My Xpress project (long read)

[willyworm]

Some of you may have read already about some of the questions I've been asking about tiller conversions and motor placement and such. Obviously I had a project I was working on and this is it:




Some of you may recognize it as Phone Man's old boat. So I got it from him sans motor and immediately I started with some changes I wanted to make. I had this '98 Nissan 40 3 cyl available to me, but it was on a pontoon on a steering wheel setup. I had to convert that over to a tiller (not a fun job) and got it done, almost. I was hell bent on putting in the shark eye nav lights, so I did that. And now I'm ready for the water, but there are still changes to be made. Next I want to install an electrical panel that will put the bilge, nav lights, interior lights (have them but haven't installed 'em yet) and possibly some lights for the nose. A radio is also on the to-do list, but is not a priority at this moment. That can wait.

I'll start with the motor. I finally found a tiller handle on eBay after a month+ of searching. A bloke in the UK had like 9 of 'em used. And apparenty I wasn't the only guy looking for one, as they went QUICK. So I verified part number and placed the order. I matched the bolt size, length and thread pattern and bolted it on. I had to order all the parts for under the cowl that were different from the previous steering setup such as the bracket for the throttle cables, and a F-N-R shift lever. I ordered all them from Nissan and they were at my door in a couple days. I hung the motor, posted a pic and D's Tee's said it needed to come up so I raised it. I'll find out what kind of RPM's the motor is turning once I hit the water. A tiny tach is also on the way, so I can tinker with heights and props and find the right settings. Here's where the motor began and where it ended up.

Before:


After:





One of the other decisions I had to make was to either keep the keyed ignition or wire up a push button for the starter, or simply order OEM parts. I opted to keep the OEM ignition cable from the throttle on the pontoon it came off of and install it on a bracket PM had for a courtesy lights (which I don't need because I'll be installing LED lights like Shotgun Dave did on his.) I bought the same exact lights, I'm just waiting to decide on a panel before I go installing 'em. I'll just wire them in and rewire the nav lights to the new panel when I get it in. Back to the ignition... This is what I ended up with for now. Haven't prettied it all up yet but y'all get the picture.



Next, I installed the nav lights. I ordered 'em off eBay from a seller in FL and they were at my house in a couple days. Run me ~$60 and another $15 or so to have them powder coated by a guy near Sumter. They only come in stainless, trust me I looked! The gaskets that come with them were great for me to mark the holes I needed to drill. I just drew my lines out for the holes, grabbed a hole saw kit and a jigsaw with a metal blade and cut some holes. PM already ran some regular old orange extension cord wire to the front for the nav that was mounted on the front deck. So removed the old nav light, cut the excess wire off and used it for the starboard side and just looped some 14 ga speaker wire over to the other side and soldered everything in. I also used black silicone to seal everything. Be sure to shrink wrap the solders so it'll last and not corrode, if you solder of course. If you use crimps well, poor you. They'll last but you'll be replacing them alot sooner and probably have some seriously brittle wires to work with. If you must crimp, use plenty of silicone to waterproof it. I plan to use the boat in salt water some, so I went the extra mile to do it right. After all, I do aircraft wiring so I'm trained not to cut corners. Here's the pics.

Before:




After:


I still have to install the kill switch on the motor and wire it in, because the stock harness I kept from the steering setup has the connections near the ignition. So I'll have to cut and splice inside the cowl. Then the interior green LED lights, followed by the electrical panel and the stereo. More pics to come.