PART TWO: In this video we're taking the 1995 Four Winns Liberator with a Chevy Small Block 350 V8 to the water after it's been sitting for 10 years. Is it ready? no.
The first boat I've been on was a 1986 Liberator that my dad and uncle restored in the early 2000's. My whole childhood was on that boat! Me and my dad even rebuilt the Chevy 350 engine that was inside, I remember hammering the pistons in! So Liberators have always had a special place in my heart. ❤
Need to clean fuel tank ,rebuild carb an change impeller in outdrive an so long as plugs are good should be runing out at 65 mph no problem I've owned 4 first gen liberators if y want some knowlage if your in FL I'd help ya out no problem an fix it all up very fast
Agree with "Running Ragged Ranch". I had a similar project my selves. Want to add; change the thermostat + change the plug wire (and perhaps other wires also). 10 years + other years of use before that ... I think its time to change them. The engine respond very slow when you gave full trotle. 350 is quicker than that.
i took the time to read the comments, the repairs needed to bring back that boat to its glory are minor, at worse, lifting the heads and have the valves reseated so I can't agree with you about selling a boat if not used for more than 2 years, buying another used boat does not insure you that it will be better than the one you,re selling and you have to start from the beginning, the only exception is if you buy a new or almost new boat. To me, a boat needs to be reliable and safe, no regards to the age of the boat. good video
I used to have a 16ft open bow boat as a kid in the late 80s/early 90s. It had a big Mercury and would spank these all day. However it was a wild chine walking ride, but these Liberator owners had a puzzled look on their face.
I think we’re brothers. I thought I was only one who didn’t need keys and take tools with you and kill switch was disconnect fuel line and don’t forget a paddle. 😆 we should fix boats together.
I like the key thing, had a 84 Chevy cavalier, nothing like a boat but I could start it and shut it off without keys in the ignition, I could open the door without keys as well, best car I ever owned!
Rebuilding carb, changing plugs, distributor cap, ESA switches, and possibly ESA module you should be fine. They’re pretty easy to work on. You didn’t come out of gear because the ESA isn’t working. You’ve probably already done this though lol
Points and condenser need replaced. Then when carb issues are taken care of, idle can be turned down to 600-650 in gear. If shift assist is working, you shouldn't have trouble getting it out of gear.
😂I was in that water two weeks ago. My fast idle control thing broke and I was turtling back to the ramp. This was at 11pm. Still working on her. Got it for $700 and currently rebuilding carbs. I live in Northfield. When are you normally at the ramp?
It's amazing that thing even ran at all.. throw that carb away and buy a new Holley mechanical secondary carb.. but it's definitely not a 70mph boat tho.
Just have the carb cleaned / tuned and i bet it would be a whole different animal. It did have some blow-by out of what looked like the PCV in the last video but still a healthy enough sounding motor. Dont try to perfect it. Detail, sort some mechanicals and take it out!
We have a boat four winns 205 sundowner we havnt used it for like 4 years but we winterize it when we use it and we start it up every so often and it starts up just fine mostly because we lost the car we towed it with
Glad to see you're optimism but you have some work and a little cash to spend before that boat is ready for the water. Don't give up get it done and then have fun!
That actually doesn't make much sense because I am working on a boat, this one! And what's a better boat to get my hands dirty than this one? Thanks for the comment!
So get it to turn over, replace plugs, put it in water and hope? What could possibly go wrong? 🤦♂️ Happy you made it back to the dock. Sad you’re not doing anything else with it.
I do marine repair for a living and you hit on some good topics if you cannot do the work yourself on these older boats the repair will out strip the value of the boat. That needs a new control box and cables the carb rebuilt major tune up oil and filter and change out the water pump they will go out with out warning. Also change the gear lube . Pump and flush out the fuel tank and new fuel filters and a deep clean after that you will have a kick ass boat. The reason the engine back fired it the carb is plugged up and is running lean. The Holy has a diaphragm for the secondary's either its blown or the secondary's are rusted shut they will no open up nice boat I hope you got a good deal on it can I ask you how much you paid yes get it going don't let it rot
Ya you should because it will resale for close to what is was new.& you add on your costs of replacement parts list in the bill of sale. That's if you don't keep for yourself to use all of the time.
Resale value will never, ever even come close to what these were new. They're currently selling for $15k in elite condition. They were something like $70k brand new considering inflation.
I like the boat, it would look great with a really good cut and buff and bring the fibreglass back to life. And a couple other adjustments to the motor, and clean some other things up it will be a beautiful boat. If you want to sell it let me know.
An if linkage is greased an carb is rebuilt there is a gear cable kill switch that interups motor for split second to slow it to share ft in an out of gear if not working won't shift I can fix that boat nice I've fixed um up from sitting way longer if buy it if price is right an I'd restore it can show you many boats I restored from liberators to huge cabin flybridge boats don't drive the boat till the impeller in outdrive is new an carb rebuilt at least if you run it the way I seen the cooling system acting from first vid with temp gun. That system is not moveing enough water at all you will blow the motor I've been building boats 30 years so need good info hit me up
5:25 - uh, better turn back to the launch. You had to know there was a problem with the ignition switch. At 3:10 you turned it off briefly and the boat didn't shut down.
Seems like you have two different problems here, number one seems like your ignition switch is not killing power to the coil to shut the engine down, and esa might not be working either, mine has had problems before and wouldn’t come outta gear I had to shut it off and pull it to nuetral then,
@@ENFEbbnFlow yeah that will definitely cause it lol, I have a Omc cobra with the 5.7 and I had issues with it when I first took it out it wasn’t running right and the esa was acting up but I got her all fixed now
Bro...get rid of it before you blow that junk outdrive. I left a comment on your first video. Liberators are great boats but you want a mercruiser 350 with an Alpha 1 outdrive. The OMC version is shit. I'm trying to save you a whole lot of headaches.
Is that one of the reasons why OMC went out of business? I’ve been looking at buying a Liberator (I live in Michigan, so these are easy to find) but everyone keeps telling me to avoid any with the King Cobra engines. Which from what I’ve noticed…is most of them lol
@@tehsnipatres208 I'm not sure why they went out of business. Liberators are a great small boat and there are plenty of them out there with the small block Alpha 1 combo. Most of the big block boats have the Ford 460 Kink Cobra combo. Avoid any boat that has anything OMC. Even if someone tries to give you the boat for free...don’t take it. ✌
@@bigmeaney555 is it more expensive to do an engine swap? Can you go that route at least? I mean shit if I’m offered a Liberator for free…& the bitch ain’t running, I’ll yank that King Cobra bullshit out & throw a MerCruiser in there.
@@tehsnipatres208 engine wise there isn't any difference with the long block of omc, vp, or merc. Change the outdrive and some bolt ons and you will be good to go. No point in buying a dressed long block if you don't have to.
You broke cardinal rule #1 to boating ... Never untie from the dock until the engine is running !! Rebuild the carb, empty and refill the fuel tank, change the gear oil in the drive, complete tune up
