4-Banger fun

A couple posts ago I wrote about

smashing my hands in the garage door.

Not my finest moment.

Here's the prequel to that lameness.

The Big3 swapmeet was coming up,

perfect time to move heavy chit around,

and unload it on other people.

In rare form,

I'd start a couple days early,

trying not to rush it as in past years.

I was going for the heavy hitters,

big ticket items instead of a ton of little ones.

Of course after an hour(s) of cleaning,

this transmission ended up back home!

At the last minute,

we decided to extract this 4-banger

from the future project truck.

Yeah,

let's pull a stuck engine out

45 minutes before the sellers gate opens!

We had the tools,

and the man-boy power...

If you look closely,

here's the accident waiting to happen.

The A-frame was too tall to get in the garage,

and the chain hoist was at a crazy angle.

We got it out no problem,

but even with a seized rearend,

the truck had inched up just enough.

We'd push it back later...

The A-frame is the best.

This is the 3rd or 4th year we brought it.

You'd think a model A Ford engine wouldn't last,

at a swap meet put on by the A Ford club.

It was like fishing,

a bunch of nibbles and finally a bite.

There's always a catch,

the guy was from Northern California.

Could he pick it up later?

Oh allright...

Guess I'll have to load it back in the van,

and unload it one more time...

We could have sold it 4 times after that!

The engine sat at the yard for weeks,

stuck right in front of the new driveway,

along with the cherry picker,

in the dirt.

Fun.

Sloppy had actually made this deal,

and somehow never got the guys #!

Finally a stray call from a NorCal area code...

Ed and his wife drove all the way down

from Pleasanton in this luxury rig,

pulling a trailer only for this engine!

We joked how he could have rented a trailer here.

Crazy 4-banger guys!

Always good for a story...

We shoulda pushed the truck back though!

TP

Stinger Swap

Winter is the perfect time 

to scrounge for boat chit.

The so-cal conditions aren't too bad,

it seems the dark at 5pm 

messes with people.

People give stuff away!

On my craigslist hunting,

I found this oddball 1980's Force 90hp...

Free!

On funny enough the same boat as ours.

All it needed was a quick white cowl paint, 

to ditch the goofy pink and blue graphics.

The Force line has the worst reputation.

The engine is a bulletproof chrysler design.

Marketed to first time boaters,

the abuse comes from not cleaning the salt,

forgetting to mix 2-stroke oil,

not emptying the carb gas when stored,

not checking lower unit oil,

and most likely over-revving.

This one was a peach.

Equal 130 psi compression,

looked brand new under the cowl.

The perfect Baja motor,

it's going to Cabo to live in La Paz,

not with us though...

A concurrent score was this gem,

a 1974 Johnson 85hp v-4,

at about half the asking price!

Why do guys like to strip down perfect Whalers?

Hey I'll make it easy for them!

All the pieces were there,

just not put together.

This had baked in Palm Springs for years,

thankfully it was mechanically clean.

A rattlecan touch-up freshened the outside.

And wow after finding a fuel blockage,

this thing didn't want to stop.

My quick cowl spray paint was marginal,

and unused Johnson decals

were a needed distraction.

This one had 125-130 compression,

and would have been 

the period perfect backup outboard,

since our whaler is 1970.

Johnson/evinrude kept this solid design 

from 1974-1996 I think,

and these engines can run forever.

But again not on our boat!

This one left too,

finding the perfect home on an old glastron.

This deal was sweet,

as there was a trade option.

The owner had a 70's Johnson 70hp

with a dead lower unit.

How could I resist!

Well after some quick sleuthing,

this turned out to be even better,

a clean 1977 Johnson 75hp Stinger!

This was the hot chit back then!

Tons of race records broken,

all before power tilt/trim was standard.

This design also set the stage for Yamaha,

who used the inline 3-cylinder model as a base,

for the 90hp that we have now.

It's crazy how similar these engines are,

basically a reverse engineered copy.

It made giving up the 85hp easier!

Now the hunt is on for a lower unit.

The original is way trashed.

I doubt I'll get the cool Stinger graphics.

Crazy hippies...

Anyway,

always something fun!

TP

Xmas Trees

It's taken awhile,

but I'm learning to listen,

finding present clues during conversation.

A couple weeks ago my mom mentioned 

she'd like an olive tree for their front yard.

"Hmm...", I thought,

I've seen trees on craigslist before...

The perfect excuse to hunt!

Surprisingly I missed out on at least 3 trees.

These things get swooped on fast!

Sunday night I had a lucky text.

A week had gone by,

I had thought this ad was a fake,

or were they just too big?

Two trees were ready for the pickin!

How hard could this be?

I researched online,

spoke with Chip the landscaper...

Easy!

Monday afternoon Jaxon and I got to it...

The drive was longer than expected,

giving my mind time to wander.

The ad pics deceiving.

25' trees!?

I was imagining giant hulking monsters.

These may be too much.

Thankfully they were manageable,

Kristine wanted an oak variety,

get these outta here!

Her landscaper Carlos gave us some tips,

and in three hours Jax and I had dug up the yard.

Now what!!??

These were way heavier than I thought,

and each had separate logistic issues,

a small hill and a rocky path.

The next day 

would use all our previous loading skills...

Like before,

our early Tuesday start began afternoon.

Loading up equipment and getting a trailer,

then the 50 minute drive in traffic.

Did I mention it was raining?

We brought out the trusty A-frame,

the garden wagon,

long wooden planks,

and our secret weapon Jakob.

We had the booty loaded within 3 hours!

The kids were amazing.

Nothing fazes them.

We couldn't have planned it better,

driving home in slow traffic,

limiting the brutal speed wind.

They better like these!!

We decided to dump them at their house early,

no use risking more shock trying to be sly.

I'd predicted a "WTF" facial expression from my dad,

followed by uncontrolled gnawing 

on a fresh cigar.

Yep!

Their grandmother was ecstatic,

and wanted them both.

Phew!!

Wednesday morning 

the kids planned a 7am start.

Nope.

Ahh 930 is fine...

Gave my parents time to figure where they'd go.

Unbelievably,

we had these planted by noon!

This included an A-frame and a wagon ride

down the sidewalk 

and up a skinny walkway.

Twice!

The trees really filled out the empty front yard,

Please live!!

We did as much as we could 

to help them survive,

now the torch is passed to my parents,

who now can finally finish 

the front yard project.

Thanks Kristine and family!!

TP

May the Force...

Continuing on with our 

freebie craigslist hunting theme...

Who could resist a free running outboard!?

There's always a catch...

We were eating lunch when this popped up.

I immediately recognized the boat as a Whaler,

just like ours.

On the back hung a Force 85 hp.

The boat was a recent purchase,

it had been on craigslist for a month.

The new owner wanted a repower.

When texting he recognized our boat.

Somehow he had found our whaler rebuild online.

This typing finally paid off!

There's a funkiness to Force outboards,

apparent in the wild graphics.

Holey chit who came up with the digi #'s!

Even for late 80's that's pushin it...

Under the cover was pristine,

thanks to the dry Palm Springs air

and fresh water use.

Why would Steve not want to run this?

The Force brand has never had a good reputation.

Online there's a ton of bashing,

tough to defend when bench racing.

The 3-cylinder engine is a solid Chrysler design,

updated with Mercury electronics,

really a bulletproof setup.

The problems being they were the house brand 

for Bayliner boats,

(kinda the entry level)

and also the cheapest outboard on the market,

usually stripped to the bare necessities.

Most failures were probably a result of first timers not flushing the engine,

bad 2-stroke oil mix,

over-revving etc.

Tough to knock that bottom barrel stigma.

Man wouldn't it be fun to make stacker pipes?

And burn through San Diego bay on the whaler!

For now all I did was repaint the oversized cowl,

numbed up in basic white,

keeping the small Force emblem incognito.

This is the perfect engine to swap on the whaler,

in case of a fire sale,

then build around the yamaha 90.

Or find a stripped hull,

and build another boat.

Yeah another project...

Thanks Steve!

TP