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Late last fall I finally completed a deal on a 1980 Fountain excutioner/excalibur with a carbon fiber hull, pad bottom, step transome. Engines are 454 twin turbos rated at 475 HP. I cannot find and technical information on the engines, I need to know cylinder head cc volumes, cam specs, carb CFM and jetting info. I plan to do a complete restoration to factory specification, any info would be appreciated.
Wow, now that's cool.....
We'll need a few pics. If they are twin turbo's from 1980, are they Banks??????
And welcome, this should be a really fun one.....
The more I think about this, are you sure?
In 1980 I don't remember any Carbon hulls being produced by anyone.....
very cool vintage boat with alot of history. wouldn't think it was carbon tho... kevlar was fairly new then and rarely used. carbon was mega exotic. i think the first carbon i ever saw was a fishing rod- about that time too. only they called in graphite
i remember those 475's. im gonna guess the boat has speed master 2s on it.
Pics !!!!!
The engines were built by Mercury Marine for Fountain from 1980 -1986, I have a letter from Reggie Fountain himself comfirming they are orginial equipment along with Mercury engine part numbers. This is the real deal boys, one of the first Fountain Excutioners ever built. The cockpit seating area has the name Excalibur molded into the deck area, this is the original Farmer hull first twecked by Reggie to create the the Fountain Excutioner. Reggie was a test driver for Mercury before he decided to build his own boats so I'm sure he had connection at Mercury Marine. I need info on the engines!Quote:
Originally Posted by POC
Sweet, we do need pics.
Let's get started boys and girls......
check the product catalogs at bam. its not going to have specifics- just part numbers and prices. they made few of those turbos so its prob not going to be there. its free to check tho.
what are you looking to do? if youre going to rebuild them it isn't going to be with merc parts since they prob arent available and if they were the prices would be ridiculous. look at a crank for a 1000sc. ten grand.
anyway, head cc isn't goin to tell you anything. if you pull them cc them. or just get the same casting number. theyre justr gm. pistons, bearings- all can be duplicated. you could use that cam but a good cam guy can do much better with a modern grind. turbos are turbos.
merc doesnt really tell you specifics on how they build their engines. give them the tag number and tell them what you want. theyll give you a part number and price. If you want to know cam specs n such break out the degree wheel and indicator.
if the engines are complete you can match up anything...or improve it. if they're missing stuff theres prob no chance of finding exact replacements.
A lot of my thoughts as well. I recall the engines being Banks modified units, but also thought that they had broader distribution than just Fountain. I can't imagine any carbon fiber stuff in a 80's vintage boat though - Kevlar yes.
it was the same time as the banks kits but they were diferent, it was a merc design. the turbos sat sideways right on top of the old log style manifolds- exhaust shot straight back. they made very few. it was forever ago but i think they had problems with cg cert since the exh wasnt full jacket.
POC, any updates. Have your called Banks to get any info?
You were misinformed. There was absolutely no vee-hull offshore carbon fiber boats layed up in 1980. Not even any carbon/kevlar or graphite/carbon/kevlar hybrid fabrics were available either. Kevlar just came out & was only available as a woven roving. And then there was regular polyester matt & roving & fine boatcloth. That was it. Biaxials, triaxials, etc., had'nt even come out yet. The axials & hybrids became available in the mid 80's. Back then, for years, when an offshore builder claimed that he built a Kevlar boat, it was only the hull, and the Kevlar was not used as a complete lamination schedule. It was only used as a reinforcement in the transom corners, stringer to transom intersect, etc., which is what your boat might have. No exotic resins either. There was just regular GP(general purpose) polyesters or epoxies. And no offshore powerboat builders used straight epoxies or blends back then. Been there.