Greetings from WI. Need help with my MC!

[mrosenow]

Greetings all. I am 29 and have owned a '78 Stars and Stripes for the past few years. We have had a lot of fun with it. I doubt I will ever sell it, it is a ton of fun and even with 2300 hours on the hull, I get a lot of attention!!
My worn out PCM 351 got an overhaul this past spring and I am finally getting a chance to put it back in. Can't wait, I built up the motor a bit, it was scary fast before, I bought stock in depends for when it hits the water this time.
Anyway, with my installation, I am running into a couple of issues. It really stinks that I am finding that us inboard guys have such a limited reasource for help and parts. With such a simple rig, you would think it would be different.
First...I want to do a quick rebuild of my Velvet drive. It should be the stock unit for my '78 and it is a 1:1 Velvet Drive for sure. There is not a model number on it. I think it is a 72C, it has 5 discs in the clutchpac, I think the 71 has 7? I had found a place online to get the gasket kit with new clutches for under $100, now I can not find it again. It was wholesale discount marine or something like that. It was not discount inboard marine, there prices are outragous. Can anyone help me figure out what I have and tell me where the best place to get a rebuild kit is?
Next topic....shaft seal....where is the best place to get packing or is there an popular upgrade?
Last issue: In numerous hard turns, I seem to have lost the rubber drain plug. It just fit in the hole in the hull and let water out but not in. I can not find one of these anywhere!?! I really liked what I had in there and hate putting a solid plug in as my shaft seal likes to drip a bit! Please help me find a new one!
Any help is GREATLY appreciated.
Mike

[JDK]

http://www.marinegears.com/catalog/cat.html
Is this the tranny shop you were referring to?

[erkoehler]

Welcome to the board, and post up some pics of that boat :D

[School Skier]

Welcome to the board neighbor! We live in Manitowoc. Good luck with you're Stars and Stripes I love the way they look!

[jbfootin]

Try Skidim.com. They seem to have almost everything and are helpfull if you call with questions.

I live in Appleton. Where do you ski?

[ski_king]

Check out this thread. (http://www.tmcowners.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=3739)

[JEREMY79]

Welcome to the board. What do you call leaking a bit. mine leaks in a steady stream about the size of a pencil lead. Doesnt hurt anything as long as you have a bilge pump.

What kind of plug are you talking about, if you lost it, didnt you take on water quickly.

What kind of mods did you do to the motor. I did mine this winter and just got it back in.

What do you call scary fast? these boats dont go that fast?

Welcome to the board.

[jimmer2880]

Welcome. Like others have said - www.skidim.com (http://www.skidim.com) Call them. They really know their stuff and I don't know of anyone who has been shipped the wrong part.

[Jerseydave]

I think the plug you are referring to is a kazoo plug. Try BoatUS or West Marine for it. Or you could try your local marine/fishing store.

Oh, and welcome to Team Mastercraft! (very addictive, you'll see) :D

[mrosenow]

JDK, marinegears.com is not the right one, but thanks.

Good to see some locals. I ran on Winnebago and the river a lot in the past few years. I was out near Paynes Point a lot when it was calm. I moved and will probably run the river near Fremont more now as well as the chain in Waupaca. Any ideas on better places...I mean calmer waters!

They may know there stuff and can match their stock numbers to what someone needs, but DIM stinks for prices. I just bought new manifolds for $140 each shipped to my door, they wanted $180 plus shipping. Their clutch pacs for the velvet drive are like $160 or something. That is OUTRAGOUS. clutch pacs are only like $20 a set for most anything and I can get the gasket kit included and it is still only $80 for the whole rebuild kit best place I found. I am certainly not going to waste my money just because it has "marine" stamped on the package. Most the time there is no difference anyway, especially not in standard transmission clutch packs.

Kazoo plug sounds like the ticket! Where can I get one????
My shaft is not leaking that bad, but bad enough. Yeah, it filled up fast when I lost the plug. lucky I had a normal plug on board as a spare!
I guess I consider the handling and acceleration scarey fast. Top speed under 50 is still pretty good, but spinning the boat around at 45 mph will scare the crap out of anybody!

My motor was a stock 260 horse PCM. I bored it 30 over (had to) It got 10.5:1 pistons. Upgraded to a better head casting and screw in rocker arm studs. I upgraded to a highrise dual plane performance manifold. It also got a larger cam to match my pistons and intake. All new push rods, new oil pump, timing chain, and all the normal rebuild stuff to go with. Bill was $1278 including the new manifold. My machine shop guy rocks! He builds about two motors a year for me. I can't beat his prices and no way could I do it myself for less. Plus he backs his work for the whole season! I should be about 300 horsepower now without any more fuel consumption. Only question is will I have to rejet my carb?

[JEREMY79]

sounds like your motor is built almost identical to mine. Trust me you will love it when its back together

[divetravis]

See if this is the site you were thinking about. While I have never bought anything from them I do know they have been on the net for a long time. A few years ago (about 5) I had an older ski boat and used to look at the site every once in awhile, just happen to still have the link in my bookmarks. Looks like they may have what you want for about $100.

http://www.amarket.com/tranborg.htm