2001 Tango engine swap

[Blkrvrbart]

So the previous owner sucked a rock through the jet. While the boat is in the shed and it’s still crappy weather, I decided to pull the wear ring and stator. The impeller looks almost perfect, but one of the fins of the stator was dinged and there was a gouge in the back side of the wear ring. Upon removal of the wear ring it exposed a lot of corrosion of the aluminum, had some deep pits on the bottom right at about 5 o’clock looking at it from the back. A few people have talked about using JB Weld in the gouges, but I was all out of JB Weld. I had some high grade epoxy I used instead. After thoroughly cleaning the wear ring and stator, I mixed the epoxy, applied it with a tongue depressor, and when it fully cures in 24 hours I’ll sand it down. Then I believe I can reassemble it all and refill the pump.
How do I adjust the ride plate?

 

[Stomp10]

@Blkrvrbart From what I have read, you back out the countersunk screws located towards the rear of the plate, then use the nut on the bolt to push the plate down until the screw seats in its hole.
To me it sounds like you are reducing the threads in contact with the mounting holes and as the plate drops the hole is going to wander off center. Both conditions to me will lead to stripped bolt holes and threads, and have read where some folks had this happen.
If I had a sacrificial ride plate i would attempt to make a new one with longer bolts and recenter the countersunk holes. kind of working out how to make a plate to experiment with. Just haven't gotten that far yet.
Once again its getting too late too fast.
More later...

 

[Blkrvrbart]

Sorry should’ve called it a trim plate. When I started to pull the stator and wear ring I saw the adjustment screws. I’ll probably get through the break in process and see how it rides, then adjust it. Just want to be ready for the water when good weather gets here. Thank you all for your help. Figuring out a bimini setup for it next. Gotta get some shade up.

 

[Blkrvrbart]

Well, I sanded down the epoxy on the wear ring and stator fin. Repainted the stator, if for no other reason than to fill in some of the porosity of the cast aluminum. Put it all back together and replaced the shift and steer cable boots. Have to get some gear lube for it this week, and it’ll all be buttoned up and ready to go. There was a blown fuse in the back of the radio, too. Fixed that. It’s probably going to get replaced soon, no Bluetooth on this one. I’ll see how it rides during break in and mess with the trim plate if necessary. And I’ll let you know how it runs.

 

[Blkrvrbart]

Installed the depth finder. Epoxied the transducer to the hull, used a Ram Mount to hang it from. This was the better choice than an in dash unit.

 

[Bilmon]

almost the identical position I have my transducer installed, been there since 03 and works great. More room on the Mirage so have finder on a ram mount on dash

 

[Blkrvrbart]

I’ll let you know how it works. Thanks @Bilmon !

 

[Blkrvrbart]

almost the identical position I have my transducer installed, been there since 03 and works great. More room on the Mirage so have finder on a ram mount on dash

Wish there was a little more room on the dash, but it’s not too bad where it’s mounted.
The grandkids like it!

 

[Bilmon]

looks like it fits where you have it pretty well, rectangular gauge shown on mine in the general area you have your finder is the Smartcraft display. Love that thing, reads rpm, gph, total fuel used, water pressure, engine temp, and hrs.

 

[Blkrvrbart]

Can I get a smart craft setup for a 2001 Sport Jet? The smart vessel computer only goes back to 2003.

 

[Bilmon]

As far as the Sugarsands go it will only work with the later generation 240 [mid 01 I think] and the 200&250 Optimax

 

[Blkrvrbart]

Well poop. I’ll figure something out yet though.

 

[Blkrvrbart]

One other small problem with the boat I found was that the foam in the seats were broken, so it felt like you’re sitting deep in the seat. I used a couple of sheets of 1/8” plastic to reinforce the bottom of the foam above the seat frame. Cut the shape of the seat frame on the bandsaw.

 

[Blkrvrbart]

I randomly found this “as new” picture of the seat bottom. My seats don’t have that many elastic straps on them. Just thought that was interesting, maybe why the foam blew out.

 

[Blkrvrbart]

Got the cover put on it last week. They did a great job, nice fit, quick, and reasonable. Now we wait.

 

[Weeb]

It’s time for test blast.

 

[Blkrvrbart]

It’s alive! First startup it idles at 3000 rpm. @Bilmon and some other folks steered me in the right direction, I resynchronized the carbs, idles at 1400, ran great. Running 50:1 plus the oil injection on the first tank as instructed in the breakin instructions, so it smokes a little. Now we wait to put it in the water. Polished out some minor scratches. I did add a battery disconnect switch earlier on, too. I’ve always disconnected the negative cable to charge the batteries on any watercraft I’ve had before, but with the disconnect switch, that cuts down the effort needed to hook up a charger. I also have a trickle charger pigtail mounted on the battery.

 

[Blkrvrbart]

Well, the lakes and waterways reopen the first of May in the legally happy state of Illinois. This means I can get the Tango broke in before the weather is good enough to get the grandkids out with us. Hope this virus fizzles out soon, and we’re ready for another one to hit next time rather than get behind the eight ball.

 

[Blkrvrbart]

 

[4x15mph]

@Blkrvrbart Outstanding work! Great to see the restoration in progress and I can't wait to hear about the 1st day out