1996 Sport Nautique Restoration Project

[Canuck-Surfer]

Hey guys...I'm super excited to restore my (new to me) 1996 Sport Nautique. I want to document my journey here. I've spent the last few weeks reading many of the 90's era restore threads here and on CCF. But I have lots to learn and look forward to including the Nautique community on the process.

About me: Im up in Canada so for those US friends, forgive my "ou" spellings...find the humour in it. I run my own IT business by day, and attempt to be super dad to my 3 and 6 yo boys and daughter (coming in November). Its time to start surfing soon with them! In the summer I run the wake-boarding program at a local summer camp my family has grown up at. I grew up on boats and want my kids to have the same adventure.

Background
The boat last ran in the water in 2015. That summer the engine started having issues. At cold start it would run fine, but as it heated up it would "bog" down like it wasn't getting enough gas. By the end of the summer it wouldn't even stay on plane once it was warm. (Not firsthand experience...this was provided by a friend who drove it last that summer). I suspect a bad ECM or fuel line issue per threads here at PN.

The following winter mice got into the engine compartment and did some damage to wiring harness. The local Nautique dealer quoted $1800 CAD for a new harness and the summer camp who owned her just parked her as she was replaced with an '08 SV211. She's been parked ever since.

The interior was already pretty bad in 2015, but has gotten worse as she has been in storage the last 4 years. Some of the vinyl appears to have been replaced at some point as the rear couch and engine cover are pure white without original accent colours.

Powerplant
As a 96, she has the PCM 5.8 HO ProBoss with EFI (351w @ 310hp). It appears that the transmission has been replaced with a newer PCM IRM40-2A at 1.258 ratio (vs original 1.23).

She currently has a 4 blade prop. I also have the original 3 blade prop and a spare drive shaft. I'm assuming the drive shaft came off the original tranny.

The front stabilizer fin is bent, the other 2 are fine. Prop and rudder look great.

Big Plans
I want to bring her back to life. The plans include removing the carpet and replacing with teak style SeaDek. Apart from the SeaDek, I'm on the fence about how "original" I will go with the restoration. But more on that later, I'm sure you guys will have plenty of opinions on that one!

Here is the master list of to dos:

• Weigh the boat. She is fully synthetic, but some have still reported wet foam.
• Get engine running. Determine compression and leak-down. Does she need a rebuild or new ECM (I think ECM is bad)?
• Repair/replace wiring harness
• Clean out gas tank and ensure fuel pickup and fuel filters are good.
• Pull carpet
• Level floor and seams to prep for SeaDek. Leaning towards black floor like Jeff did with his Ski restoration.
• Gelcoat wet sanding/restoration
• Disassemble windshield and powder-coat
• New decals and pin-striping
• Turn new wooden throttle handle
• New vinyl skins
• Restore gauge needles and lenses
• Remove black paint from rear transom handle bar
• Sand and rebuild teak swim platform
• Replace original tower
• Replace sound system with Roswell Cybox and new speakers
• Add Perfect Pass Stargazer
• Add Fresh Air Exhaust
• Possibly add heater and shower...I'm in Canada after all!

Questions to Answer:

1. The ProTec ignition system was only 93-95, correct? From what I can tell, the 96 did not use ProTec, but I'm not 100% sure. How do you tell if you have ProTec system? (Appears no ProTec according to Jeff in another thread)
2. Tower mounting holes. What towers use the same mounting holes of the original tower? Mine is badly warped and I never liked the look of the original.
3. How Original to restore? I'm on the fence about using the original 96 "Sport Nautique" hull lettering. 96 used the speckled letters which I don't love. In 97 they switched to solid letters that look much better. Or I could go with modern Nautique typeface letters (is that sacrilege?!). Regarding the upholstery, the original seats had "Correct Craft" embroidered. I would much prefer to use either Nautique or the Nautique "N" logo.
4. Since I am going with the SeaDek, I'd like to get rid of the carpet on the bases of the front seat bench, the rear sofa and the bottom of the engine cover. I've seen several other restorations that have painted the rough fiberglass with gelcoat or other smoothing paint. All examples of this online still appear to be noticeably rough with significant orange peel. I'd like to get these smooth. Is West fairing compound the best bet here? How hard is it to skim coat and sand down? Could I just use automotive body filler like Bondo? Has anyone else done this? Advice welcome!
5. We plan to surf a fair amount as the kids grow. I've already got a wake shaper. I'm wondering if I could put a small ballast sack under the rear couch. It would have to be small and narrow and I'd have to remove the center partitions. Would this be worth it for such a small bag? There is a decent amount of space under the bow for a bow sack. Thoughts?
6. Second battery. I'd like to install a second battery on a butterfly switch to power radio and accessories when floating or as bilge backup when docked. There is a built in battery compartment in the floor of the bow. Where have others located a second battery in Sports of this generation?
7. Captain's Chair. Current quote from C&S for skins for helm chair are almost $700 US. For that price, I'd think I can source a current generation helm chair with bolster. But I can't find any full chairs from a modern Nautique online. I really want a chair with a bolster.

Here are some pics of her current condition:

[Canuck-Surfer]

[kylem03]

Welcome! I had a 94 Sport Nautique which had a failing Pro-Tec, and more recently have a 95 super sport with a gt40 that gave me a few hiccups last year that Ultimately ended up being a bad ECM. You’ve got quite the project on your hands but with some elbow grease it’ll clean up! You have a GT40 engine so it is not a pro-Tec ignition. Rough running on a GT40 can be a lot of things, from fuel delivery (anti siphon valve, fuel pump, or injector issues), spark (distributor cap, plug wires, plug, pip sensor, ecm, etc), to major compression or mechanical issues but I’d start by googling poor mans gt40 diagnosis and downloading the pcm gt40 service manual. Taken Together you will learn a ton about the engine operation and there are a ton of symptom/ fix descriptions between both resources.

As for the tower, someone put the original FCT on your boat. I don’t believe the FCT was around prior to ‘98. Finding a diff. Tower that bolts up in the same holes will be tough since it was placed more or less by hand and there isn’t a standard mounting pattern. I’d plan to fill the holes and start over with a tower of your choice, like a new dimensions tower or Roswell aviator but those are speedy. The upside is you can get gelcoat patch kits in your hull color from nautiqueparts and with a little care, prep, wet sanding and buffing (you are doing this anyway) you won’t hardly know there were any holes there.

Keep the progress pics coming!

kyle

[Peter6000]

Congratulations looks like a fun project, I did a very similar restore on a 99 a couple of years ago. And it's still running strong.
From what I can tell it's the same engine.
I had to rebuild mine was done by a machine shop in Miami never had any problems.
3 years ago I started replacing the vintage ford engine control and ignition system with a more modern MS3X aftermarket ecu. It's almost completed and at this point I'm not going back to the old system.
Therefore I have a ton of parts I don't need.
Including a original ECU, complete ignition system with TFI, coil, distributor and wires.

I will put the parts up for sale in a new post soon.

I also built a bench test setup for the ecu to get ignition and fuel tables for my initial tune. So before you spend $700 or so on new ecu to find out you had a bad sensor you can send it to me for testing I'm in northern virginia.

My gelco looked like yours when I got it used automotive rubbing compound and turtle wax polishing compound and wax.
Did not need to sand it town.

I have to redo my seats this winter I heard some rumors that there is a place that sells pre made skins all you have to do is put them on. Don't have a contact yet.

Peter

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[Canuck-Surfer]

NautiqueJeff Jeff, could you move this thread to General Discussion, it looks like that is where the other restoration threads mostly exist. For some reason I accidently created it in Maint/Tech.

[Canuck-Surfer]

Trailer Woes

So yesterday was a beautiful fall day and I had a quick business meeting in a town nearby where the boat is currently stored. I've been really wanting to weigh the boat to see if there is any signs of soaked foam under the deck. I'm not worried about rot since she is fully synthetic, but I have read other stories here about cracks in the thin fiberglass deck that still results in significant hull water.

I started my day with a quick stop at Home Depot to get some bolts to reattach one of the Ram-Lin bow rests. I also grabbed a chain. I don't know the story, but one of the support panels was missing (found it inside the boat) and the boat was resting up on top of the bow support pillar(see pics below). I used the chain and attached one end to the truck and the other to one of the transom lift rings. It took 1 small pull of the truck to pull the boat backwards about 6 inches on the trailer and back into the correct position. I then reattached the missing bow support panel on the trailer.

Next I dugout the trailer lift winch (not sure what you even call that) as it had sunk about 10 inches into the ground (visible in pics). I hooked the trailer up and pulled the boat out of the shed it was in for the last 4 years. I was surprised the tires were still mostly inflated as it was hard to see them before I pulled it out. The leaf springs in the trailer are in desperate need of replacement but I had enough clearance between the wheel fenders and the tires for the 8 mile run down to the nearby quarry to weigh the boat.

I was pretty optimistic about how things had gone so far as I pulled onto the road and headed to the quarry. I took things super slow as I was on bumpy back roads and knew the leaf springs were mostly shot. With 1 mile left to the quarry scale, I glanced in my rear-view mirror to see the left wheel start smoking like crazy. It was definitely an oh sh%t moment! At first I actually thought the tire had caught on fire. My mind started racing to remember if I had seen a fire extinguisher in the boat. I pulled over and luckily the smoke faded pretty fast. The leaf had given up all it had left and the fender was resting completely on the wheel. So much for everything working out...

A quick text and my buddy who runs one of the boat repair shops came over with a commercial shop jack. We jacked up the trailer an put some 2x4's between the axle and frame and secured with some duck tape. I cut my losses on the boat weighing goal and we towed her back to his yard. He's going to use their boat fork to move her to a temporary trailer so I can replace the leafs and surge brakes and service the hubs and drums.

In all of the hubub, I meant to measure the leafs. Does anyone know if Ram-Lin used the same leaf length in all of their single axle trailers?

The adventure starts!

[Canuck-Surfer]

The upside is you can get gelcoat patch kits in your hull color from nautiqueparts and with a little care, prep, wet sanding and buffing (you are doing this anyway) you won't hardly know there were any holes there.

Keep the progress pics coming!

kyle

Kyle (or anyone else)
What was the white gel coat color name for the 96 Sports? Also, I want to order a patch kit for the black and teal. Anyone have any idea what names they are in my vintage?

[Canuck-Surfer]

So I found the colors on Spectrums website. The teal is non-stocking and is $471 US for a gallon. I really only need a little teal. What are my options?



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[dhmcfadin]

So I found the colors on Spectrums website. The teal is non-stocking and is $471 US for a gallon. I really only need a little teal. What are my options?



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You can take a sample of your gel coat to any fiberglass shop and they can color match the gelcoat. It won’t be computerized like modern paint mixing but they can get very close.

[Canuck-Surfer]

Okay, I want to update you guys on the project. A lot has been happening the last few months as you may have picked up on other posts both here and on CCF. I'm getting super excited about how all the pieces are coming together.

In the fall, once we got the boat hoisted off the trailer, I brought her home and replaced the leafs. I also decided to pun in new brake assemblies. I scraped the rims and sprayed them with Rustoleam rust paint. Looking good!

Then we pulled the engine, dismantled her and sent her off to the re-builder. In the meantime, I brought home all the cast pieces and repainted them. I decided to use Por15 on all the cast black parts. I used their 3 step system with Cleaner/Degreaser, Metal Prep, and lastly the Por15. I will say this....I am so impressed with the Por15. and I only ordered a pint which was more than enough for this project. The only large piece I did NOT use Por15 was the intake manifold. I just scuffed it and sprayed it with Duplicolor Engine Enamel Black Gloss.

The valve covers were a bit of a gong show. I wanted to make them Ford Racing red. I started with the cover with the oil filler spout. First I used cheap spray on paint stripper. Nothing happened. Then I went to local auto body shop supply store and bought their strongest aircraft stripper. It worded better but still didn't come off easily and required loads of 3M green abrasive pads. I wished I have never started stripping it. Sprayed with Zinc Chromate to etch, followed by some old Merc filler primer, then finished with Duplicolor Engine Enamel with Ceramic RED. I baked it per Duplicolor instructions for 2 hours at 300 in my BBQ grill outside. Came out amazing. Onto the second valve cover, I decided not to strip it. There were some rust spots. I used a dremmel to grind all surface rust out. I scuffed paint, primed and painted. Unlike the other one, I after letting red paint cure overnight, I felt it needed another coat so I added it. Then I baked about 3 hours later. HUGE MISTAKE. Within 10 mins, the paint blistered like crazy. The paint job was completely ruined! (Sorry was so frustrated I forgot to take pics). So in the end, I put the aircraft stripper on it and started all over. The original black paint on this valve cover was completely different from the other one though, as the stripper took all layers of paint off down to the bare metal in about 20 mins. Way easier job to strip. Then I did it all again, and let the paint cure for 24 hours before baking.

Next we started putting the engine back together. My buddy owns a Mercruiser shop, so we did it there. He lead this stage but it was fun to watch it come together. Note for anyone else doing this. We ordered the following parts for the block re-assembly:

FEL-PRO	17875	Marine Timing Cover Gasket
FEL-PRO	MS95953	GT40 Intake Plenum Gasket
FEL-PRO	17260	Marine Cylinder Head Gasket - Main Gasket set, had lots of stuff
MOTORCRAFT	EV68C	PCV Valve - used Ford part number instead of PCM, way cheaper
FEL-PRO	17998	Single Oil Pan Gasket
ARP	554-9703	Black Molley SB Ford 351W CM 12pt accessory kit

Also got a new distributor and rotor cap, new spark wires, new 100 amp alternator, new belts, manifold riser gasket ports and screws, and used wiring harness from Peter6000 (thanks again man!). Also replaced the ECU (Thanks to t.franscioni who let me ship the Moates chip to him for programming with the latest E300 tune for the GT40!) I got a ECM from ebay for $65 and put the Moates chip in. See my other post about some things I learned about this.

We ran into a bit of an issue with the new alternator. The kit from Skidim called for reusing the old Mando wheel from the old alt. But mine must have been replaced in the past because the shaft size (5/8 on new alt) did not match up. We went through my buddy's stock and found the exact pulley from an old Mercruiser alt that fit perfectly and met the PCM dimensions Skidim gave us.

Lastly, the ARP engine kit worked great (got it from Summit Racing) however the manifold bolts were about 1/4 in too short. My buddy had some extra in his shop that fit. Otherwise, I should have gotten these from Skidim.

Next steps are to get the engine in, get the carpet out and start wet sanding! Enjoy the pics so far...

[dhmcfadin]

Beautiful work. That engine turned out incredible!

[jhiestand]

WOW, nice work clean up on the engine! I'll be following this thread as I also owned a 94 Sport. Pretty much identical color scheme, too. Teal was definitely the choice mid-90's. I purchased mine gently used, only a few years old and had one of the original FCT's installed. I'd definitely go more modern as I do recall that original tower flexed and rattled a TON.

[Chris Parsons]

Wish I had taken the time to make mine look pretty. Ha

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[Canuck-Surfer]

So yesterday was the big day to do the first water test on the rebuilt GT40 in my 96 Sport. Engine ran like a champ...so smooth until the 40A tranny decided it was not happy.

The original 40A 1.23 transmission was replaced in 2010 with a 40-2A (think 2nd Gen 40A by ZH). The transmission was running fine until the engine started having issues in 2014 and was parked. Boat has not been in water since then. Since the tranny was replaced in 2010 (date stamp on the new tranny is 2010 too) and was only run about 400-500 hours before boat was parked, we were not expecting any tranny issues.

Transmission got drained and filled with new fluid yesterday.

At idle the 40A was quiet and cool. Went into gear easily and boat started moving well. As the RPMs increased there was a slight noise that grew then at 3000 RPM the tranny locked up and killed the engine. Checked fluid....no milkshake and still full.

We restarted engine (cranked fine) and got into gear. Took it easy for a few mins at about 2000-2500 rpm. Slowly opened up and again near 3000 rpm same thing happened. At this point tranny was quite warm to touch and even at idle there was a slight rythmic squeek sound. We took it easy back to the dock.

We pulled the unit, damper looks good...the issue is definitely internal in the transmission. After the transmission was out, you could turn the tranny by hand and it would make a knocking sound.

My buddy who led the engine project at his shop doesn't do much with transmissions. He sends them off. We called his transmission shop that is the regional go-to shop. The owner said that the symptoms we described weren't unheard of but were slight odd. His best guess without opening it up was that fluid is leaking through a seal (or something to that affect) and throwing the transmission into reverse causing the engine shut down.

He said same thing everyone here does...if we replace it, go with a new 80A. But he said its worth him opening up, it could be simple and not require an evasive rebuild. Of course he won't know before he sees it. He is about 3 hours away so we are going to ship it over to him on Monday. Shipping is about $80 and he will diagnose it for $100. If unit is beyond reasonable rebuild and we decide to go new, we can pay the $100 diag or just let him keep the unit for parts. It seems he is leaning towards it being repairable. With all the other projects on this boat and just paying for the engine rebuild, a new 80A at the current USD to CAD exchange rate is pretty unaffordable.

Any ideas on what the problem may be and the odds of fixing it?

Here is a video of the sound after removal: 40A Knocking when turned by hand

[Chris Parsons]

My transmission went this past year. Ended up installing the 80a myself. Got it from skidim for around 2k. Lmk if you have questions.

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