Corvette Madness

[Rruuff Day]

That’s a good guess the only thing is I had this boat out at the lake for a good hour long thrashing.
I ordered a new cam shaft and then tore out what I needed.
Nothing on the bottom end got touched.
I put the engine back together and then fired it up letting it idle till it seized up.
The top end looked like it had oil.
The only other change after the was first ran at the lake was I added a remote oil filter.
I wonder if I had a brain fart and reversed the oil flow by connecting oil line up wrong.
Hmmmm now I must go to the garage and investigate the remote filter.
Cheers!

Patiently awaiting the remote filter check....

 

[smokindave]

Patiently awaiting the remote filter check....

Lol sorry about that,well I’m waiting for corvette parts to come in I got into the small block and have it ready for the machine shop.
From what I see the remote oil filter is correct and the distributor gear is new.
I can confirm that they both attach and turn.
I did pull the distributor that day it seized.
I wasn’t happy with where it was sitting so I pulled and repositioned it to my liking.
I’m definitely getting rid of the plastic clip on the oil pump shaft.
I can’t believe I put that on there in the first place.
I’m going to take a bunch of the garbage parts and bearings to the machine shop and see if he has any answers.

I’m also ordering parts for my other jet boat,I need a steering system the old one isn’t trust worthy.
It’s a big block ls6,the real deal all ready to drop in the boat,hoping to break 100mph.

that looks like it’s plumbed correctly.

Distributor is good

smiley face

brand new high flow oil pump,I did open it up and it looks good.

 

[smokindave]

I thought I was 100% happy with my exhaust install.
Today I opened the garage door and was able to stand back and get a good look at it.
I went to 95% happy.
Tomorrow I’m going to tackle that job then while waiting for parts and while it’s still on jack stands I’m going to do a cut and polish on the sides of the car.
I may even wet sand some of the orange peel.
I bought some pretty aggressive cutting disks and am hoping that works.
I am a little uncomfortable wet sanding only because my gauge won’t measure clear coat on nonmetallic surfaces.
I did try a few days ago wet sanding on the drivers side fender.
I had and still have a heavy scratch that goes almost all the way through the clear coat.
The paint now in the square foot sure looks good,no orange peel at all just deep black.
I also need to figure out what length serpentine belt I need now that I have gone to a 3” pulley on the supercharger.
Getting close to being finished,I’m thinking back on the road sometime in April.

 

[12cents]

100MPH on the water - WOW! I have been up to 39kts in an FRC doing manoeuvres and I thought that was just flying. That was a thrill. 100 MPH (87kts) would be a thrill and a half.

Edit: I had to correct my math, used the wrong conversion factor. I am soooo used to converting to metric for my work that it is now an ingrained habit, LOL. Thanks for correcting me Rruff

 

[OL Yeller]

100 mph...on the water? That's just nuts...gives new meaning to "get in, sit down, shut up and hold on. Good luck.

 

[Black 03 Z06]

What kind of hull do you have for your jet boat? Love the V drives and Jets especially the wood deck ones.

Great pics and stories.

 

[Rruuff Day]

100 mph...on the water? That's just nuts...gives new meaning to "get in, sit down, shut up and hold on. Good luck.

I can't even imagine 100mph on the water. In 2012 I was in Alabama at a bass tournament on Lake Guntersville and my buddy from there gave me his boat. It was a 17 foot Triton Bass boat with a 225 Merc on it and I had never been on the water that fast in my life... At 65 mph it started acting like an old GoldWing with the speed wobble... It still had more but I didn't...lol... Most of the other tournament entries were all sponsored fisherman and man, those boats spared no expense. FYI, they have university scholarships down there for bass fisherman students... Who'd a thunk it....

The red one was mine....

 

[smokindave]

So both of my jet boats are Canadian built form California Marine in Richmond BC.
They called them “Catalina”and they were a lightweight hull.
Back in the day they were a competitive boat design.
The blue one has the small block and the yellow has the ls6.

trailer before rebuild,two men can lift the yellow hull it can’t be over 300lbs as a bare hull.

freshly painted rebuilt Catalina trailer.

They used Catalina logos off a Pontiac Catalina.

I’ve polished the light weight gas tanks

I’ll be doing a complete cut and polish before I’m finished.

The small block Catalina

top speed out off the small block was 56mph.

I bought the big block in pieces but the original owner from new told me that his top speed was 91mph.
I’m hoping to find 9 more mph out of her.
Hoping that I can take it to BC to race this year but am thinking COVID will kill the races again this year.
The blue boat will be up for sale come spring time.

 

[Rruuff Day]

Sweet!

 

[smokindave]

Either one of these boats would look cool hooked up to my Corvette.
But that isn’t going to happen...

 

[smokindave]

100 mph...on the water? That's just nuts...gives new meaning to "get in, sit down, shut up and hold on. Good luck.

Honestly my jet boat doesn’t feel fast or iffy.
As long as the jet is in the up position once at speed and it gets up to speed fast there is no fear what so ever but take your foot off the pedal to fast the scare meter goes up fast.
The feeling when you floor it and it launches out of the water is a rush.
Cheers

 

[Black 03 Z06]

There was at one time a drag boat group out there, Fraser Valley Timing Association maybe? Still around?

Did the builder of your hulls have any connection to Bitz (spelling?) Boats? Think he still is building High Performance boats there, maybe had a bit of a reputation.

Anyways you are on the verge of being banned because you have too many toys!..

Thanks for sharing the pics and stories.

 

[smokindave]

There was at one time a drag boat group out there, Fraser Valley Timing Association maybe? Still around?

Did the builder of your hulls have any connection to Bitz (spelling?) Boats? Think he still is building High Performance boats there, maybe had a bit of a reputation.

Anyways you are on the verge of being banned because you have too many toys!..

Thanks for sharing the pics and stories.

Yes Fraser Valley Dragboat Association,they started back up a couple of years ago but has had some bad luck after losing their place to race at,bad politics but have a few private places being offered up but we shall see.Damn COVID-19!

I never heard of that boat manufacturer,my boats are basically a Hondo that’s a bit different at the stern.
Back in the 70’s & 80’s there was at least forty different race boat builders out there.

As for too many toys,I go by the philosophy “too much is never enough”!

I do believe that quote came from Keith Richards and he still seems to be doing well! lol

 

[OL Yeller]

So both of my jet boats are Canadian built form California Marine in Richmond BC.
They called them “Catalina”and they were a lightweight hull.
Back in the day they were a competitive boat design.
The blue one has the small block and the yellow has the ls6.View attachment 78614View attachment 78615View attachment 78616trailer before rebuild,two men can lift the yellow hull it can’t be over 300lbs as a bare hull.
View attachment 78618freshly painted rebuilt Catalina trailer.View attachment 78619View attachment 78620They used Catalina logos off a Pontiac Catalina.View attachment 78621I’ve polished the light weight gas tanks View attachment 78622I’ll be doing a complete cut and polish before I’m finished. View attachment 78624The small block CatalinaView attachment 78625View attachment 78626top speed out off the small block was 56mph.View attachment 78627View attachment 78628View attachment 78629View attachment 78630View attachment 78631 I bought the big block in pieces but the original owner from new told me that his top speed was 91mph.
I’m hoping to find 9 more mph out of her.
Hoping that I can take it to BC to race this year but am thinking COVID will kill the races again this year.
The blue boat will be up for sale come spring time.

Nice boats, those seats have some beefy side bolsters, need that to keep from rolling out of them at warp speed. I like the map pockets on the back of them, nice touch. Hope you get to thoroughly enjoy them this year

 

[smokindave]

Nice boats, those seats have some beefy side bolsters, need that to keep from rolling out of them at warp speed. I like the map pockets on the back of them, nice touch. Hope you get to thoroughly enjoy them this year

Those are the original seats from 1978.
They are in not bad shape but are showy their age.
The yellow and orange boat has its original seats too but they are wore out.
They were sewn as diamonds instead of the tick and roll and cracked on most of the diamond stitching.
I’ll definitely be taking those seats to be redone.

 

[RockyPM]

Reminds me of a story an old boss told me. He has a Cobra jet boat and was out in Sicamous with another friend in his jet boat as well. they were goofing around on the lake and a large house boat started flagging them down. so they went over to see why. The people on the houseboat were asking them to get them wet with the spray from their boats. This is where it gets interesting. Bob and his buddy back their boats up the long side of the house boat and on the count of three, punched the throttles and raised the jetavators making firehoses! they eased up pretty quickly and when they looked back they had cleared the entire top section of the houseboat!!
There was people, lawn chairs, coolers and anything else that wasn't fastened down to the houseboat floating in the lake! they did help and pull people out of the water and cleaned up. Most were laughing but a few of the wives were not impressed. Would have been awesome so see! @Rruuff Day Probably knows who I'm talking about!

 

[smokindave]

Reminds me of a story an old boss told me. He has a Cobra jet boat and was out in Sicamous with another friend in his jet boat as well. they were goofing around on the lake and a large house boat started flagging them down. so they went over to see why. The people on the houseboat were asking them to get them wet with the spray from their boats. This is where it gets interesting. Bob and his buddy back their boats up the long side of the house boat and on the count of three, punched the throttles and raised the jetavators making firehoses! they eased up pretty quickly and when they looked back they had cleared the entire top section of the houseboat!!
There was people, lawn chairs, coolers and anything else that wasn't fastened down to the houseboat floating in the lake! they did help and pull people out of the water and cleaned up. Most were laughing but a few of the wives were not impressed. Would have been awesome so see! @Rruuff Day Probably knows who I'm talking about!

Haha I’ve hosed a few people in my life,it’s always funny.
I’ve got property in Malakwa 20 km west of Sicamous.
I’ll have the big block out there this summer,I love the area.
Some of the best snowmobiling in BC too.
That’s what motivated me to buy my acreage.
I can sled from my door,god’s country!

 

[smokindave]

Today I ordered a 101.5” serpentine belt for my car.
I’m hoping it’s the right one,it’s supposed to be here tomorrow.
I’ll be in my shop as soon as it comes in.
Getting close to hearing the magic!lol

 

[smokindave]

No parts yet today so I didn’t do too much in the garage today.
For some crazy reason I decided to polish up the stainless steel on my long tube headers.
Must be my OCD striking again but I had to do something.
I did add some heat reflecting tape underneath in some spots.
There were a few areas close to the collector on the header where heat could get into.

it won’t take long to finish...definitely some corvette Madness going on.lol

gap at each side of headers sealed up with heat reflecting tape.

 

[smokindave]

My serpentine belt has arrived!
I sure hope this is the one.