Author Topic: 1986 American Skier Advance Engine cracked  (Read 5011 times)

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Offline Ross333

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1986 American Skier Advance Engine cracked
« on: June 24, 2016, 11:57:49 AM »
A few years ago I bought a 1986 American Skier Advance with the 350 engine.  I used it for a summer and then the next summer decided I should redo the floors and carpet.  I ripped everything out all the floors and foam from the boat and spent the summer replacing the floors, fiberglassing the new floors to the hull of the boat, pouring new foam, and putting in new carpet.  The boat was winterized but once spring came around I was excited to get it started in March.  It got below freezing during that time and cracked the engine black and one of the exhaust risers.  I haven't really looked into getting it fixed for a year or so as I had just bought a house and worked on those projects. My question now is if I want to replace the engine block what is the best way to replace it? Can I use a Chevy 350 block from craigslist and swap the parts that have not been damaged? 

As a side note I keep my boat my great uncles farm who is 90 years old and took it upon himself to help me out and "weld" the block back together.  I don't really have any hope that this would fix the problem but thought it was an interesting side note.   

Offline RonT

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Re: 1986 American Skier Advance Engine cracked
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2016, 02:54:13 PM »
All depends on where the crack is, I had a customer who was on a tight budget and had a crack on the exterior of the block, running horizontal for 3 inches with water spraying out when running. I was given a 1 hour max. allowance or he would have to let the boat sit for a couple years before he could afford to replace the engine. I used my die grinder to cutout a "V" notch along/into the crack and filled it with JB Weld epoxy, boat has been running 2 years not without an issue, and no leaks.

Offline backfoot100

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Re: 1986 American Skier Advance Engine cracked
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2016, 06:59:15 PM »
If you get someone who knows what they're doing, welding cast iron is entirely possible. It's a long forgotten art.
These boats have an open, virtually non-pressurized cooling system so if done properly it would make a perfectly fine repair.

Getting a good block from a bone yard and transferring all the internals to it is perfectly fine also. I know several that have done that. Just make sure that you use the right year block as Chevy made some minor changes thru the years so it could be important to find the right block. Especially an 86. That year Chevy went to a one piece RMS which incorporates some crank changes. I don't believe an 86 crank will work on an older block.

Like Ron says I have heard of some that have successfully used JB Weld but it depends on where the crack is.
When people run down to the lake to see what is making that noise, you've succeeded.