New here and my 1986 Century 180 Bronco

[sixt9stang]

↵Hi everyone. I wanted to say hi and start a thread for the restoration of the first boat I have ever owned. It is a Century 180 Bronco Limited with a 3.0 Merc. It is supposed to be a Merc anyways but I figured out that at some point the engine was swapped with a 3.0 OMC from 1992. I really wish I had found this forum before I purchased the boat as I probably would have skipped it. The floor was pretty bad and the owner said that it had been sitting for 5-6 years after it started knocking. I decided I could probably work on this engine since it is just like a car engine.

I have started working on it and will start posting more pics tonight to start getting advice. I have been reading a lot here and already learned so much.

​Anyways, here is a picture of it once I got it home and had the family start checking it out.

 

[sixt9stang]

What I started with on the inside.

Uncovered the fuel tank.

Floor removal. Hoping not to go up too much further.

 

[tpenfield]

Welcome aboard. Looking forward to following your restoration project. Is this what the family is signed up for ? got any pictures of the 1969 Mustang (based on your member name )

 

[sixt9stang]

Thanks. Both me and the wife are skeptical this boat will make it into the water but I think with the community help from here I can do it.

Here is a pic of my Mustang how it currently sits. Unfortunately it is another project since I took the cam out while moving the car to our house back in 2007. Then 3 kids happened and other projects lol. I finally brought the block back into the machine shop recently so who knows, it might be on the road again later this year depending on how much money the boat eats up.

 

[sixt9stang]

I was hoping the the knocking that the previous owner heard was a loose rocker that I had heard of on other 3.0 engines but unfortunately this was not the case. This is the plug from cylinder 4.

Number 4 piston.

The rods are actually stamped 1,2,3,4 meaning that this engine has been worked on before. Most likely rings and bearings is all though since it doesn't appear to be bored out yet. I am going to wait to do anything with the engine until I am closer to getting the boat done so that I am more confident that it will be ready. I did find someone selling an engine for $650 though. It would be cheaper than the machine work and parts to fix this one most likely but I do not know if I want a used engine.

 

[sixt9stang]

All of the water logged foam out. There is still some foam up front but it is pretty dry. I will still try to take as much out as possible. It seems like there are pieces of plywood glassed in down the center of the boat that I am probably going to have to redo also. I am only going to cut into the ski locker a little ways since it is pretty dry up there and I have no idea how to get further up without running the front seating area.

Motor mount out. That was a lot of work. Glad I decided to take it out though since it was soaked underneath.

 

[tpenfield]

Nice picture. . . 1969 was a good year for the Mustang styling . . . by 1971-72 they got a little funky looking.

Is there an aluminum tank that came out of the boat? If so check it really well for corrosion (pits). With a rotten boat, usually the fuel tank is sitting in water and develops pits that lead to fuel tank problems and safety issues.

 

[sixt9stang]

The paint on the outside of the tank looks pretty decent. It also still had about 30 gallons of gas still in it that wasn't too bad and I put in my truck. I will be cleaning the tank real good though and will give it a closer look before it goes back in.

 

[sixt9stang]

I have the side pieces of the transom skinned and started taking the wood off. The sides have an angle and then the bottom 4-6 inches is straight up and down. Looks like it is actually a separate piece. Anyone know for sure? I haven't messed with the center piece yet. It seems really solid but the side pieces sort of go behind the center that I dug out. The opening in it only has a couple of soft spots but I would guess that since I am going this far I should just do it all. It has really thick fiberglass on it so it is going to take a lot of work.

This is a pic of how the side changes and goes behind the center.

Here is the whole transom.

 

[tpenfield]

Most likely a separate piece for the bottom sides . . . sure looks like it from the picture. Not a big deal.

The transom wood does not look too bad, but you are doing the right thing by taking care of it all now. there is another thread here on iBoats where someone has to 'go in' again only a few years after replacing the stringers, because they let the transom go as is and it rotted out in that short amount of time.

 

[sixt9stang]

Very happy I decided to do the transom wood. It was very bad at the bottom. Barely anything left and just mush.

Cut slices in it with the circular saw.

Started peeling it. You can see how bad it is at the bottom.

Most of the wood cleaned off. The fiberglass at the bottom is in pretty rough shape.

I am guessing that the next step will be grinding to good fiberglass and a lot of clean up everywhere. On the transom, when I get ready to put new wood back on, should I put some fiberglass cloth on the existing fiberglass first to build back up the bottom especially? Or should I just fill it in with PB?