SPECTRALEN's 20 Rebuild

[SPECTRALEN]

The nav lights on my Howard are actually lower than Spectralen's with the chrome "eyes" type lamps. Most water cops wouldn't give a rat's ass about those lights as long as the operator isn't "lit".:drink

Uh Oh, Sounds like I might be screwed.:drunk

 

[Rickybobby]

SPA
That is so cool when someone thinks outside the box(blows me away, wishin i could), even if you have to do a little "education".... Worst case scenerio you have to explain it to the judge, come on now, the judge is really going to slam you for those cool lights ????? I am thinkin not.....

You might even be able to make a buck or two if you can figure out a way to protect your design??? Very smooth look, reminds me of the trick stuff they do to the cars to "clean" them up.

rb

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Carpet is all done and the front seats are in. She's about ready for the maiden voyage and I think i'll leave the hatch off for that, just so I can keep an eye on the engine for leaks and whatever.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Awesome!!!!! great job Lenny, congratulations the boat looks great, when are you getting her wet?

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Awesome!!!!! great job Lenny, congratulations the boat looks great, when are you getting he wet?

Thanks Cliff. Shooting for Monday, after work. It should be pretty calm on the lake at that time, but who knows, I might feel brave this weekend, if the time allows for it.

 

[stickman07]

Looks absolutely fantastic Lenny. Congrats

 

[nrbr]

Lookin good!!

 

[nrbr]

Did you run it yet?!

 

[Quicksilver]

Beautiful work!

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Did you run it yet?!

Not Yet. I'm coaching my daughters softball team and next week will be a better shot at it.
Don't worry, the pics will go up, sink :yikes or swim .

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Lenny, your killing me.... I hope the lack of pictures means your daughters softball team is winning a lot of tournaments!

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Lenny, your killing me.... I hope the lack of pictures means your daughters softball team is winning a lot of tournaments!

It's just a Rec team, but we are winning, 4-1 as of now.

Now that you asked, "why no pictures?"
I am having all kinds of trouble trying to get the motor to idle. I took apart the holley that seemed to work fine when I broke in the cam about 3 years ago. I recently installed a new Edelbrock 600 1409, same problem. Vacuum gauge bounces between 16 and 24 when I can sort of get a reading before it dies. She fires right up and revs up nice and smooth, but when rpm's come down it stumbles and does kind of a hiss and quits. Pulled the valve covers and all the rockers are snug and clean, nothing looks out of order. I did a smoke test with a Halloween Fog Machine but no signs of leaks. I had the valve covers off to see if it may have been leaking under the intake, no smoke. I did re torque the intake bolts before the smoke test and they seemed around 20 lbs, put them at 30.

So, I'll try it again and then start looking at maybe an intake valve is sticking or not shutting fast enough, and then move over to ignition.

I should have been on the water a dozen times by now.:grumble:

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Well, I think I found what appears to be my vacuum leak. As I was checking my intake valves for sticking, using a pry bar type method and pressing the valve down and feeling for any type of catching or anything that would keep it from closing, I thought I should be checking the exhaust also. The first one I checked seamed smooth. I went to reinstall and the rocker bolt was collapsing the valve spring, opening the valve. I rotated the engine to make sure it was on low cam, and it was. The lifter must be pumped up, keeping the exhaust valve open slightly, creating an intake leak when that cylinders intake vale opens.
This problem is new. I recently changed the oil and using Valvoline Racing 20w50. The reports show this has the highest zinc. Crane Cams web site says weak springs with higher viscosity oils can lead to lifter pump up. These are the original 1977 460 valve springs, so there's probably the 2 causes of my problem.
Going to try and fix the lifter, 10w30 oil and maybe get some new valve springs.

Anybody else have this happen to them?

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Lifters are good. I didn't realize that when reinstalling rockers it takes a little time for the valve spring to push the lifter down to its right size.
Intake manifold is off and going to try a new set of gaskets. There is a small amount of milk in the valley area, but the dipstick isn't really showing this, so I got to believe it's the gasket leaking. I have to fix this vacuum leak!

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Not the best run and not the worst. Still have some bugs like gas surges and backfiring through the carb on acceleration. Did get it a little over 4000 rpm and it felt pretty good with lots of pulling.:cool

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Very nice.:thumbsup Only a slight bog on top end throttle. I had changed to bigger jets and smaller needles for this run. They came with the carb and so I will buy the step up kit or something that gives me more to work with.
This thing pulls nice and hard, motor sounds great and there was some nice size chops in the water and the boat feels solid and tight. I'm pretty happy and can't wait to put the hatch on and get the full affect.
And one of the greatest things about having a California Daycruiser in Michigan is that all these boaters, who have been boating for years,are just blown away by how cool this boat looks. I see all kinds of high end boats at the ramp, Sunsation, Fountain, Donzi. Nobody is getting the attention like this 20 ft. Spectra.
Very cool day.:cool

 

[specrocz]

Dude, you deserve this thing being as mint as it is! Just looking at the start of this thread and the chronicle of the work that has been put in is amazing! May she give you and your family a lifetime of boating fun!:champagne:

 

[boatnam2]

Looks amazing!

 

[stickman07]

Congratulations.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

She's floatin Lenny!!!! Congrats man I hope you use the heck of of her the rest of the summer, looks great

 

[Cole Trickle]

awesome...nice build!thumbsup

 

[SPECTRALEN]

She's floatin Lenny!!!! Congrats man I hope you use the heck of of her the rest of the summer, looks great

Thanks Cliff. A whole lot of what I did to this boat most likely would have been done wrong or just not as nice if it wasn't for all your help and encouragement. You took the time to give me, basically a person you didn't know, detailed instructions that helped a ton. I have the skills but would have wasted a lot of time and money in material if it wasn't for you. So I truly thank you Cliff and hope someday I can shake your hand.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

WOW Lenny thanks, but I have to tell you I took some of your ideas as well brother!!! How did you Son enjoy the boat, is he planning trips yet?

 

[SPECTRALEN]

WOW Lenny thanks, but I have to tell you I took some of your ideas as well brother!!! How did you Son enjoy the boat, is he planning trips yet?

He loves it. We have a couple of plans to go to some lakes up north this season hopefully.
I'm still going to take her out one more time and then it's full interior. She is running nice right now with a slight hesitation before the secondaries kick in.

 

[SPECTRALEN]

I have the full interior in and still dialing in the carb. A very slight flat spot just before secondaries kick. One more size bigger on the sec. jets and should be good.:thumbup:
A few pics of Orchard Lake this past Sunday. A beautiful and calm lake, and only 30 min. away.:thumbup:

 

[SpectraPat]

I have the full interior in and still dialing in the carb. A very slight flat spot just before secondaries kick. One more size bigger on the sec. jets and should be good.:thumbup:
A few pics of Orchard Lake this past Sunday. A beautiful and calm lake, and only 30 min. away.:thumbup:

Looks AMAZING!! Nice job!!

 

[vdcruiser]

WOW, that thing looks awesome in the water, nice job. What carb are you using, maybe the secondary squirters need to be bigger.

 

[SPECTRALEN]

WOW, that thing looks awesome in the water, nice job. What carb are you using, maybe the secondary squirters need to be bigger.

Thanks, It feels pretty awesome too.

It's an Edelbrock 600, model 1409.

I have been making adjustments in the rich direction and getting positive gains each time.
Right now I have .101 jets in the primary with 65x47 rods. .104 jets in the secondaries. Pump rod moved up to rich position. I slightly pulled the step up springs for a stiffer action and everything being done has got me to just the slightest of a flat spot.
I am going to try a .107 in the secondaries for my next trip out.:thumbup:

 

[SPECTRALEN]

My son made a 1.5 in. carb spacer for the boat in his shop class at school. Did a very nice job. I gave him a gasket and he milled it out. So a new cable hold down was needed.

 

[Quicksilver]

That's a small carb for that Ford 460. Vacuum secondaries aren't that good on jet boats either.

 

[johnny79]

That's a small carb for that Ford 460. Vacuum secondaries aren't that good on jet boats either.

Those Edelbrock carbs never gave me nothing but grief, switched to a Holley when I had my 79 Spectra 20 and never had another issue. The new to me 76 Spectra 20 I bought has this Holley Marine 650, works perfect on this 460 Ford.

 

[johnny79]

Those Edelbrock carbs never gave me nothing but grief, switched to a Holley when I had my 79 Spectra 20 and never had another issue. The new to me 76 Spectra 20 I bought has this Holley Marine 650, works perfect on this 460 Ford.

460 Ford w/Holley Marine 650 CfM. Your boat is beautiful btw, turned out great. Love these old boats.

 

[SPECTRALEN]

That's a small carb for that Ford 460. Vacuum secondaries aren't that good on jet boats either.

It's been argued high and low on all the sites about carb sizes. I jetted this thing on the rich side and she runs great.:thumbsup A stock 460 at WOT doesn't use the air fuel that a bigger carb pushes. These boats all came with 600 cfm for a reason. Do you think Spectra wanted to sell their boats under carbureted for what? Fuel economy? Cheaper build cost? Hardin Marine probably supplied them with the carbs, surely they had to know if these motors needed more cfm? I agree that with performance upgrades, and the demands from them, more cfm is needed. My boats doing 55 on GPS and if you look at all the pics in this thread and see all the weight I put into the floor and interior I'd say the motor is working pretty good.:thumbsup

Edelbrocks are all manual secondaries, But on my other Spectra 20 Jet, stock 460, that had a 600 holley 4010 w/ vac secondaries, it ran great. I think research and just dialing in a carburetor takes time but does pay off.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Hey Lenny, your Son did a nice job on the spacer! Very cool that the school has some nice equipment for the kids to work on and turn out some useful pieces. Hope you have another great summer with the boat and family!

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Hey Lenny, your Son did a nice job on the spacer! Very cool that the school has some nice equipment for the kids to work on and turn out some useful pieces. Hope you have another great summer with the boat and family!

Thanks Cliff. I could have picked up a spacer for less than 20 bucks, instead had my son make one at school, get an A for the project, and just $70 dollars in aluminum, that the school picked up the tab.

 

[SPECTRALEN]

New edition to the rig. Only 110 bucks at Walmart online and it solves my sun issue without any hardware. First time out but it seems pretty cool.:thumbup:

 

[SPECTRALEN]

I thought about it for a long time and decided that I was going with a Sony sound system and here's where she will be located.:rolleyes

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Install complete.

 

[stickman07]

I went all Memphis Audio & have the black box set up. No holes anywhere, the head unit is a wired remote. Might check it out before ya cut a big hole.

 

[SPECTRALEN]

I went all Memphis Audio & have the black box set up. No holes anywhere, the head unit is a wired remote. Might check it out before ya cut a big hole.

I know the system your talking about. That would be what I would use if I was going to install any type of audio.
Those last 2 posts I made were basically poking fun and just saying that this little boom box is getting the job done just fine.

 

[stickman07]

LOL .... Gotcha

 

[ka0tyk]

the umbrella is cool, obviously u cant be under way with it up though right? any reason you went with that over a bimini?

 

[SPECTRALEN]

the umbrella is cool, obviously u cant be under way with it up though right? any reason you went with that over a bimini?

No Go :nono: while underway for sure. Very nice on the way it sets up and fits in a sleeve for storage. I wanted a Bimini and bought a couple off of Craigs, but they either didn't fit or to get one that would fit right would cost between 800 and 1000 bucks. Custom.
This way I'm only out $110 and it matches in color pretty close and seems to be a fix for the sun.
Also, I hate hardware screwed all over a custom boat, especially when the boat has great body lines to begin with. That's the main reason I built my whole interior low. When you look at a daycruiser without the bimini laying down across the back, I think it looks so much better, but that's just my opinion. When I see nice boats with their biminis, I don't hold it against them, it's just part of boating.

 

[SPECTRALEN]

My top bolt to my alt. broke off while under way. I had just put a new alt. and only had it out once, the second time out, I noticed it wasn't charging. popped the hatch and bolt was broke. I put on a stud and lock nut, and now at idle I can see some vibration. These are the pics of an aluminum top support I made to keep it tighter. I will probably put a tensioner type turnbuckle for the bottom too.
I went from cardboard to aluminum sheet metal for mocking up, then a heavier aluminum plate. Had to go over my batt. switch bracket to get it half way decent looking.

 

[SPECTRALEN]

I've been running this thing all summer and just thought I'd post for the heck of it. Runs great in 50 degree cold air temps. and not a worry of running into anyone else on the whole lake.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

looks great Len, I am guessing you didn't do a lot of swimming though

 

[SPECTRALEN]

looks great Len, I am guessing you didn't do a lot of swimming though

That's funny you said that. My son and I are allways challenging each other to do just that. I usually walk in the water to bring the boat up to the trailer. The diamond plate deck I put on the front of the trailer worked perfectly.:thumbup:

 

[SPECTRALEN]

I am trying to get the pitting out of these covers with just hand sanding. It seems way too time consuming and painful on my fingers. Using 150 grit first and then 320 and see how it polishes up.

 

[SPECTRALEN]

Polished one and there are scratches and some pitting can be seen but they are way brighter and shine pretty good for what time I put into it.

 

[specrocz]

Looks great bro! How much time into getting the one shining that good?