68 Starflite Do I or Don’t I

[andrew j cox]

So I decided was time to get onto the Starflite and get her ready to swim after a 40 year break, every bolt I touch breaks, this is the first of the cd ignition V4s in 68 it’s an 85 with Selectric gearbox,
on the heads a couple of the lil jacket cover bolts are bust, every single bolt on the exhaust plate broke, this is a really nice old motor, I don’t want to give up on it, it is worth spending the time drilling the busted bolts out, re tapping the threads,
i need to drop the heads and split the jackets off, what’s the chances the head bolts will start busting too?

 

[Scott Danforth]

only you can state if a 51 year old motor is worth it.

 

[Chris1956]

Broken bolts are a real drag. I assume it is a salty dog? You might check it over to see if there is other "salty stuff" that won't work....

 

[racerone]

In the picture it almost looks new.----Any pictures with cowling.-----Hard to believe bolts would break on that beauty.

 

[Crosbyman]

bolt breaks….

to bad for any that broke on the remaining ones here is what happened to me on a really bad bolt on my son's car wheel …

I used a " Dupont snowblower" silicone spray used to get the snow glide out of the snowblower chute.
https://www.amazon.com/DuPont-Teflon.../dp/B07Q7DD2YC


the stuff is real clear and quickly worked it's way deep into the threads . I was amazed how easy it was to get the stuck bolt of the hub. I know there are lots of deep creep.. loose nut etc... stuff out there but that was my experience with my snowblower silicone spray made by Dupont

some amount of heat may also help break the bond and if not… try a freeze spay … A can of keyboard duster held upside down is a real chiller

as to your long term objective I think the commo wisom is to proceed with caution and do a compression test first

nice motor by the way

 

[gbrowne9]

this may sound crazy but hit the bolts with a hammer 3 or 4 times before removal.get a impact socket and hit it.I did this on my exhaust plate and every bolt came out.40 years of working on cars.

 

[jimmbo]

67 was the first year for CD Ignition on the Production V4s, 68 was the first year they shoved it under the Flywheel.

Your engine looks nice on the outside, but as you know it is breaking on the inside. I see it has the 10" X 9 1/4" prop on it.

Being 51 yrs old, spending any amount of money on it is like running the money thru the paper shredder. You could part it out. that control box by itself can get $100, because of the shift switch. The gearcase can get you a few bucks too. Then again the thing might have some Sentimental meaning...

 

[racerone]

Andrew works on too many motors for any of them to ne sentimental to him.

 

[Crosbyman]

patience brings joy….

 

[Tassie 1]

About 9 yrs ago my son bought a 90 hp evinrude that looked like Rosie out of the Jetsons,

l think it was around 65-66, the one that had hard to get carb floats and an ammeter on the dash,

BMT cost $500 au,
after changing plugs it ran well but water was spraying out from under the block,
still used it in fw nearby att,
thirsty beast iirc...

we moved to a island state later, costs a fortune to bring boats over on the " boat" ( Spirit of Tasmania )

that one got left behind...wasn't suitable for the coastal saltwater boating we do here,

couldn't give it away, even with a good trailer.

 

[andrew j cox]

Theres still a few around, mines the first if the cd ignition has powertilt rare on those

 

[andrew j cox]

In the picture it almost looks new.----Any pictures with cowling.-----Hard to believe bolts would break on that beauty.

Well when i got the motor it had been stored for 40 years, the owner died years ago the family were paying storage fees on his stuff including his old wooden boat with this on it, apparently hed cruise around sydney harbour every sunday then take it home, anyway they auction all his clobber, fella here bought the boat which was rotted to buggery so he pulled the motor left the rest where it was, he sent it off to get it looked at , it came back they said siezed, its beyond economical repair, it was given to me, i love these things there gorgeous motors plus i have a 50 year old boat i want to put it on, i thought i wonder how siezed it is, i put a socket on it with breaker bar and stood on it it broke free and spun with compression, so i thought ripper all is good rest should be easy, i painted her up, it sat for a while, it had a ratty harness the mice got at it in places and it was brittle, so i thought im gonna build a new harness so i gutted what i could, i thought ill check u der the exhaust plate for corrosion , every bolt broke, i got the shits and threw a sheet over it and its still there, i really dont want to dump it, the bolts are only mild steel so easy to drill out, but i cant drill a straight hole to save myself just ask my old Chrysler 115 and her exhaust plate issues, 8 broken bolts, still gotta deal with that yet too. Ill try put up the pics i have of the power head.

 

[andrew j cox]

67 was the first year for CD Ignition on the Production V4s, 68 was the first year they shoved it under the Flywheel.

Your engine looks nice on the outside, but as you know it is breaking on the inside. I see it has the 10" X 9 1/4" prop on it.

Being 51 yrs old, spending any amount of money on it is like running the money thru the paper shredder. You could part it out. that control box by itself can get $100, because of the shift switch. The gearcase can get you a few bucks too. Then again the thing might have some Sentimental meaning...

Yes jimmbo i love it, its not hurting anything sitting so maybe sometime ill sit down and try drill a few out see if i can drill a straight hole lol didnt get control box but got the switch out of it 3 wire like new it us, the prop is an aussie made austral bronze job, it has tilt but i had a plan to make it trim too,
the bolt you had to just gently twist and off the heads come, im retired I have plenty time for these projects, if i have to strip it to do rings , n bearings ill do it, stick 115 pistons in them lol, i dont know maybe ill stand it up on a mount and just admire its good looks

 

[ShoestringMariner]

Man, that is great looking motor. looks brand new. I'd give it the time