Ranger 373v Restore Project

It begins! Here are the Before pictures. I just hope it comes together on the cheap. I'm actually looking at a 395v this Sunday and may restore both rigs.

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As you can see, my work is cut out for me. I've located a Lower Unit and am taking a road trip Saturday to pick it up. It comes with a prop, same hp and year motor as well. I have hooked a good battery up to it and cannot get the tilt to work. Have a request in to Ranger for a wiring diagram/Schematic to rewire entire boat if needed. The Tilt switch is missing from the front panel and am wondering if that could be the cause by not being able to complete the circuit.

I've also been studying up on Gel Coat repairs and will be doing that first after removing the carpet. Another request to Ranger for cost of original seats has been sent. The cracked windshield will be $100 to replace.

Oh man, what have I got myself into???

can you give me a ballpark figure as to what something like this is going for in the condition it is in. I been thinking about changing out my old hull and get something like this that would cut the water better than my tri-hull.thanks for any info.

Reaper, if you haven't been over there, BassBoat central. Those guys have a lot of info on restoring boats and have lots of Insite on on how and where to get stuff. Probably several Ranger restores over there. Makes me sick every time I see a great piece like that just left to rot. Saw a Champion rot to the ground over here and guy wouldn't even talk to you about buying it. Got your work cut out but will be worth it in the long run. On your trim, the brushes are probably stuck from setting so long. Might try putting power to motor and tapping the end of motor with something like a large plastic screwdriver handle. Would be best to take motor apart and clean armature and make sure brushes are sliding back and forth in holders good. That front switch shouldn't have anything to do with it.

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Originally Posted by cray

On your trim, the brushes are probably stuck from setting so long. Might try putting power to motor and tapping the end of motor with something like a large plastic screwdriver handle. Would be best to take motor apart and clean armature and make sure brushes are sliding back and forth in holders good. That front switch shouldn't have anything to do with it.

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There is a good chance that I might get the entire motor on Saturday after the guy sells the cowling and the Carb cover to someone else. Think of the spare parts I'll have.

fishorgolf, you just have to shop, advertise what you're looking for, keep your eye open in your travels and don't be afraid to stop and discuss it. Some folks will sign over the titles and let you drag them off!

Yep, time for a visit to the BBC forums.

Nice! What's the shape of the transom? Even if you don't get a wiring diagram shouldn't be too hard wiring. Just tedious.

Wow Reaper, you sure have a project on your hands now. Best of luck! Looks similar condition to my dad's old Fabuglas boat that sat on the trailer for so many years that the floor rotted and a tree was growing (about 6' tall). I always wanted to fix the boat and leave the tree -- would have been great to decorate for a Christmas boat parade. Dad ended up just giving the boat to a guy that did some work on the walkway at the dock many years ago (the guy only wanted the boat for the 85hp Evy on the back). A buddy of mine was going to offer our neighbor at the lake a couple hundred for an old Kingfisher that had been sitting on a trailer for 15 years. I talked to the neighbor and she told me he could just have it -- they were tired of mowing around it. My buddy got it home and took the motor off the back and discovered the transom was cracked so now he's looking for another boat w/o motor to put this motor on.

They are out there, one just has to look. I thought I had made a deal to trade a $450.00 belt driven compressor for the 373v, but instead, the man asked me about a couple of Todd Huckabee 10' dipping sticks. I had one still in the package and another one that I used for about a week and a half. I took the reel off it and made the trade. I promptly called Ken to let him know that I needed to order replacements and that he can use my experience as a selling tool letting people know that he knew a guy that traded two Huckabee Rods for an '84 Ranger with a 150 Johnson that only needed a lower unit.

My first boat was a complete restore and let me tell you what a tedious job it is. I think the hardest part for me was replacing stringers and floors. Also when repowering and old boat like that you definitely need to make sure your transom is up to snuff. Wiring is not hard just have to do it in spurts. That way you don't get brain overload. BBC and iboats forum helped me out alot. Can't wait til you get her gutted and really get to see what your working with. Make sure to document your progress. I didn't and regret it cause it could have helped alot of people wanting to do what you are doing. Cant wait to see pics of progress. Good luck

Transom seems stout, Floor seems good and strong. No weak spots. I'll know more when I stripped the carpet back.

Sounds like a plan. Good luck

Man Reaper, that project is gonna take at least 9 or 7 hours!:biggrin Good luck with it.

Was great to talk to you the other night.

Bob

OK, so after Dinobot and I met this morning to pass the USS-POS to a new, deserving owner, I headed towards Russelville Ark to look/buy a lower unit for the Johnson 150hp. I get there and it's the same model/year of the motor on the 373v. Pull the cowling, turn flywheel by hand, lower unit still attached, put it in gear and turn flywheel by hand again, prop turns.

There's three of us, me, the motors owner (who is physically hampered by an car wreck from years past), and a friend of his. We stand it up on the Skeg, tailgate a bit too tall to just lay the head over on and this thing IS HEAVY! I ask him if he has any 2x12's around, no. Got a 4 wheeler ramp though. So I ask the owner to pull my truck up while me and his friend steady the motor. Lay the ramp against the tailgate, lay a movers blanket over it. The plan was to lift the bottom of the ramp as one, then slide into truck bed. I have safety concerns on my plan and was scared the motor would try to slide downhill once the skeg left the ground. OK, I take a couple of small straps and wrap them around the bottom of the head connected to the tie downs in the back of the Chevy. Once cinched up, we lifted the bottom of the ramp with ease and slid motor and all into the bed. I said, "Thanks for the ramp" and laughed. Got his ramp out from under the motor, shut the tailgate, gave him some money and got a bill of sale (For tag purposes if I rebuild it). We say our goodbyes and I start the truck heading out of the drive, the local station I had it on started playing a little Blue Oyster Cult favorite of mine....You guessed it, "Don't Fear the Reaper"! I'm taking that as a sign that this entire deal was meant to be. Make it home safely after a 475 mile overall drive.

Now this motor was running but had a sputter in it. Turns out a Marine Mechanic discovered the #5 cylinder was only getting 40# psi. It has a fairly new tilt/trim on it to boot. I got the entire motor for less than half of what a used lower unit would cost at a marine salvage! I'm thinking about it on the way home and realized that even though I have the motor, it's in back of the truck and weighs around 500#.

The end of Finding Nemo came to mind where all the fish had finally made it out of the aquarium into the ocean, but were stuck in individual plastic bags. Then as the movie closes, one of the fish says..."Now What"?

I'm at a Now What moment myself as far as the motor goes. That sucker is just going to have to stay in the back of the truck until I figure out what I can do with it. LOL

I guess I could go ahead and pull the lower unit with it laying in the truck. But would rather make a steel stand with casters and get it hung on it. There's a good chance I'm going to rebuild the head since it's most likely nothing more than a hone, some rings and a gasket kit. Then I'll have to find another lower unit. Sheesh, and I'm just getting started! Wish me luck!

Don't think Ranger will have seat forms. Can provide Skins. Had to replace some skins two yrs ago on my 87 373 and this is what Upholstery shop said. I may have my old cushion lid on for the rod box. I put a 372 lid. Will check. Skin and form were still good.

If those axles are shoot grease thru end of axle, and you need new zerks, I have the 3/8 x 24 zerks as needed on my my 373. I have more than I will ever need.

Reaper

Yesterday I had a recessed box put in for trolling motor control. The amount of foam floatation that the boat mech. saw in there impressed us both. I told him it's a Ranger(1994 354v) what did you expect! You will really have something when you finish. Looking forward to seeing it.

I'm going to leave the fwd deck alone, but modify the rod box lid so I can make a hinged deck out of it instead of the original padded seat. I'm not sure I like the recessed foot control yet since I plan to add two new seat bases up front for a second person. I'll need the foot control to be able to relocate to one side when fishing two in the front. I'll be adding an extended deck all the way to both consoles and create some more storage underneath.

I'm also considering re-engineering the entire dash area to try and fit the HDS-9 touch into the console and fit a Marine grade radio in it as well. I've had the radio for about two years. Bought it for a Bat Wing fairing for the Harley but have shelved that project.

The changes I make might take away from the value from getting off the original Ranger, but the value is not real high on an '84 anyway. I think as long as what I do is professional looking, I might be able to increase the value a tad.
Add yes, I should have a nice rig when said and done.

Thanks for chiming in!

Good luck Reaper. I got a backache just reading this story. Heads starting to hurt a little too.

Yesterday I finally got the motor out of the back of the truck that I picked up in Arkansas two Saturdays ago. I borrowed a chain hoist from a friend. TC gave me a stand that only needed a 2x12" attached to be good. I made some modifications to it and added a set of casters. I blasted the rust off the smaller parts before welding them and took a wire wheel to the entire frame prior to giving it a coat of paint.

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I pulled the lower unit off the Arkansas motor and backed the 373v into the shop. I will remove that lower unit in the morning AFTER I get the teleflex cable unfroze. The motor that came with the boat had about 20 mud dabber nests inside under the cowling, including the air intakes. I'll pull the carbs and get all that mess cleaned up and while I'm at it, open the carbs up and clean them up. The tilt/trim motor is barely working. Sounds as if the brushes need replaced. The hydrolics on it seem fine. I'm addressing the motor issues first since if I don't get it up and running, the entire project will have to be shelved until I am able to get her running. Will post progression updates.

Oh boy!

I took me 4.5 hours to unfreeze the steering cables! The tube on the motor was pretty much completely rusted up and almost gave up until I saw some of the prices to replace. With a can of WD40, a rivet gun with a flush set, a 2x4, a strap and a 10" punch I was able to move the cables in enough to break them loose but the amount of rust kept it from coming back out. Enter the ratchet strap connected to the steering hole and an upright I Beam in the shop. Putting enough pressure on the strap to pull the rear of boat over. I have a stairway against that I Beam so I took a 2x4 and wedged it against the motor mount beating it into position with a 5lb dead blow hammer. This put strong pressure on the strap to help pull the cables back out.

From the Starboard side of motor, I took the 10" punch and placed it on the steering connector that the strap was pulling on. Picked up the rivet gun and lightly pulled the trigger. As I did this, I watched the steering wheel start to move. Got her moved about two inches, tightened the strap, two more inches, tighten again. Once I got it all the way back out, cleaned rust and WD40 it. I would have to disconnect the cables to shoot WD40 into Starboard side of tubes. Repetative back and forths of knocking it in, and the back out with the rivet gun with cleaning and lube each time led to being able to flush a lot of broken up rust out.

Now it acts as if it's almost new. Perseverance and plain old red neck engineering allowed me to save having to replace them.

The down side of getting them fixed is that I think I might have to break down the motor in order to change the mounts out. There is a lot of left to right slop in the motor. It's all good though as it's a new learning experience and a challenge. I thrive on challenges! Hopefully when done the motor will give years of service.

Hang in there Reaper , I don't have anything against Marine mechanics but I like to fix things myself as well. I guess you could say to keep your cranial juices flowing .

Reaper, I got tired just reading about it. Hang in there pard.

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Originally Posted by Hat55

Reaper, I got tired just reading about it. Hang in there pard.

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X2!

Just from me to you REPLACE them cables. When they hang up , its a long swim back to the ramp LOL RR

Need more pics! lol

When you get done with your project, I have a simple one for you...............:biggrin

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Originally Posted by cricket george

When you get done with your project, I have a simple one for you...............:biggrin

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Lol!

What chu laughing at Redge?

Dang Reaper, you have some marine mechanical skills! I'm very impressed. I thought I was doing good to replace the engine oil and LU oil on our 90HP 4-stroke Yami when we bought our "new to us" pontoon boat a couple of years ago. It was time for a new impeller this year and I knew the limits of my ability so I took it to a shop to let professional types do it.

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Originally Posted by OK Toon

Dang Reaper, you have some marine mechanical skills! I'm very impressed. I thought I was doing good to replace the engine oil and LU oil on our 90HP 4-stroke Yami when we bought our "new to us" pontoon boat a couple of years ago. It was time for a new impeller this year and I knew the limits of my ability so I took it to a shop to let professional types do it.

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I've always tackled things that I wasn't prepared for. I'm self taught on rebuilding engines. The first automatic transmission I rebuilt was a turbo 350 and I had enough money for the kit, a new torque converter and a case of fluid. It was the early '80s and I went to the downtown Tulsa library and made 11 pages of copies. It called for special tool this and special tool that. For releasing the springs on the clutch pack, I simply used allthread, fender washers and wing nuts to compress it enough to release the snap ring. I've rebuilt at least 3 700R4 trannys. I find an automatic is much easier to mess with than a standard.

As for this project or any Marine motor, Kelly Davis has helped me immensly in guidance. I can never thank him enough. I ain't askeered to tackle any project cause I figure if a man built it, then I ought to be able to work on it regardless of my experience. It took me 6 attemps to get a nice paint job on the Harley. It was the graphics that were killing me. But now, I know I could strip the bike down, repaint it how I want it and have it back together in a week.

Today I pulled the shelled lower unit. Pretty easy job other than getting to the shift rod screw. May have to take both lower units apart since the debris screens on the replacment have big holes in them and the ones in the original do not. Just hope I don't have to press anything. Don't think I could McGiver that one with what I have around the shop. Will inspect impeller. Person in Ark said it was new, I'll be able to tell how new it is, other wise, I'll make sure it's new.

Reaper
I sure would like to take a ride in that thing when you GIT-ER- DONE :ThumbsUp

OK, I've removed the negative posts in this thread and reopened it. Please, no more bad posts. If you do not have something constructive and positive to post, don't post it. This is supposed to be a "Friendly" fishing site.

Ok, thanks Slab.

To continue, yesterday I checked compression twice cold. The first reading gave me 83 lbs in 4 cylinders and 82 lbs in 2. Tilted motor all the way up and shot a litte WD-40 in it and raised them all to 88-87 which is kind of low until I did some reading. I'll check compression again once it's been ran and warmed up which is the proper way. I did find where a Marine Mechanic had stated that all pull rope starting motors will have lower compression and all electric start motors will have a higher compression EXCEPT Large V-6 Johnnyrudes which will have a lower compression like a pull start, so I think I could be good to go on the head. Jlarge had told me that the head had been rebuilt recently before the lower unit went out. Looking at it from the outside, it looked good other than the amount of Mud Daubers that had taken up residence.

The person I purchased the motor from in Arkansas told me the impeller was new. I removed the pump housing to inspect it. Brand new gasket, removed impeller and she sprung right out like a new one should. It didn't look as if the motor had even been run yet with the new impeller as it still had lubrication from the installation. Put it all back together. I brushed out all debris I could reach, vaccumed and blew out what was left. I then stuck the good lower unit in position snugging it with two bolts until I get the shifter linkage bolted in. Last night, I spent three hours of frustration trying to get the shifter linkage bolt into place with no luck. There is a good chance I may have to remove the lower unit and spin the shifter linkage one direction or the other to get it to the right height. If I could just get the bolt in as it is, I will know if I need to reset the lower unit or not. I hope not, that thing is heavy!

If all goes well my next step is to remove the fuel tanks and the filler necks to try and remove catalyzed remnants of fuel and moisture.

Reaper, I watched a few online videos of changing the impeller and that's when I realized that was more than I wanted to tackle -- especially by myself and without proper equipment to support the weight of the LU. I've heard others talk about how easy it is to do -- but I'm sure brain surgeons say the same thing too. I've finally learned to accept that I can't do everything myself. So hearing that you are able to do this without the background knowledge (just figuring it out as you go) -- my hat's off to you sir. You'll have that thing ready to hit the lake before the Spring spawn! :fish

Unhook the shift cable from the shifter linkage and you can move the linkage up or down to line the little bolt holes up if it is the type where you hook up the lower unit shift rod directly under the bottom carburater.

Reaper I have a 1989 evenrude 150 XP , and I have an Evenrude factory manual if it will help you . I think the Evenrude XP's and the Johnson GT's are sister engines.

Man, reaper I was exhausted after reading what all you did yesterday. If it weren't sol cold, I would go fishing to rest up! lol

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Originally Posted by OK Toon

Reaper, I watched a few online videos of changing the impeller and that's when I realized that was more than I wanted to tackle -- especially by myself and without proper equipment to support the weight of the LU. I've heard others talk about how easy it is to do -- but I'm sure brain surgeons say the same thing too. I've finally learned to accept that I can't do everything myself. So hearing that you are able to do this without the background knowledge (just figuring it out as you go) -- my hat's off to you sir. You'll have that thing ready to hit the lake before the Spring spawn! :fish

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It's actually pretty simple if you take your time and don't allow frustration to set in. Thank you for the compliment!

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Originally Posted by ckcg4

Unhook the shift cable from the shifter linkage and you can move the linkage up or down to line the little bolt holes up if it is the type where you hook up the lower unit shift rod directly under the bottom carburater.

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What a great, yet simple idea! I've been messing with it for better than an hour so far and still don't have it. As soon as I finish taking this short break, I will do just that! Thanks so much! The shifter from the lower unit has to be turned just right, then sit in a cavity for the bolt to go through. I think what you say can and will work for me.

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Originally Posted by ckcg4

Reaper I have a 1989 evenrude 150 XP , and I have an Evenrude factory manual if it will help you . I think the Evenrude XP's and the Johnson GT's are sister engines.

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I might take you up on that if I rebuild which I plan to do with the other motor with the weak compression.