There's a Canyon in my driveway

[slowride]

A few months ago I decided the cruiser just wasn't feeding the need for speed, so the search was on for a tunnel jet. After looking at Sleekcrafts, Ultras, TD's and Placecrafts, I saw one of those weird Craigslist ads. It said "Corvette Boat", and something that weird deserved a look. When I opened it I found what looked like a Placecraft, but not exactly.
The owner didn't know a THING about it, and said it had been sitting in a storage lot "for a while". After being jerked around for a couple weeks I was finally able to see it in person. From the last registration, it appeared to have been parked in 1995. The HIN said it was a Canyon built in 1991 :eek I'd never heard of Canyon tunnel jet, but all things considered, well worth the price. Limped it home from beautiful Pico Rivera, and so it begins.....
Someone spent a ton of money rigging this thing and quite a bit of time on the setup. A little research and it turns out the driveline's decent. 4 bolt main 454, 990 heads, dual quad tunnel ram, (previously) polished berkeley with a droop, diverter and wedged down. Kinda odd that it has full seating with a balsa floor, but there aren't even scratches under the pedal. There's no chips or scratches ANYWHERE. Like it was run a couple times, then parked in '95. The vinyl is burned on the top of the seats, but the rest is ok. I need to make new wood for the passenger seat, but no big deal.
More as I get into it and start bringing it back. Been in contact with Tom Peterson for a little background and talking with Roger Way tomorrow as what I've pieced together so far points to him building a half dozen of these from modified Placecraft molds.
After a weekend of cleaning, it needed a fitting name. What do you call a fairly rare boat put away for 20 years?

 

[Sharp Shooter]

Looks pretty nice! It should be capable of 90+! 😎

What if anything are you gonna do to it?

 

[Kylemenz1]

Did you name it "Lost Canyon?" Because that's a perfect name for it! Sweet boat!

 

[G. Faulk]

Great find, looks like a lot of work and I'd be happy to take it off your hands. Funny what you can find if ya just give it a click.

All that and a bad boy sticker.

 

[rivrrts429]

Cool find, I've heard about these but never seen one. Any pics of the bottom? Tunnels look really shallow.

 

[floatn turd]

Man that thing looks like my Ultimate.
The lines look almost the same!

I was told Ultimate was a splash of Place Craft, but it looks more like yours to me.
Regardless it's a blast to drive. Lots of fun and a squirrely little bastard!!!
You picked up a nice boat for sure!!:thumbup:

 

[Riverbound]

Nice find

 

[slowride]

Looks pretty nice! It should be capable of 90+! 

What if anything are you gonna do to it?

I'm bringing it back to life slowly. Pulled a valve cover and the inside was painted with Glyptol and was immaculate. New cables are on order and I'm rebuilding the 750's and replumbing from the fuel pump up. Replaced the ignition switch with a 4 position so I can view the gauges and run the bilge pumps without powering the ignition (also because the boat didn't come with a key). Put a battery to it and (so far) everything comes to life (not ready to crank it yet). I'll be checking out the MSD this week, fogging the cylinders, changing the filters, etc.

 

[slowride]

Did you name it "Lost Canyon?" Because that's a perfect name for it! Sweet boat!

I've never had a boat without a name, so I started brainstorming.

 

[slowride]

Man that thing looks like my Ultimate.
The lines look almost the same!

I was told Ultimate was a splash of Place Craft, but it looks more like yours to me.
Regardless it's a blast to drive. Lots of fun and a squirrely little bastard!!!
You picked up a nice boat for sure!!:thumbup:

View attachment 445389

Sweet boat! You and I have identical decks which Tom Peterson described to me as "the flat you would probably use for cupholders". The Placecrafts have a peak all the way into the dash, but ours have the peak that goes flat before the dash. Tom suggested it was Roger that did that when he got a mold from PC, but I'll know more tomorrow when I speak with him.
What year is yours?

 

[floatn turd]

It's a 95. Sitting on a Hennessy trailer. (Which also looks just like yours)

 

[slowride]

The transoms are similar, but mine has aluminum plates at the rear of the tunnels. This trailer was made by Progressive.

 

[slowride]

Jealous of your splash guard. I'm going to have to make one..... I can see the handwriting on the wall.

 

[slowride]

Spoke with Roger Way today and the bottom line is he had nothing to do with the boat or building Canyons..... just raced one during that time frame. He said it likely came from Carter Read at Canyon, but didn't have any more to offer. I guess the gap at this point is how Carter Read got/had a Placecraft mold, who modified it, where that mold went after Carter left Canyon. Went to Ultimate/Warlock with him?

 

[dread Pirate]

Ultra put out a few boats that look like this. Tom at JBP had a purple one for awhile. I damn near bought one myself 7-8 years ago.

Nice find! :thumbup:

 

[slowride]

Here's an Ultra tunnel I found some time ago on CL. The guy has been stuck at $7k less motor...... figured I could do better.... and did.
http://www.highperformanceboats.net...-granada-hills,name,100644,item_id,ad_details

 

[RACER J]

No question it came from the Placecraft mold. Here's a pic of my 2010 PC. It would be interesting to compare bottom dimensions, I'm sure sure the setup on the boats would be the same or close to it. Nice find.

 

[slowride]

No question it came from the Placecraft mold. Here's a pic of my 2010 PC. It would be interesting to compare bottom dimensions, I'm sure sure the setup on the boats would be the same or close to it. Nice find.
View attachment 445554

Very nice! It looks like you have the plates at the rear of the tunnels, but are yours adjustable? I have the plates but they're fixed and the ride plate is adjustable.

 

[RACER J]

They are adjustable by adding or subtracting a shim.

 

[slowride]

I haven't looked real close, just kinda assumed it was flat. Went out and looked and mine is shimmed too. A little more crude, but looks to have a 1/4" plate shimming it down.

 

[RACER J]

The plate should be flat with the bottom of the boat, once it's set you don't usually have to mess with it.

 

[brgrcru]

Very nice canyn :thumbup:

 

[E4L]

Nice find congrats

 

[slowride]

Replaced the diverter, throttle and reverse cables so it's getting close to functional.

 

[RACER J]

Replaced the diverter, throttle and reverse cables so it's getting close to functional.
View attachment 445876

What kind of shoe does it have?

 

[slowride]

What kind of shoe does it have?

I'm not familiar with the different types of shoes, so can't say. I checked the intake and loader today, and it seems like an odd combo. The intake has the standard 4 bolt Berk loader mount, but the loader is a blocker and fairly long. The ramps are even with the keel as is the shoe. So I assume from what I've read that this style loader is to lift the stern, right?

 

[RACER J]

I'm not familiar with the different types of shoes, so can't say. I checked the intake and loader today, and it seems like an odd combo. The intake has the standard 4 bolt Berk loader mount, but the loader is a blocker and fairly long. The ramps are even with the keel as is the shoe. So I assume from what I've read that this style loader is to lift the stern, right?

Anything that blocks the intake should add some lift to the boat. Can you post picks of the loader and shoe? Also have you checked the angle of the ride plate?

 

[slowride]

I'll take a couple pics tomorrow in the light. I haven't put the angle finder on the ride plate yet, but looks to be 3-4* up. The shoe is flat, but has been milled and looks different than others I've seen.

 

[slowride]

So here's what lurks underneath. I guess technically it's a tapered shoe, but the centered being milled out looks a bit unusual.

The block on the loader is around 10" long.

 

[RACER J]

Wow! Really don't know what to say about that!! Apparently the didn't want any water getting to the center of the impeller. Hate to say it but I'd shit can the loader and the shoe. I run a 1 degree tapered shoe, I'll post a pic of my loader tomorrow.

 

[Classic Daycruiser]

So here's what lurks underneath. I guess technically it's a tapered shoe, but the centered being milled out looks a bit unusual.
View attachment 446026
The block on the loader is around 10" long.
View attachment 446025

One could spend a lot of time in there, cleaning that mess up.

Try to figure what the last person was trying to accomplish. Then pull the mess out and start over.

 

[slowride]

I think I know what they were trying to do hydrodynamically, but if it works (and how well) is the unknown. Will I be pulling it all out? absolutely. Will I be running it first? Without a doubt (but cautiously). Make a few runs getting the feel of it, creep up the speed a little at a time looking for quirks. Can't really tell if changes I make work if I don't have a baseline, right?:yikes

 

[CampbellCarl]

I think I know what they were trying to do hydrodynamically, but if it works (and how well) is the unknown. Will I be pulling it all out? absolutely. Will I be running it first? Without a doubt (but cautiously). Make a few runs getting the feel of it, creep up the speed a little at a time looking for quirks. Can't really tell if changes I make work if I don't have a baseline, right?:yikes

Right! With a Lifeline of course...

 

[slowride]

Right! With a Lifeline of course...

Probably not a bad idea. I've only had slow boats to this point so I'll have to dig one up.

 

[slowride]

Pulled the Holleys off tonight to see if the decades have been kind or not. After tearing the first one down, I flashed back to the 70's. For those that have never had the pleasure, Holley used to use shellac paper gaskets that were virtually impossible to remove NEW let alone after sitting 20 years. Good news is there was very little corrosion or debris in the bowl and absolutely no varnish. The metering blocks were like day one, too. It'll be an easy rebuild, and yes the new gaskets are no stick......

 

[slowride]

First carb's done (and no stick gaskets now ). Came out nice, starting on the other tomorrow night.

 

[slowride]

Carbs are rebuilt, got the new FPR and fittings, so it was time to start bending some tubing. I don't know HOW this ran before with a Holley Ultra HP fuel pump and no regulator, but since I'm redoing it all, it might as well be right. Changed the oil filters and loaded them..... what a PIA and mess!

 

[slowride]

Top end's mounted and ready to finish plumbing it to the pump. I left just enough room for a 2 plate system.... just in case.

 

[YoPengo]

Nice work[emoji106]

 

[slowride]

Thanks! Back in the old days I did this for other peoples show cars and race cars and boats, now just on my old junk.

 

[slowride]

Really don't like the existing valve covers, and just happened to have a set of MT's new in the box, so......

 

[slowride]

Finished plumbing the fuel system (pump to reg), and while reconnecting the water lines found the fitting from the "T" to the t-stat housing corroded, so broke out some more 1/2" 304. The handwriting is on the wall..... probably wind up replacing all the braided stainless with hardline. Ditched the 80's valve covers and pulled a set of MT's off the shelf too. :thumbup:

 

[slowride]

A LOT has happened to the Canyon in the last 10 months. Tried to fire the motor, had issues, pulled the motor. Straightened out a few issues, found out why a newly rebuilt engine wasn't really run. Rebuilt the wood in the passenger seat, colorsanded and buffed the gel yesterday. Tons of little stuff to get it ready to get wet.
I'll be testing at the Shack the week of 9/12...... first time it's been on the water in 20 years. Hate to do it, but it'll also be for sale :eek
[video=youtube;UG8eR_9O4rM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG8eR_9O4rM[/video]

 

[COCA COLA COWBOY]

What's the shack? Shame to sell it without having some more fun with it though.

 

[slowride]

The Shack is our place in BHC.

 

[slowride]

[video=youtube_https;XGeW0RNckXI]https://youtu.be/XGeW0RNckXI[/video]