1999 Longhorn Nauique Restoration

[Chris Parsons]

Wow. This thing is going to be gorgeous! Can't wait to see it get put back together.

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[ATX Jeep]

Great wright up, what you are doing with this boat is totally worth it. I have seen it out on Lake Austin before and thought it was pretty cool, but I had no idea it came from the factory like that. Hope to see it out on the water sometime... Michael

[dhmcfadin]

I was going through some old family memorabilia and found this photo from 2001. Growing up, we ordered all of our ski equipment through Overton's Magazine. In 2001, they had a sweepstakes giving away a 2001 Ford Sport Trac truck. Every time we placed an order, we were entered into the sweepstakes. Low and behold, we actually won that sweepstakes and won the truck. The truck and the longhorn boat were featured on the cover of Overtons Magazine. The below photo is one of the photos from the photo shoot. Shot in New Braunfels, Texas circa 2001. That's my mom, dad, older brother, younger sister, and younger brother. That's me in the back of the boat with the white hat holding the Connelly jumper. Over the last year I have been trying to track down that particular magazine but haven't had any luck. Unfortunately, I do not know the Overtons so I don't have a contact but maybe one day I can find this issue.

Funny detail. If you look closely, the trailer isn’t even hooked to the truck.

[ScooterMcgavin]

Very cool!

[GMLIII]

Great story . Overton’s was everyone’s go to retailer for any water
sports equipment back in the day

[dhmcfadin]

It's been a crazy month in general so I haven't had much time to post. That being said, in regard to the boat, I've got some good news and some bad news.

Good news: The hull is still making progress. The floor panels are made and we are ready to spray the underside of the deck. Just waiting on some new gelcoat from Spectrum. I also stripped, polished, and coated all of the brass running gear with three coats of Everbrite. Cured all pieces (accept the strut) in the oven at 170 for 1 hour. End goal was to ensure running gear would remain polished and beautiful. According to Everbrite, I should only have to re-coat once a year. https://www.everbritecoatings.com I also sent a number of engine/ trans/ cooling parts to the sand blaster/ powder coater. The HIN was restamped into the hull of the boat. Rear trailer tie downs were added. Lastly, I was losing sleep over not maintaining the iconic gt40 intake on the engine. Yeah the holley high ram looked cool but it completely defeated the purpose of me rebuilding this engine. I wanted the engine to appear stock and have that iconic look. I found a guy out of Houston, Precision Porting Services, who was familiar with the gt40 intake. He was familiar with the stock restrictions and he had worked a cast iron lower. A lot of shops I talked to wouldn't touch this intake because of the cast iron lower. Too much work. PPS didn't mind. Long story short, the upper and lower are in Houston going through a complete port job. Upper and lower opened up, throttle body inlet to runners is being taken to 80mm, intake ports are being matched to the head ports. This should help this engine breath better and will allow me to maintain the stock look. Even if it doesn't, I am sticking with the gt40 intake.

[dhmcfadin]

Bad news: The engine. About two weeks after the dyno run, the engine arrived. At first glance, there were a few cosmetic and wiring items that needed to be cleaned up but nothing terrible. I attributed this to the engine builder being older and not so attentive to aesthetics. Regardless, I was already planning on stripping the engine for a nice paint job, powder coating the valve covers, rebuild the holley terminator harness to fit this engine like a glove, and finally, to swap the intake manifold. What I found as I started taking things apart floored me. I'll let the picture speak for themselves. When the builder was sending me pictures, I noticed that the O2 sensor appeared extremely close to the left hand valve cover. I pointed this out and he told me that despite the picture, there was clearance. When I removed the left hand exhaust manifold, I found out where he got his clearance from. The guy ground a hole through the valve cover. I could see one of the rocker arms through the hole. Not only that, but oil was dripping into the crevice between the exhaust manifold and head. Before I took anything else apart I started taking detailed photos. As I inspected further, I found the following:

Mutilated efi harness with bare, un-terminated wires throughout. Bare soldered wires only covered with electrical tape, no heat shrink. He did a decent job of concealing the cluster of wiring by wrapping everything in techflex. When I took all the techflex off, it got ugly quick.

Rear seal had oil pooling around the bottom edge which then started leaking onto the floor of my garage

Head fasteners/ bolts were reused from the original 20 year old engine. A complete ARP set costs 100 bucks. He reused the original 20 year old fasteners. I started wondering what other components and fasteners he reused.

But here is the big one:

He ground the hole in the valve cover with the valve cover on the engine. Instead of manning up and having the exhaust riser replaced and remachined, he ground a hole in the valve cover for clearance. When I pulled the holley high ram off, I noticed a couple silver specs in the valleys and crevices next to the push rods. It was aluminum shavings. I started finding them all over. I then proceeded to remove the left hand valve cover. Aluminum shavings and shards everywhere. When I received this engine, it had about 15 hours of dyno time on it. 15 hours with metal shaving floating around. At this point my heart sank.

I continued taking pictures and documenting in detail everything I found. I then brought this to the attention of the engine builder, sent pics, detailed observations, etc. Literally his first words out of his mouth were "you are running a scam, that engine left my shop just fine". Then he told me that if I wanted the engine that nice, he would have charged me a lot more. Finally, he said the only part he would replace was the valve cover with the hole in it. I continued to confront him but it was no use. He proceeded to block my phone number. I sent emails and called and text a few more times. No response. Long story short, I've had the engine broken down by a local restoration shop to professionally document every single wire, scratch, metal shaving etc. I also sent the oil off to be analyzed for bearing material. Finally, I have obtained an attorney and am taking this guy to court. Damage plus cost of labor to rebuild is about 10k. I am livid to the say the least. This guy screwed me. DO NOT hire Bob Lloyd of Spicewood, Texas for any engine work.

[Chris Parsons]

Wow. That is terrible news. I hope you win and quick and for the full amount or more. What a terrible job.

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[ScooterMcgavin]

This is heart wrenching to read, I can only imagine your frustration and I know you’ll get it resolved. I feel like it’s tough to find people that take pride in thier work anymore these days. No matter what you try to have worked on. They are out there, but very few and far between. Keep up the great work and updates we are looking to seeing this boat on the water soon. It’s obvious you have the desire and passion to get this boat back to pristine condition and we have no doubts that will happen.

[SilentSeven]

Pretty sketchy. This is why engine machine work always makes me nervous...unless you see it personally you never know if it was done right or not.

If it helps....tap into the local drag or road racing community and find out who are their go-to engine builders. You'll likely find there are a few well known shops who are trusted and have stellar reps. Only quality builders get repeated business in those circles; everyone else gets dropped quickly.

Edit: I would personally bias to the road racers...they are more endurance focused and that better lines up to boat use.

[dhmcfadin]

The oil test came back today from Blackstone. I think the writing is on the wall but I’m not sure.

“Universal averages show typical wear for a 351 cid Ford marine engine, and they're based on oil run about 30 hours. Most of the wear metals are in the average range, but copper and lead are on the high side. These metals typically show wear at the bearings, but aren't necessarily high enough to suggest a major problem at this point. Silicon is elevated, too, and it can come from either harmless sealer or abrasive
dirt. The oil's viscosity reads like a 5W/30, and the 6.5 TBN indicates active additive left in the oil. Watch oil pressure and check back in 5-10 hrs.”

[dhmcfadin]

Pretty sketchy. This is why engine machine work always makes me nervous...unless you see it personally you never know if it was done right or not.

If it helps....tap into the local drag or road racing community and find out who are their go-to engine builders. You'll likely find there are a few well known shops who are trusted and have stellar reps. Only quality builders get repeated business in those circles; everyone else gets dropped quickly.

Edit: I would personally bias to the road racers...they are more endurance focused and that better lines up to boat use.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll do some research.

[JAppler]

The oil test came back today from Blackstone. I think the writing is on the wall but I’m not sure.

“Universal averages show typical wear for a 351 cid Ford marine engine, and they're based on oil run about 30 hours. Most of the wear metals are in the average range, but copper and lead are on the high side. These metals typically show wear at the bearings, but aren't necessarily high enough to suggest a major problem at this point. Silicon is elevated, too, and it can come from either harmless sealer or abrasive
dirt. The oil's viscosity reads like a 5W/30, and the 6.5 TBN indicates active additive left in the oil. Watch oil pressure and check back in 5-10 hrs.”

Do you have a link to the oil testing place you used?


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[SilentSeven]

Search for Blackstone oil test. Popular service, should be an easy hit.

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[dhmcfadin]

Here is how they deliver the results and what they test for: