. So I pulled that off and MacGyver a piece of plate aluminum in it's place to get me up and going. That was the start of the week.
I was so worried about my pissers again, I kept an eye on them like a hawk. Needless to say, I didn't notice till I got onto the lift that my bilge pump was running. Luckily I came in because I thought I was running out of gas as I lost power. I am like, now what??? I pull it back out of the lake to see what happened. I started pulling on my cooling lines off the manafold and the first one I pull comes right up. You guessed it, it was the Mag manafold cooling line had come off. Damn! In case you are not familiar with these boats, this fitting is imposible to get to with the exhause in place. So I drain the oil, pulll the tank, drain the fuel, pull the tank and then I removed the PTO exhaust pipe so that I could get my hand on it.
I put the hose back on the fitting and put everything back together. I pulled the head to see if there was any piston damage. The Mag cylinder had a few dimples on the exhaust side, but the cylinder walls looked perfect. I bumped it over and it seemed to turn okay, but I noticed some small balls of aluminum in the spark plug. That's when I put the head back on and called Jay. He recommended I not run it anymore till I changed out that piston. Thanks Jay for calling me back. I almost gave it a go hoping it was okay. Damn, it's always something with this thing.
I broke it down today and this is what I found:
Mag head pipe got really hot, melted the oring and the coupler.
Piston is toast. Wonder where the bottom half of the piston went on the exhaust side?
Also, the top ring was stuck in the groove. Lucky it didn't tear anything up.
Lucky the jug looks okay. Will just need to go over it with a little muriatic acid to get the little aluminum transfer off.
I have a new piston kit on the way from Jay and he suggested the crimp style clamps to prevent this from happening again instead of using the worm drive clamps. Here's what he's talking about:
Now my biggest dilema, with that much material gone off the piston, do I pull the motor and strip it down to see if there is any debris in the case, or just change out the piston and hope all the material exited through the exhaust when it melted.
I really don't want to pull the motor again, but I REALLY don't want to start a round 3 thread either. Thoughts?
Oh, and for those of you who were debating the compression testing in the other thread, I did a compression test before I called Jay just to see how bad off I was. Mag 115, Center 125, PTO 130. The Mag was obviously down, but not super low as you would expect from what that piston looked like.
FYI, the exhaust couplers can be made from 3-1/2" ID high temp silicone tubing from McMaster-Carr. It's part # 5296K611 and costs $30.02 for a one foot piece. That should be enough for (4) couplers which works out to be $7.51 per each. Not too bad of a deal plus it will match my stinger hoses.
Here's how the spring started out. I took it out for the first time this spring drove it across the lake to put it onto the lift when I heard a bang. Lifted the hood and the hull was full of smoke. That cannot be good. I pulled it out of the lake to see what happened. The coupler hose on the PTO pipe stinger had blew, the cooling line from the Jet Works valve had melted and the paint on the collector was starting to turn dark. Wonder what caused that.
I pulled it all apart looking for a cause and found the ball in my Jet Works valve was completely stuck in the hole. Some water could get around it at very high pressures, but none at low which would explain why it seemed like I had good water coming out of the pissers when I was going across the lake. Ordered the Delrin ball from McMaster-Carr and problem solved.
BTW, I have 99 spare balls if you need one.Took it to the lake for a weeks vacation. This thing was running perfectly screeming up and down the lake. I was the fastest one out there or at least any of the ones that I came up on. I went to raise the dock out of the water when I noticed my trim nozzel linkage broken. So I pulled that off and MacGyver a piece of plate aluminum in it's place to get me up and going. That was the start of the week.
I was so worried about my pissers again, I kept an eye on them like a hawk. Needless to say, I didn't notice till I got onto the lift that my bilge pump was running. Luckily I came in because I thought I was running out of gas as I lost power. I am like, now what??? I pull it back out of the lake to see what happened. I started pulling on my cooling lines off the manafold and the first one I pull comes right up. You guessed it, it was the Mag manafold cooling line had come off. Damn! In case you are not familiar with these boats, this fitting is imposible to get to with the exhause in place. So I drain the oil, pulll the tank, drain the fuel, pull the tank and then I removed the PTO exhaust pipe so that I could get my hand on it.
I put the hose back on the fitting and put everything back together. I pulled the head to see if there was any piston damage. The Mag cylinder had a few dimples on the exhaust side, but the cylinder walls looked perfect. I bumped it over and it seemed to turn okay, but I noticed some small balls of aluminum in the spark plug. That's when I put the head back on and called Jay. He recommended I not run it anymore till I changed out that piston. Thanks Jay for calling me back. I almost gave it a go hoping it was okay. Damn, it's always something with this thing.
I broke it down today and this is what I found:
Mag head pipe got really hot, melted the oring and the coupler.
Piston is toast. Wonder where the bottom half of the piston went on the exhaust side?
Also, the top ring was stuck in the groove. Lucky it didn't tear anything up.Lucky the jug looks okay. Will just need to go over it with a little muriatic acid to get the little aluminum transfer off.
I have a new piston kit on the way from Jay and he suggested the crimp style clamps to prevent this from happening again instead of using the worm drive clamps. Here's what he's talking about:
Now my biggest dilema, with that much material gone off the piston, do I pull the motor and strip it down to see if there is any debris in the case, or just change out the piston and hope all the material exited through the exhaust when it melted.
I really don't want to pull the motor again, but I REALLY don't want to start a round 3 thread either. Thoughts?Oh, and for those of you who were debating the compression testing in the other thread, I did a compression test before I called Jay just to see how bad off I was. Mag 115, Center 125, PTO 130. The Mag was obviously down, but not super low as you would expect from what that piston looked like.
FYI, the exhaust couplers can be made from 3-1/2" ID high temp silicone tubing from McMaster-Carr. It's part # 5296K611 and costs $30.02 for a one foot piece. That should be enough for (4) couplers which works out to be $7.51 per each. Not too bad of a deal plus it will match my stinger hoses.
Regardless, it sure is fun when it runs right.
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