Unlimited jd

Thanks John, glad to hear its all working out, when work picks up this spring I WILL be back in the area, and expect to run the old bird! Lol good luck with it all! See/talk to you soon!

Diego9040

John,

congratulations on your upgrade, we should get together soon with your boat and with my friends at Haulover Marina ,they all have Formulas except Tom , Pablo and his 357 twin 509's, Brian with his 280 SS twin SMB's and also Tom with his 302 Boss(Baja), we can create our own Poker Run !! hahahahah

Hey Lil Red , you should join us when you come down!!

take care everyone.

Unlimited jd

I intend to!

masi242

Sprink that is another great upgrade you have much better control, we`ll be wait for pics.

sprink58

Regarding all of the "Detail" things I am doing: Memo to self and others...this restoration gives me a new appreciation for those that take on a project like this.

I remember when I first started this project 3 years ago there were more than a few local "geniuses" that had a lot of advice that often times started with " Oh...that's no big deal...all you have to do is just drop it in and bolt it up. NOT!!!

Advice to anyone considering this type of upgrade:

1. If it's not an originally Mercruiser powered boat...walk away...unless you have unlimited resources.
2. Avoid anything pre 1984....1983 is the transition year for MR-I to Alpha-I. If your prospect boat is at least rigged for Alpha you are already half way home...if not...you will change
EVERYTHING. Even with a big block boat with TRS Drives...you will inherit "log" style exhaust manifolds as opposed to newer style "Center Riser" style. They weigh about twice as
much...don't flow nearly as well and you end up replacing all of the brackets,etc.
3. One of my faults is that I remember the 70's and 80's and boating then like it was yesterday...but in terms of technology and available replacement parts it was a LOOOONG time
ago and many of the people I deal with today in securing parts and pieces weren't even born yet!!
4. Age is a number and you are only as old as you feel. Re working this 79 Formula reminds me of a great period in my life...but plain and simple...it's an old boat and I'm older than it is!!

I am having fun though!!

sprink58

OK...here is a pic of the Kiekhaefer Zero Effort Control installed...worked out perfectly.

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I know it doesn't look like much to you guys with newer boats but in a 79 model this represents quite a milestone mostly because of what has to happen behind the scenes to make this work!!

86242ls

Looks good!!! what's next on the list?

sprink58

Electronics (Audio System, GPS Garmin 740S), re-work the cockpit(including grab handles for passengers) and cabin...my wife won't go with me on the boat...too "Spartan" for her. I see a 20" Flat Screen and upgraded interior amenities for the 255 real soon. I'm looking at high wattage inverters to handle A/C while away from the dock also.

She says it like this, "I'm your wife and I expect and deserve a certain level of comfort if want me to spend any time with you on "your old boat'".

Generally...my lady could give a rats ass about engines and drives and such. She wants to be seen with me in something that's clean, stylish that she's not ashamed to be seen in. She doesn't give two hoots in Hell about whether it will run 50 or 70...nor does she care why it will or it won't. She's also a pretty damn good first mate and can drive the $hit out of a boat if the mood strikes her...she has had the 255 at 60 and squealing with joy the whole time.She embarrassed me the third time we took our big Sea Ray to Freeport...I fell asleep below while making the crossing one morning,,,she woke me up wanting to know where the quaranteen flag was. I asked her not to worry about it until we got closer to Freeport. she said "Well the nice Bahamian Defense official up top wants to know why we aren't flying it I jumped out of the rack and ran up on deck to see us surrounded by three Bahamian gunboats five miles out of Freeport Harbor...LOL. She's not bad with docking either...she will really appreciate the new controls. When we had our Sea Ray 40' EC, I taught her how to put it in the slip and I handled the lines. With both props turning clockwise the 255 was harder for her to handle than the Sea Ray was...we will see how it is with the new controller.

With understanding of all of the above I think Mrs. Sprink is going to start having her say about some things here on in LOL.

Andy396

Hello,

I want to first thank you so much for your posts. I enjoyed following along with you on your restoration. I'm in the process of building almost exactly the same engine combination that you have in you Liberator for my boat. I especially appreciate actual dyno results that I found on your post on another forum! What I'm having difficulty with is how you got 9.4:1 compression ratio with your parts combination. If I have the right part number piston, the ones you used are a +4cc piston. Using the following assumptions I come up with a 10.9:1 CR.

Bore: 4.030"
Stroke: 3.480"
Head Gasket Dia.: 4.125"
Gasket Thk.: 0.039"
Head Vol.: 64cc
Pistons: +4cc
Deck to Piston Clearance: 0.025"

Can you help me understand what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,
Andy

Crude Intentions

Looks great John!!