Glastron Surface drive

[CharlieN]

Today I have been working on the exhaust again, I think I will be for quite some time.
I have the outlet pipes sitting nice on the headers. I have the finish welding on these pipes.
I think I roughly know where the O2 sensors will be and they will not pass through these upper sections of outer tube.
If I drop them down a bit just below where the jacket reaches now I can be sure I get a good weld to the exhaust tube.
I then will make a shot straight outer jacket with good bracing to locate to the collector area of the exhaust.
This will also provide a floating section the lower outer jacket will mate to.
Details later once I figure them out.

[CharlieN]

A few more shots

[CharlieN]

After design, cutting, trimming I can finally test fit one side of the actual exhaust.


This is only set in place, but the fact it sets in place is important, not needing clamps.
I will next machine for the O2 sensors, one each side at this time but might add another for a wideband unit presuming it would help during tuning.

[LakeFever]

Exhaust always looks so simple when it’s done but it’s a ton of work to fit that all up nice. Looking good

[CharlieN]

I reminisce back to planning this exhaust, I wanted equal length long tube headers, I have made many sets for cars and motorcycles over the past 54 years, I am turning 70 now for a qualifier. Today there are no true vendors U bends, especially stainless. Even Burns only offers a tiny selection at crazy cost.
I found this Street shorty stainless header on Ebay, price is right, the vendor did not state they would ship from China. I have discovered the Chinese are naming some business regions after American states.

I had discovered the Ex flange is symmetrical up-down, So I bought a set, removed the 3 bolt outlet and here is what I am making.
Sitting here is a large box of Stl 2.25 U bends that I will fabricate the water jacket with.
That should keep indoors for weeks.

[CharlieN]

I have the outer tube in place on each side of the EX. They look great, BUT I am pretty to sure they are a bit high to clear the engine lid.
Attachment 540262
The wide secti9n of the engine cover comes in flush to the inner flange right at the height of the top of the water jacket.
I feel I am best to trim down the end of the tube a bit. Hoping 1/4 is enough but 3/8 might well be safer. Easy enough to do on the big dusk sander.
Humm looking at the photos from this session I might well be wrong.

I went back into the shop and took a few shots as well as tried to slde a piece of corrugated cardboard in between the cover and lid. Starboard is fine, Port, nope.
Thinking back when making the mounts I set the port side higher to the engine will level under power.
So I trim the EX down a bit.


More later,

[CharlieN]

I lowered the front of the pipes 10mm each side and leaned them in a bit.
The engine is mounted on the GM factory mounts. They have roll stoppers but in reality I have no clue how much this engine will move around.
My concern is if the exhaust is welded to the hull flanges I might be building in a failure point.

At this time I am starting to consider a soft AKA gasketed flange at the transom.
Might be a machined aluminum plate or Phenolic with an Oring groove for the pipe.

[David - WI]

Can't you bolt a "torque arm" on the "tension" side of the engine... two heim joints on a threaded tube so you can adjust the length (pre-load) if you want to?



https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...+5ca6324dae5a6

[CharlieN]

The mounts being the original to the engine do have limiters that might be sufficient. The engine is a factory replacement, dealer installed and appears fairly young. A bit salty such the Aluminum block and heads need an acid wash. The salvage yard had just got this in from the auction yard. They drove the Escalade as well, I bought the engine 3 days after it arrived and sold the roof cut right before I was up there a few days later.
Strong possibility I am overthinking this.
The hose sections are 1' long, taking clamped area out this means about 8" of flex length, it is a pretty stiff hose at shop temps.

[CharlieN]

I do have two torque arm designs Other than the GM mount limiter, My preferred one is at the bellhousing, the other from the front of the port head. My desire is to get the boat on the water and either with a driver or an observer/camera will let the boat say what it needs, still allot to learn, not a whole lot more to build, other than the two underfloor gas tanks.
I do have a good 8' brake but might farm the bending to a local shop with a 10 powered brake.
My 70 YO arms can not do what they used to do so forming the tanks might be farmed out.
But then one of my neighbors has arms like brutish so he can pull on my big brake.

[CharlieN]

Sunny and up in the mid 40s today. Down to about 15" snow cover but we got into the 40s today.
If I had put on snow shoes it would have been easier to get around in the back yard but I did so with knee high boots. Thank golly for the carbon knee brace I need to wear now. Sure wish I could get surgery.
But I went out with implements of manual snow removal and cleared off my Glastron CVX20 Sprint and my 21 Superboaat. The covers held up great this year being they had 3+ feet of snow on them at times. They had 14-15 when I cleared them today. Indoors I picked at the Surfdrive project a bit but am waiting on parts and material. Shipping is pitifully slow as of late. I have both front seats set in place, the pilots side is on adjustable rails since I am utilizing a foot throttle. Pax side I intend to hard mount. I have ordered hardware but it seems to be crawling on it's belly to get here.

[CharlieN]

The pilot seat is now on adjustable rails. They slide freely with their roller bearing rails.
Pictures of them are poo so not worth posting at this time. I expect adjustment will be needed once the carpet goes back in.

[CharlieN]

I am actually still working on this boat, Preparing an aviation event that has a top level Rep from the state bringing my wife and I into meetings with the top level aviation officers in the Northeast as they have selected us to develop future youth events. Really cool to have earned this stature in the region.
Today was a meeting with a top level medical planner who wants to take me on a more advanced path for my blood sugar control, this should be interesting, I have no clue what this ride will be. To me Insulin works but he has more advanced ideas. If I suddenly stop posting it did not work. I thought I had taken a number of photos as I am working on the aft seats, kind of cheating as I am pulling the rear seat that I made a decade ago for my CVX 20 Sprint. Truly not important at this time but I tend to do some last minute tasks early in projects..

[LakeFever]

Charlie keep an eye on those motor mounts they are prone to splitting it’s a common issue in gm trucks/escalades and whatnot. There are polyurethane mounts available that have the exact same fitment. You drill out the rivets holding the mount together and replace the rubber with poly and bolt it back together. Just wanted to mention it might be a wise investment before running the boat so nothing gets bent or broken

[CharlieN]

I have read a bit about the mounts, The engine I bought is a GM warranty replacement along with the mounts less than a month before a tree fell on the roof, Crushed it good.
The mounts had a change in design due to the earlier design having delamination failures. The mounts I have are the latest design from GM and have the travel limiters in them, I expect these will hold up just fine for some time.