Thinking about buying 1982 Century Riviera with A MERC 470

[rheacox]

Hi all,

I'm new here and kinda new to boats as well. We're looking to get a "new" boat however a new boat would would be much more expensive than we're willing to pay.

As the title says, I found a 1982 Riviera that we're planning to go and take a look at soon. Normally I wouldn't be too worried if it had almost any other engine. Our old glastron had a merc 305 and it was almost bulletproof. But its got a 170HP 470...

Based on what Ive read so far, the only reason I'm not running away from this boat is because its a one owner and from the looks of it, its been properly maintained since new. I was also told that the engine has about 600 hours on it (doesn't seem terrible for 30yrs of use but you tell me).

So I know I should be looking out for the alternator conversion and a 4" heat exchanger and be prepared to buy and install them if they aren't there already. Anything else i should be paying specific attention to?

Also, the price. Would $4k be reasonable for this boat?

 

[duped]

Re: Thinking about buying 1982 Century Riviera with A MERC 470

Cam seals go bad often, head gaskets are sensitive to overheats due to the different expansion of the iron head and aluminum block, among the other things you already listed. Although I have not seen the boat, unless its THE ONE you have your heart set on, I'd certainly pass on something of that vintage and with THAT powertrain, for that money.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Thinking about buying 1982 Century Riviera with A MERC 470

Cam seals go bad often, head gaskets are sensitive to overheats due to the different expansion of the iron head and aluminum block, among the other things you already listed. Although I have not seen the boat, unless its THE ONE you have your heart set on, I'd certainly pass on something of that vintage and with THAT powertrain, for that money.

+1!

 

[rheacox]

Re: Thinking about buying 1982 Century Riviera with A MERC 470

Alright thanks. Thats really all I was looking for. Its not even close to THE ONE, we want a bowrider, which the Century isn't.

In looking around, I found a 1985 19.5ft Cobalt which is much closer to what we want. Are Cobalts decent boats? I've only ever dealt with Glastrons. It has a Merc 305 and I believe an Alpha 1 drive which seems to be a good combo seeing as it was still going strong when our old boat fell apart around it.

Also, and I'm just spit ballin here, but could you replace the iron head on a 470 with an after market aluminum Ford 460 head to solve some problems?

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Thinking about buying 1982 Century Riviera with A MERC 470

Cobalt is the best boat according to people who have paid the premium price to buy one. Are they worth what they cost new? Hard to say, but they are well built boats.

The actual cylinder head is NOT the problem with those 470s. An aluminum head might help, but the engine has so many other issues, why bother?