Re: the starcraft islander rescue.....sorta.....got some work ahead!
did you go with new pistons and rings? if so did it have to get rebored?
what was the total cost of the rebuild and how much tyime did it consume doing?
that marina i bought all that stuff from is cutting up a fiberglass bow rider with a 165 HP inline 6 like mine...but i am sure it is newer...he said hell take the motor to the junkyard and get .08cents a lb.... i am thinking maybe it will be worth it to grab it for parts...but since it isnt running, I am wondering what could be usefull?
bob
I paid to have mine totaly rebuilt for about $700. and that was a pro doing the work and for everything, later I found out how unneeded that was.
Normally it may need just some cleaning up. If you take it apart and all you have is light rust, don?t worry about it. Forget what all the inexperienced will say, this motor will be fine if light rust is all you have.
Sand with some 2k grit or hone, clean all the "gum" out, clean rings and reuse unless something is obviously wrong, replace the seals and gaskets. There are only a few things you need to watch, and that?s the inside of the distributor make sure its clean and no rust, if rusty you can sandblast and paint but better to find one with no rust. The other is a carb and that is tricky because this motor will run with a junky carb pretty well but great with a nice one.
I have seen them work fine with pits 1/23 deep and as big as a dime by the way.
I have also seen these motors burn 2 main bearings and then be able to limp home at 4 mph for 10 miles because an obstruction stopped the cooling water. That?s impressive for any motor, and it didn?t to any other further damage, just popped out the burnt ones dropped in a couple of new ones and it was good to go.
Here is a interesting story, not a recommendation?
I had a buddy that got one, totally seized up, pulled plugs and shot some PB blaster in all the holes heavy and left if for a couple of days, we pulled the heads and the cyl were rusted pretty bad couldn?t move the pistons. We took a block of wood and started to beat on them getting them to move a little. He said ?that?s good lets sand it now? and he took a die grinder with a rubber drum sander for wood working and sanded all the rust out with it that was showing! Then we move the pistons until the work freely and he sanded all the rest of the rust out.
Now my disclaimer is that he is sort of crazy, he then took the old head gasket and heated the solid rings in the gasket that goes around the pistons with a torch and plopped it back on and bolted the head down. He had a good carb and distributor for it, and he did wash out the lower end. That crazy motor started up as fast as a new motor and ran for 8 years strong that I know of and is still going fine. The total cost to him was $4.00 in a couple of drums for his die grinders sanding drum and sparkplugs. The cheap devil didn?t even get new gaskets, or wires but I would not recommend that, it?s just and interesting story of just how these motors are not fussy.
It has great mid-range power, its not a top end screamer motor, but a solid cruising motor. It pushed my StarCraft 21? about 25 mph (gps) fully loaded at a calm rpm with tremendous gas mileage. Its not a high compression motor so it likes higher octane fuel but it only sips it.
Grab the other one for parts, as the manifold is worth it alone, and of course there may be other parts as well.
I have worked on a lot of motors from 4 cyl to 8?s and the straight six is my favorite for power to weight and durability issues. That?s why you see so many in older boats they never die, only seize up from being left out in the weather. Mine had 300+ hrs and ran like it was bran new after rebuilding and is still going strong with new owners for another 300 hrs.
Sounds like a fantastic find! Shoot some pics up of the find! 
