Chrysler Conqueror SIII with Chrysler Jet

[ChryslerJet]

Okay so I am moving my project from the newbies section to here bit by bit will see how that goes.  This is going to be duplicating some of those posts just so they are all together here will be removing them from that thread once they are all reposted here.

Here in follows the story of the boat and the progress of the tear down and rebuild.

This is a badly abused and abandoned boat I found on Craigslist for $400 listed as a Mopar being sold by a Mopar enthusiast like myself in Bulverde Tx. There wasn't ever going to be another buyer out there for this boat.  He had rescued it from going to the junk yard from the previous owner thinking he would fix it up but he was never a boat person and never got around to it.  So basically since 1985 this boat has been sitting in one field or another in the Texas heat.
Now for a little history lesson most people don't know that Chrysler made boats but they bought out Lonestar boat in Plano Texas and started making their own line of boats which lasted until early 80's when Chrysler got into trouble and the govt made them drop all lines that were not dealing with the automotive industry. The boats made from the 60's through the 80's were manufactured under Chrysler Boat Corporation.
This boat is unique in that it not only is a boat made by Chrysler powered by a Chrysler Inboard motor it also has a Jet drive designed and manufactured by Chrysler as an all new Jet Drive.  The Jet Drive as stated before had a very short run.

Here are a couple of pics from the Craigslist ad that I saw when I bought it and it looked pretty much the same when I picked it up to bring it home.




Well when I went to see the boat it was up on a hill. I got in carefully fully expecting to fall through the rotted wood. The floor was soft but not going to falter. The motor was long gone so no 340 it will be getting a 360 pics on that later.  BTW I know how everyone loves pics I have lots of them and will post them all. The captains chair was there but that was it as far as the interior goes. The jet appeared to be complete and the direct drive to it was there along with the flywheel, bellhousing, and exhaust manifolds. There was also a raw water pump that was in bad shape but rebuildable.  All the other accessories were missing (alternator, spark arrestor, starter, carb, brackets, motor mounts, etc.).

Well I told the guy I would get back with him and a month later the boat was still there (like I said it wasn't going to anyone else) I offered him $250 for it and I think I might have overpaid.  The Tires were held on by bolts and nuts not lugs and studs, the hitch was also not positively locking wrapped some bailing wire around it to keep it from coming off, and to top it all off I had a 30 mile drive home half way home one of crossmembers, the second one back from the front, the welds broke and it dropped and was dragging underneath the trailer being held on by one rusty bolt to the end of a piece of rotted 2x4 bunk board.  My luck was with me and whoever was driving behind me cause I could just see that thing bouncing down the road behind me into someones windshield.  Of all the things that could happen that was the last thing I would have thought that would have happened.  It made the rest of the trip home safely though.

Next post though will post some more pics of the boat and then some of the initial issues found.

BTW this all Happened Jan 2011, my goal was to have it water ready by April 25th 2011 my birthday.  It may not have been pretty but would have been on the water for the first time in 26 years.  That didn't happen partly because I hadn't realized how hard it was going to be to get a motor and all the accessories for this thing, particularly the CCW Starter.

Thanks for reading

 

[spd500]

clap.gif great idea.  Can't wait to see what you are going to do with it.

 

[ChryslerJet]

Here are a few shots of the boat when I brought her home. 

Here is a bow shot


Here is a stern port side shot


Here is a shot of the stern with the Chrysler designed jet



Can't wait to get her done and back on the water for the first time in over 25 years. Yeah last time it was registered was in 1985.  I have had it in my possession for a bought a year now.

 

[ChryslerJet]

Here's some more pics
This is the dash with the only surviving interior piece the captains chair.  That's the engine cover to the right of the chair there.


Here is one with the cover and chair removed


A picture of the blower intake there is one of these on each side.


Some previously repaired damage to the keel.  Looks fairly well done just not re-gel coated once repaired.  Will probably grind it down a bit to gel back over it.

 

[ChryslerJet]

Okay so I know you want to see the pics of the Crossmember story so here they are. 

This is where the Crossmember is supposed to be on the trailer.



Here is the Crossmember


What I came to find out later now that I have put this crossmember back on and Welded it up good, this was the only crossmember that was not welded at both the top and bottom all the other crossmembers look in good shape.

 

[ChryslerJet]

Ok so now on to the rest of the damage left to me by the previous owners

Here is the extent of the wiring in the boat.  Hint its all under the dash


It appears that the factory did not fully encase the transom nor the floor in fiberglass and as such caused a lot of damage.

Transom Rot


Thats the exhaust outlet in that last pic

The floor i though i was stepping on that was soft was actually non-existent.  The only thing I was walking on was the carpet on top of the floatation foam.  And there were several large voids in that as well.



A crack in the Jet Housing.  Planning to have this gouged and welded up.  I took the Jet apart and the crack doesn't go all the way through.

 

[ChryslerJet]

So here is some Tear down shots
The transom stripped of wood mostly still need to grind it down to the first layer of fiberglass.

Pile of Trash removed except of course the bell housing

The Steel plate that goes under the fiberglass under the motor mount.  The mount I thought was solid but that was just the cloth and glass holding it the wood underneath was gone.

 

[ChryslerJet]

Here are some shots of the foam removal

I was sectioning the foam up until this point using a Machete and carefully cutting out the sections since it appears to mostly be in good shape. you can see at the bottom its a little dark in the center this is water logged foam there are some more shots of it further down in this post

Some of the sections with water logged foam at the bottom.

 

[ChryslerJet]

Here is where I separated the top and bottom halves of the hull.  I don't have any pics of removing the rub rail nor drilling out the 200+ rivets holding the rail on and then more holding the hull halves together.

I think it looks fast just sitting there.  Man does the lower half look huge with the top half removed.

Here is the trailer out from under it as well now its on some home made stands.

The stern stand you can see the Jet is now partially removed.  You can also see it lost its carport space and is under a temporary carport I got to buy just for the boat.

Here is a section of more foam demo

You can see the poor mans tools of the trade a machete and a shovel

And lastly a pile of good reusable foam that will be used as filler if needed when pouring in the new foam.

 

[ChryslerJet]

Last post for now and this is one I know everyone will enjoy.  SO here is the deal on the motor.  I stalled the entire project because getting motor parts was very hard to find.  I searched craiglist across the entire country and found one in Michigan was a complete pull out from a wooden boat that had just rotted away and got stripped it was running the summer before the tear down.  It had the velvet drive for $500 i offered him $300 for the motor alone since I know that velvet drive can sell for $250 easy.  Well he countered with $400.  It included everything I needed, motor mounts and oil pan to carb and flame arrestor.  It also included the mahagony stringers it was mounted to and manifolds with exhaust hoses of which I didn't need the manifolds but I did need new exhaust hose.  And it included the flywheel, bellhousing and starter.  Of those I didn't need the bellhousing.  The only challenge getting from Michigan to Texas.  Now since I am from Michigan and it was about an hour and a half away from my home town I had a buddy of mine go pay for it and pick it up.  A neighbor of mine was supposed to go get it for me but was not able to after all since he cancelled his trip to Indiana.  Shipping was about $250 and the wife nixed that real quick.  The way she saw it was I had already gone over my motor budget with the $500 I had to spend (had to pay for my buds gas and wire him the money) to get the motor picked up what she didn't realize I had budget $300 for just a junkyard 360 truck motor not including all the accessories and this was still way under budget by about $300.  Needless I didn't win.  So that was May in December I start planning a trip to Michigan for Christmas in that budget a Hitch for the Minivan.  My buddy was giving me a trailer and the motor got put on it and hauled back on the Christmas trip behind the minivan.  So without further delay here is that motor.

These are from the guy I bought it from



And a picture of it running on the trailer back at the house.

PhotoBucket (click on it to view the video)


YouTube

http://youtu.be/_CG1YO6T-NI

by the way thanks for all the welcoming posts its nice to meet everyone and cant wait to see everyone's rides in person

 

[ChryslerJet]

So there we go that's everything moved over.  Over the next two weeks hope to get the transom finished ground down with the flap disk, the intake for the jet out, and start pulling stringers.  Then I can get to putting down a layer of glass and epoxy on the inside of the hull, put in the new stringers, refill the foam along with an idea I have of using soda pop bottles as massive air pockets that won't ever get water logged, rebuild the motor mounts, and reinstall the floor.  After that its time to flip the hull over and work on the keel damage and get it ready for new gel coat.  Once that's done its flip it back over make sure the cap still fits remove the cap again, reinstall the jet complete, and install the motor.  Oh wait that means I have to get and build the motor somewhere there too.  Then its all about the cap getting that ready by grinding out the cracks and filling with new gel or grinding it completely down and putting on all new gel.  Will have to shine and reinstall the aluminum rub rail and getting the new red rub rail insert installed.  The windshield trim will have to be shined up as well still debating about replacing the plexiglass windshield.  Once thats all done then its all about the interior seats, dash, stereo, controls, etc.

 

[Patchman]

I was wondering if you could put some tinted Lexan in that windshield. That would look sweet! think.gif

 

[Crusader]

I was wondering if you could put some tinted Lexan in that windshield. That would look sweet! think.gif

Good idea patch.....better than the blue plexi IMO.

 

[Last Mohecian]

Might think twice about pulling that jet intake.  I'm not sure about the Chrysler jet but if you can replace the stringers and do the other work without pulling it you may save yourself a lot of trouble getting it reset.

 

[ChryslerJet]

I was wondering if you could put some tinted Lexan in that windshield. That would look sweet! think.gif

Good idea patch.....better than the blue plexi IMO.

I actually like the stock look of the blue windshield.  I have seen some of these boats with dark tinted windshields too and they look good as well.  My plans are to try to keep the outward appearance stock and make subtle changes that fit me, my style, and my family.

I have actually given serious thought to literally cutting the hull in half and stretching it 3-5 feet to give me more room for passengers, but I think I am just going to get another boat a pontoon or deck boat for carrying more of the family when we are out on the lake.  I do wish I had a little more room in the boat though.  One other thing I am planning on doing is building a custom swim platform out of fiberglass to go on the back (obviously).  I am not planning to change the colors except for the dash where the stereo and gauges will be is going black.  The carpet will be going back to the blue or a dark gray.  The interior is going to be blue with a special custom piping that is a surprise that I will put out there once I see that it works and looks good.  The rear deck on either side of the motor cover also will be getting a vinyl padded area like it was supposed to have stock.  The motor will be the biggest upgrade as the plan is to initially use the 360 which is basically a slightly smaller bore and longer stroke than the original 340 and I will be using a magnum 360 truck motor so it will have the roller valvetrain, better flowing heads and lighter pistons.  Future plans are to put in a 4" stroker crank to make a 408 out of it.  All this under the guise its a stock motor.  I figure the torque it picks up will be good for the flow of the jet and since I won't be turning crazy revs it will last a long time.

 

[ChryslerJet]

Might think twice about pulling that jet intake.  I'm not sure about the Chrysler jet but if you can replace the stringers and do the other work without pulling it you may save yourself a lot of trouble getting it reset.

In order to replace the transom I have to pull it since the intake is a single unit up through the transom.  There is a lot that bolts on outside the transom but since the transom hole is around the output section of the intake I am going to have to take it off.  I have 4 bolts left to get at so I can get it off they are just in an awkward location.  I might have to put the new transom in then the jet intake back in before doing the motor mount stringers since it sits real close to them and if I put those stringers back in before the Jet it may be a real tight squeeze to get those 4 bolts back on.  Those by the way are the 4 bolts I am at needing right now.

 

[itsjohny]

coming along! Looks like you got yourself alot of ork but will be worth it in the end when shes humming across the lake. Welcome to the addiction     So are you planning to regel the entire boat or what?

 

[ChryslerJet]

coming along! Looks like you got yourself alot of ork but will be worth it in the end when shes humming across the lake. Welcome to the addiction     So are you planning to regel the entire boat or what?

Re gelling the entire boat is kinda the plan.  Have not completely decided on the cap yet but it is covered in stress cracks.  Not sure I want to take the time to grind out each crack and gel over or if I just grind the whole thing down and gel the entire cap.  Or a third option is to find a way to fill in the cracks maybe with the epoxy resin and paint the entire cap.

The underside of the hull might get away with re gelling the center around the keel since that's where all the damage is anyways.

 

[Last Mohecian]

Your plans sound good.  I would do as much research as you can on that Chrysler Jet.  You may get all you can get from it with that 360.  It appears to be an axial flow pump just like a Jacuzzi YJ.  The YJ is good for about 400 HP and 60 MPH.  Anything over that and it cavitates.  While the idea of more power sounds great now, It may be a complete waste if the pump can't handle it.  I am confident there are a few out there that know something about this pump.  They may be very few but I am sure someone has some experience with it.  Again I would start with Tom at JBP.  He may have some insight for you.

Look forward to your progress.

 

[ChryslerJet]

Well they did put it behind a big lock 440 which in marine trim is under 400 hp.  Without doing much and the restrictive exhaust I doubt I will get that from the 360 it's rated for 250.  And if the jet can handle 400 hp then yeah a 408 maybe just what it needs I like the idea of having the torque down low.  But then I may be wrong about how it can best perform.  Again most of this is future plans.  It's going to be a lot of trial and error.  I have been thinking of making a mold of my current impeller so I have something to use to make new ones to modify or to have a spare.  Again that's a few months out.