Does anyone know the history of these old spark arrestors.I have been tempted to change mine but keep seeing them on some very cool old boats.Are they spark arrestors? Legal? There isnt any numbers or any i.d. on mine.I have it turned 90 degrees in this pic-I think
Very nice boat.... I was into the drag boat race mess in the early 70's, spent a lot of money on my boats and drove some crappy cars because of it. I enjoyed every second of it. I'll have to do some digging to find a few pics. My boats ran Olds engines and were show pieces. Eventually I got married and lost everything!!!! I then went into Speed Skiing on water.... a death wish for being married!
awesome thread! i love these boats and the old wood ones too! anyone have "the rest of the story" on the Sunken Hydro? i'm very interested in that. Dave
DDlova, For more info regarding the "Clean Sweep",sunken hydro you should try contacting The guys who found her and brought her up....... R&H Salvage 1580 Dover Ave. Lake Havasu City, Arizona 86404 Ph: (520) 453-3260 The article in Hot Boat was from about 10 years ago, and I'm sure someone has either bought it, or the hull was scrapped. Pity, Charger hydros were a good looking boat and I believe there are probably not a whole lot of 'em around these days. The 392 Chrysler Hemi could be bought for about $50 to $100 from a wrecking yard in the late sixties/early seventies. I know, I bought a few. Try pricing one today.
cntrlr7, I have an old catalog from "Debbold's Marine Supply Co.", from 1969, which shows the flame arrestor you have. It is listed as a "4 throat 2 element flame arrestor". Part no.449D, for 4 1/4" air horns, and Part no. 449LD for 5 1/8" (like yours) air horns, and were Coast Guard approved for marine useage. They were very popular for dual-quad set-ups, where the carbs were close together, and allowed a lot of air inlet area (when turned sideways) in a limited space. My scanner isn't working right now , or I'd include a picture from the catalog. My wife says she can take a scanning at her work tomorrow and send it home to our computer. When she does, I'll put up a few pages of flame arrestors from Debbold's, Nicson, Glenwood, maybe even Edelbrock's old 2-barrel arrestors, if I have a good photo. By the way, it appears to me that your FE Ford is running an stock iron intake manifold, likely earlier than '65, because of the non-machined road draft tube/pcv flange at the belhousing end. I'm not sure if the boss was left there on the intake after the pcv was moved to the valve cover later. Also, I don't see the oil fill tube at the front of the manifold, did you remove it? Dig the Edelbrock Marine hardware...
Thanks Spike,I knew you would know [; I havnt paid much attention to the iron manifold,which is a 2 bbl,but I gotta say it WORKS.The boat does great on gas-about approx 2 gal an hour.I have seen other 2bbl's on old time ski race -family ski set ups.All the numbers indicate 1964-65.The block shares a number with the 427-C4AE but the stroke measures 3.90 darn.Can you edjucate me sum more? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IAirNgYJcs
cntrlr7, The block casting numbers on Ford FE motors don't really identify what cubic inch you have. Sometimes Ford used whatever casting mold that was free at the time. Case in point, I once had a 390 that had heavy duty 3-rib main webs and casting bosses (undrilled) for cross-bolt main caps. It was a 390, but was cast with a high perf 406/427 style lower end. It all worked the same even though the 390 was a standard 2 bolt main set up. Bore and stroke are the positive factors in identifying a FE. My darling wife came through with scanning the flame arrestor pages, however, they were put in my computer as a "PDF" file, and were too big to attach to this forum format (that's what they said). I'll see if the pages can be scanned into another format so I can post them. I'm trying.....
not mine. its sure is a neat ol boat. up for grabs, http://altoona.craigslist.org/boa/1363237323.html
cntrlr7 Let's see if I can get the flame arrestor pages posted now. I had the pages split up. We should have two pages from I.E. Debbold, one page from Glenwood, and one page from Nicson. Nicson and Debbold are not in business anymore. Glenwood is still in business but I don't think they offer the cast alunimum four barrel arrestor any more. Your particular flame arrestor is in the last page. Also cool are the flame arrestors for Stromberg 97's and Rochester 2g's.
Flame Arrestors from the Inboard Parts House courtesy of Spike Morelli.The bottom one is mine- $22.00
yes. pontiac. motor is the original (1959) 389 mill that was installed (new) in the boat when schiada built this boat (hull#2) in 1959. even cool'r thing is that when this flatty was restored (blank checkbook effort) in the early nineties (by schiata) that motor was removed and taken to "dandy" dick landy. he rebuilt it at his shop- then did the test/tune after the engine was put back in the boat, seatrials were performed in long beach harbor. there are lots of vintage hop up components featured on/in the motor as well as the boat. charlie (pictured behind wheel last weekend during schiada regatta) was in charge (he was running the schiada shop at that time) of the refit/resto on this little jewel 15years ago
Chris, It appears that your Pontiac powered flatbottom is running the driveline off of the crank (circle race fashion). If your boat wasn't built to circle race, there's surely a coolness to the snout drive. Only a handfull of automotive engines have a heavy enough crank snout to do this without going to a custom crank. I also was looking at your bellhousing. I used to have a boat with an Olds, that had a B&M aluminum bellhousing that looked like yours, from what I could see (B-O-P bolt pattern). What make is your bellhousing? Great boat, by the way..............
Wow Chris that is in deed a beautiful thing. Having had a few Pontiacs in the past makes me dig it all that much more. Great motors…people that have never had one are missing out. BTW only the last two photos you posted will enlarge when clicked on and they are very small. That’s why I wasn’t sure it was a Pontiac.
i happened to be in the right place/at right time around xmas> stumbled across/bought the boat= have been the fortunate owner for the past 9 months... [/B] correct spike. this schiada was not set up as a circle track race boat rather (i was told this flatty was) spec'd built a hot rod ski boat for the original. hull#2 was laid up & pontiac motor acquired in 1959 and boat was completed/delivered/titled new in 1960. i'll ask/learn/get more details about the questions asked - stay tuned for more details
Now or When it was New ??? Someplace around hear, I have a letter from Vern Amaral from 1967, (sale Contract) for a new Hondo, complete with Chrysler Hemi and trailer ,Upholstery, V drive ETC. $4500.00.
Here are some the previous owner took, not to good. it is a true flat bottom, under the paint it has blue and silver sparkle gelcoat, the guy just redid the seats, everything works on it, no soft spots in the bottom or anywhere else that i have found and very minor stress cracks in the normal places.
If there is no delmination and the stringers are good 2000-2500, if the stringers are shot has delmination and it doesnt run around 1000.00.
oops. gotta get my facts straight> spoke to lee (spindler) yesterday at the plant. the red hulled wood decked schiada is NOT hull#2... it's the second glassed over wood hull built by schiada. lee informed me the boat was ordered by/built new for a man named lloyd tanner. hull was laid up/build started in 1959. tanner and schiada spec'd the boat with a 59 pontiac tri-power motor. the boat was completed/delivered in 1960. tanner at some point gave the boat to his son. the son traded the boat back in to schiada in the early 90's as partial payment on a new schiada build. spindler family (then owners and current owners of schiada boats) put the boat up in the rafters- intending to preserve the flatty. about a year later, a man walked into the shop. said he was looking for a vintage vdrive schiada. lee told him about the boat in the rafters. deal was made. boat was rebuilt/restored to glory appearance at the schiada plant- "dandy" dick landy handled the rebuild on the 389 tripower. refit was completed in 1993 or 1994. boat saw little use during the next 15years. excersized on special occassion, but for the most part of that period the flatty was tucked away in the owner's basement with some of his other (4wheel) hot rods...
Thanks, No delamanation, stringers are good and solid, runs good but got to replace the freeze plugs. I have never seen one with the tanks behind the seat,most are saddle tanks i have seen.
This was just posted on another forum...nice Stevens! David and his 1969 Stevens Flat bottom v-drive, 17 foot with a GTO 389 and 3, 2 barrel carbs, oh yeah- 60 over and an Iski cam. Hot stuff back then I guess. He was National Unlimited class ski Champion in 1968 and 1970. He has also jumped his ski over 200 feet!!!
Now THAT'S what a hot flatbottom REALLY looked like during the heyday of hot inboards. The engine, the seating for four, wet exhausts, the color and "target design"....pure hot rod on the water...typical era correct and bitchin'. Take note people, it was used to ski with! Kinda makes a "competition ski boat" (ski nautique type) look like a booger. It's young and hip. I'm going to blow up a copy of that photo 'cause it's just too cool to me
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