1987 Ski Nautique Need Help - Water in Oil / Leaky Freeze Plug / Low Compression

[NH_Nautique87]

Hi, I am new to the Nautique community. I have a bit of a dilemma given the current state of engine production due to COVID as well as the Texas freeze. Anyways I purchased an 87 Ski Nautique Correct Craft within the past year. Did not have time earlier in the year to dive into it much. So in June I had a guy take a look at it and more or less he was unable to even get the motor to crank. He had it for a month and essentially wasted my time and money.

That being said, I was quickly able to find that he had thought the starter solenoid had an external ground. All it needed was a ground wire connected and I was able to crank it over. I really should have done a compression test at that point but the guy who had it said he was able to check for compression by hand(I should have known that wasn't possible) but I proceeded to check spark and fuel. I was getting neither. So I got a new cap, condenser, and points which got spark. Then threw in a new fuel pump, filter, and cleaned the tank, plus put in new gas hose.

All this led me to a motor that would fire. So after a few minutes of letting it get warm(would NOT idle) with water from a garden house. I drained the oil to find it it was emulsified with water. I proceeded to check the engine over and found water seeping from the bottom of the exhaust manifold, as well as water dripping from a rusty looking freeze plug. Next I checked compression which was 100, 120, 120, 120 on passenger side bank, and 90, 90, 90, 60 on the driver side which had the leaking freeze plug and cracked manifold.

Presumably I need a new block which leads me to my question... Does anyone know of a reputable place which would have rebuilt reverse rotation 351 ford windsor engines?

I clearly am late to the race in getting the boat in this year but I have a fair amount of sweat equity in the boat as well as about $4000 invested.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciate!

-Matt

[Jonny Quest]

There are typically several places for water intrusion: cracked heads, intake manifold, head gasket, or cracked block. The cracked block is the worst-case scenario. Your engine may be very much rebuildable if the block is OK.

Option 1. Pull the engine and take it to any reasonable machine shop for a rebuild. The only internal engine parts that are reverse-rotation specific are the camshaft, rear main seal, and distributor gear. Nothing really special about a RR engine.

Option 2: Install a long block. You can try several folks like ATK, Jasper Engines, and Michigan Motorz.

JQ

[NH_Nautique87]

Thanks for the reply JQ. I talked to a local machine shop earlier today and he says that given the circumstances it would be a waste to even pull the intake manifold. He claims to have a good block and with the rebuild it would be 3k. Which sounds reasonable from what I've been seeing for long block 351s that are on back order. I spent a couple hours calling the engine rebuilders that you mentioned and a bunch more and it sounds like it would be a while until I would see one. And I'd be paying more than similar or more.

Is there anyway I can perform a test to check for a cracked block? It's not a closed cooling system so I don't know how I would go about that.

[THE HECKLER]

cant check a cracked block without complete disassembly and magnaflux it.

[NH_Nautique87]

That's what I've been hearing. I should have done a better job looking over the boat when I bought it, and I should have made it priority months earlier than I did! It could always be worse though. And realistically, it was a Nautique for $2000! So that was the first red flag. And the "break out another thousand" on my first boat purchase sounds about right too!

My last question due to over analyzing. Put in my shoes would what do you guys think is a more rational option?

- Dumping this boat and finding a better shape Nautique for next season.

or

- Dropping another $2500-$5000+ on an engine rebuild or finding a rebuilt engine + new exhaust manifolds and risers. Already have the $4k invested and some sweat equity. Cosmetically it is far from mint. The parts list has me inclined to stick with it because it will be close to a new motor and accessories! New starter, neutral safety switch, ignition switch, coil distributer tune up, rebuilt carb, fuel pump, gas lines, filter, and probably missing a couple more. Pulled the front floor and put down new plywood and fiberglass(stringers are solid). Unless I can get a new motor it will most likely not be on the water this season!

[Jonny Quest]

If it was my boat, I would upgrade to the following:
GT40P heads
Edelbrock Performer RPM intake
Quickfuel M600 carb
DUI distributor

That should give you over 300 ponies.

You didn’t ask for that advice, but there it is. I’m a petrol-head so I love tinkering and making stuff go faster.

(Yes, I realize I’m spending your money, but that’s the fun part)

[Jonny Quest]

Something else to consider. Your boat is still a wooden stringer boat. At some time those stringers will need to be done, if they have not yet been done. Take that into account as you were thinking about how much time and ca$h you spend on it.

[NH_Nautique87]

You're right on the stringers. From what I saw they looked pretty solid when I did the floor. I just put some wood hardener on the stringers and re fiberglassed to keep them good. I need to epoxy up drill marks in the middle and closer to the stern but aside from that I should be okay for a bit.

If I can source a long block with gt40 heads or a short block and find gt40 heads I will go that route, but it's easier said than done right now. Adding the extra goodies gets expensive but down the road those sound like something I would do. I've got a couple Audis I need to unload at some point, a stage 2 a4 and a 2000 s4... so I agree on making things fast.

If anyone can point me in the direction of a rebuilt block that isn't on back order I would be immensely grateful! But I have come to find it's a tall task.