1987 Supra SunSport - First Pics: Engine

Here's a pic from behind Corey's old blue from 2 summers ago. Think we were running about 1200# or so that day.

Thanks Jeff thats the Pic I was looking for.

Here is a few more Wake Pics Mike.

cmosley, how far back do you guys ride ?

I'm pretty sure we are at 75' in those pics

looks great!

Where do you set the wakeplate ?

I was told all the way up is the way to go but I'm very curious to what everyone else does to get the biggest wake.

I wish I had the hydraulic plate soooo bad it would make it so much easier . . . I hate my manual plate because I like to have it up when riding so the rear of the boat sits lower but when we're done ridin' for the day and empty the ballast sacs the boat rides like $h|t because the plate is up

(Message edited by lovin_the_wake on April 29, 2008)

I'm with you Monty....I've lost a wrench or two trying to mess with it in the water.

yea it's not even worth messing with after the boats already in the water

Click on my name --^ to see my current SeaRay wake and an air shot of moi. Ooh Ooh ooh my 87 SS has a hydrolic plate! I didn't even know that was an option then. How sweet! It needs some maitanence though

(Message edited by wakemikey on April 29, 2008)

oh yeah that's right just rub it in a little more

I'm currently planning my next project for the boat which is adding hydraulics to my plate

Yeah I am with you guys that manual plate sucks but after playing with the setting for a few seasons now the sweet spot seems to be 2-4 degree up from the neutral or level position gives my boat the best wake.

so apparently adding hydraulics to your manual plate is a complete bitch and a little on the expensive side so . . . . What if I took out the threaded center thing on the plate adjustment things (<--- it's too early) anyway if I took those out and made some rods to go in their place with like 5-6 holes on each rod with quick release pins for 5-6 different settings and of course 2 holes in each adjusting sleeve thing . . . . Thoughts ?

(Message edited by lovin_the_wake on April 30, 2008)

It sounds like a good idea but it seems that the pins would have to be pretty strong....I would think that they would have a lot of pressure on them.

yea I was thinking like 304 stainless would probably be good enough

Attach boobers or flooting keychain things to the pins so if you mess with them in the water they float up.

And I guess I'm not really following how you will do it....Will you have one "solid" rod and one "hollow" rod so the solid will slid inside the hollow? Or are you talking about have a giant pin going all the way across the plate from one rode to the other?

I was thinking about attaching some sort of wire to each pin that will keep it attached to the the adjusting sleeve but long enough to still be able to adjust it

right now on our manual plates they have a top and bottom sleeve on each side of the plate with a threaded rod in the middle I'm going to take out the threaded middle piece on both sides and put a rod in place of it with multiple holes for different adjustments . . . Does that make any sense ? I did take a lot of allergy medicine this morning so I could be talking gibberish

Yea, that makes sense....I would think it would work just fine. I'd just be sure to get as strong and thick of a pin as possible. And your wire idea is terrible compared to my idea of attaching boobers to the pins!!haha

yea that allergy medicine must be messing with my head I don't know what I was thinking lol

Bobbers, Dennis, bobbers, not boobers.

Yep, the red and white ones!lol

So I attempted to dissect my wakeplate adjuster things last night and apparently on mine they are not made to come apart The threaded center rod thing seems to be permanently attached to one end of the sleeve so 3 vodka drinks a hammer and a screwdriver later I ran out of ideas and gave up . . . . . Any ideas ?

I'd have to look at mine to get any ideas I cann't really picture how there attached and all that good stuff.

does anyone know the easy way to take off the wood rail on the back of the old supras..... I am having trouble popping off the little round things that cover the screws without destroying them.

Montgomery, Try more vodka

I seem to be more creative when I drink whiskey so thats on the agenda for tonight we'll see what happens

ALright. Some updates on my ride.

Tower powder coated
Rub Rail, now complete with a riveted hull!! (deck and hull split away)
New vin numbers
some interior work
Tranny re and re, and engine work

Hey Bigkitch! What do you mean by rivited hull? Jet

thats looking really good

Andrew,

Well we had a leak in the boat, big enough to nearly sink it. Whenever we took it out, the water would come up near the transom behind the rub rail and flow into the centre gunnel. So we re-caulked and, was ok and then it happened again. Then I found the real problem. On the port side of the hull by the transom, I could literally push the hull inwards away from the deck at least 5 inchs. YEAH.

SO, we actually ended up riviting the other side tight again, then using SS bolts and nylon nuts, we bolted the hull back to the deck, and then a new rub rail and silicone overtop.

How much water you ask? Well, a slalom run, cutting hard, doin about 32 mph, would take about 7-10 mins to bilge out. If you kept drivign the thing, it would of sank.

(Message edited by bigkitch on May 02, 2008)

So Montgomery did the Whiskey help you loosen up your wake plate last night?

Well I had to skip out on the drunken wake plate action due to a huge storm but tonight it's on like donkey kong

any idea's on taking off the rear wood rail,
Simon did you come up with anything.
How do you get the wood plug's out?

Where's a good (cheap) place to buy exhaust manifolds. Both of mine are cracked. They were cracked when I pick up the boat last year. JB weld did not hold. Time 2 get some new one's, that suck's.
The motor is a pcm 351 1986 Supra sunsport.
Thank's for any help!!!!

Well tomorrow we set out to pick up the boat. Hotel Saturday, then test drive in the morning and tow home.

If it's nice, I'll have the board along to test-ride. Forecast says low 45, high 63 and mostly sunny. Cross your fingers!!

I ordered that handle today, but in white and black instead of red and black. It's a Proline Delta Ltd 17" with a pistol grip. Also getting Proline Ltd white coated SK mainline. Should be sweet.

I decided my tower must be black to match the black window trim. No offense to anyone else out there but I think it will look so sweet. Monster Tower it is since Titan won't fit under my boat cover or boatlift canopy.

Next post - Sunday night.

wakemikey, Good luck!

What oil do you guys use ?

WakeMikey,

thanks for posting all of your links! Greatly appreciated... would have wrote back sooner, but I was busy with a few cervazas in Costa Rica! Looking forward to seeing some pics of your boat in action!

Does anyone know how much water a Sunsport draws? I'm guessing around 24"-26" inches unweighted.

I'm curious as I only have 34"-36" of water at my current dock spot (bottom is mud). Fine for the Sidewinder, but I suspect a little too shallow for a Sunsport. I'm trying to upgrade to a better slip in the marina prior to purchasing an inboard. We'll see.

Well she's home! Tough trip home, but now under shelter for a couple weeks until we get the dock and boatlift in. Big thanks to my Dad for coming along, expertise and driving/use of Tahoe!

Got back last last night so I'll have to get pics another time. I got a bit of video but it stinks and my camera is old. I'm waiting on an ebay item to be able to connect to my PC.

The wake looked very nice, and had lots of potential. She drove spectacularly and when driving slowly looked great for surfing too. Who knows though, have to try it to be sure. Lots of room. It felt great to be out on the water. Sunny and 65 with a breeze. Opening fishing in WI though, DOH!

Sweet you'll enjoy it

hey guys, I took the '87 Supra out this weekend for the first time ever and it ran great but it would die on us when we would put it in gear. I wasnt sure what it would be..... Can anyone help me???????

Did it do it all the time or just before it got warmed up ? Mine does it when we first launch the boat but as soon as it warms up there are no problems at all

it was doing it the whole time; but the water was 45 degrees and the outside temp was 48. do you think the cold water running through could have caused it?

hmmm I wouldn't think the water temp would cause any problems like that but then again sometimes I have no idea what I'm talking about What does it due right before it dies ? Like does it Sputter or anything like that ?

sounds like all carb adjustments. those holley carbs are terrible. They are tricky to get tuned right but once you get them right they are fine. sounds like the idle needs to be adjusted. or maybe a vaccum problem.

Yea I was leaning more towards the vac. problem too

As if I'm gonna let this one drop into the archives!

The original owner altered the trailer. He removed the winch-and-strap system of launching the boat. ie back the truck up and then crank it off/on.

He installed bearing buddies, LED waterproof lights, and a special one-man launching system. Thingie.

It's basically a pin that goes through the bow eyehook. It has a large 'guide' shield around it, and you just drive it right on. Back the trailer up extra far in.

Seems so crazy with an inboard that you can have the prop in gear on the trailer and nothing to hit.

(Message edited by wakemikey on May 08, 2008)

Here's a pic.

So when they made this alteration, they had to move the bow eyehook down about 2 inches. You can see the patchjob they did covering the old holes. We will fix that up a bit. But with the awesome freeboard the Supra has it shouldn't get wet there very much.

Trailer will get a paint touch up along with the winshield frame which is slightly scratched up. The trailer guides will be replaced sometime too with padded ones. Nice new colored ones with some neato brand.

Jaak Sildoja (vguy75): I saw your post and have some info to reply with. I am in a similar shallow water situation. But I have to look at my manual first so I don't misquote how much water my boat drafts. The older ones draft a bit less than the heavier newer ones.

That is called a boat buddy if I'm not mistaken. If done correct you can use the wich with the boat buddy. Ours came with both.

That is called a boat buddy if I'm not mistaken. If done correct you can use the wich with the boat buddy. Ours came with both.

Nice boat Aaron. Yeah that's exactly what I meant. Boat Buddy is a brand, huh? I will see if mine has any brand marking. Here's a link at Cabalas, it's not even that expensive. But you have to mount it...
http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0001975011046a.shtml

So I have no idea why they didn't just add the BB to mine and leave the winch hooked up. So I am planning on reconnecting the winch unit and replacing the strap.

Thanks. This was our first boat. A 99 Launch with 540hrs when we traded it in. It was a great boat.

Tony, we decided to keep the long teak rails on the back of our Sunsport, but I scraped the little wood plugs. I ripped them out with a screwdriver and hammer.
Anyone take off their front rails in the bow? I was thinking about removing them or getting them powdercoated black.
Also, how easy is it to remove the ski pole in the Supras? Thanks.

Wes,
I had to use a cut off wheel to get my ski pole out. Take it out, it makes for alot more room!

I couldn't get my wood plug's out of the back rail, so I just did the teak oil with the rail on the boat.

I removed my ski pole a couple weeks ago. Much roomier. It wasn't too bad--scraped my knuckles a few times trying to loosen the bolts, but worth it.

Mine has an access hatch for the bilge right by the ski pole. Follow the pole down and there is a sleeve that holds the pole. The pole is tighened into the ssleeve by a bolt. I haven't taken mine out yet but I think that should do it.

Any of you guys ever have/had any tranny issues with your Supra ?

I've never had a tranny problem with mine...

I just ordered 2 725# launch pad sacs and a pump!!! I'm so excited. I haven't had the boat out yet since I installed the tower and I'm still a little concerened that I don't have any aditional backing plates other than what the tower came with....I know Tony said he didn't use anything else and was fine....like i said the instructions said its only needed if its less than 3/8" think fiberglass and mine was 3/8" I'm just looking for some input...anyone else not put addtional backing?

My tranny went out on me 2 week's after I picked up the boat. The reverse went out on it. I was heading into the dock to drop off people and I put it into reverse 2 slow it down and nothing was there, I hit the dock.... $1,700 and a week later I had a new rebuild tranny.

Mine goes into reverse fine but that last 2 times I had it on the water after it warms up to get it into gear going forward I have to kinda rev it up and it'll catch . . . . . $1700 ? Was that a complete rebuild ?

Monty,
$1700 was a complete rebuild, I told them to replace everything, once it was out I didn't want to just fix what was broke. It has all new part's.

Well I finally got out on the board for the first time behind my 87 Sunsport. No water weight and just a rider and driver (legal in MN w/ mirror) in the boat. To be brutally honest I really wasn't all that impressed with the wake.

I mean sure it was a bit bigger than my old boat even with weight but that boat was only a 16' I/O. I'm sure with 4-6 people (600 - 900lbs) and the 780lb Launch Pad it will be better, but still...

And good god when you are at riding speed, the SupraTrap exhaust flaps were completly out of the water so all you can hear is the engine noise. If they are going to make custom baffles, why wouldn't they make them to reduce the sound at all? Don't get me wrong it sounded like a Mustang, but I like a quiet rumble. FAE here I come. Sometime.

The boat drove great - we almost got caught in a nice storm after I was riding (yay we had the boat in a while 45 mins!). The wind picked up to about 30mph and there were large whitecaps on the river.

The storm was coming on quickly so we drove full speed (40mph-ish?) and the boat tracked and steered effortlessly. The old boat would've been swinging back and forth with every wave.

And the bow in the Supra just barely moved up and down at all in that rough water! There was NO impact when hitting a wave. The old tri-hull I/O wouldn't been SLAMMING up and down with every wave.

Next time out we will use the Launch Pad.

I've got a 91 Supra SunSport that I recently acquired from a buddy of mine. Needs some interior work but other then that it has been a great first boat for me. I'm slowly putting more sacs in it to fine tune the wake. Im planning on removing the decals. I'm not into the miami vice color scheem.

Mikey, where did you have the wake plate set at ? I know my 91 hull is a little different but with no ballast 3 people in the boat and one on the board with the plate 3/4 up the wake is nice and rampy and the exhaust is never above the water line. but then again it does have a slightly different hull so the exhaust could be different as well

Yeah I really don't know about that exhaust it didn't seem logical to design with exhaust above water at cruising speeds....I'll see if I can figure out how to get a pic eventually or something...

The plate is all the way up (level with the bottom of the hull) and doesn't adjust right now. I have to examine the hydrolic pumps but it should be an easy fix.

The wake is okay right now, I was just expecting a lil more from the get-go. Don't get me wrong, there was only one person in the boat and no extra weight! Not much to go on. Hopefully this weekend will be nice and I'll have some time to play around.

Okay I'm back and we FINALLY finally got a nice weekend in MN. 80 and clear 5-10mph wind on Sunday. Much more learned about the boat. Most good, some bad. Ordered a tower! Wake is great. That's the summary, now begins the rant.

Where to start? On Saturday I used the Launch Pad 680lb for the first time. Tried it first under the bow because it's a large and well-supported spot. It made the wake very rampy and wide but didn't get me the boot I wanted. It would be a great spot for a bag in the future.

Then on Sunday I tried the sundeck compartment. At first I didn't think it could bear weight and I might have to cut it out to be able to reinforce and make a new compartment or permanantly install the bag under the compartment.

Now I have found that the bag first just fine there although it's a bit too wide around and the compartment is longer than the bag. I might want to trade it for something longer and skinnier? Or keep it for a surf sac on the side of the DD?

So with the Launch Pad in the Sundeck compartment and four people in the boat the wake was TOTALLY AWESOME it looked really really good. I didn't actually wake it yet as I was TOO BUSY SURFING! All it took to make a waist high crisp and clean surf wave was the Launch Pad in very back and three people leaning on the port side. I think if I took the sac out of the back and put it on the side of the direct drive it would probably surf great just like that! The secret is definitly getting the boat to list or lean to port side.

I surfed using a custom 6'6" ocean surfboard. It worked fine but a real wake surf board would be better I'm sure. Spent time getting the feel and trying a few slashes. 14-15mph worked best for us. More to come...

Totally killer wake I haven't seen anything like it personally and am super impressed that one fat sac could make that much difference. Didn't in my I/O. Can't wait to rock it.

I ordered a Monster Tower MT1 in black! There was a $200 off sale, but then they don't give free shipping ($40) so it's really a $160 off sale grumble grumble. I got one MT board rack too. I see a lot on ebay and craigslist for half price (racks, mirror, etc). Should have set up in next week or so.

That's about it for good stuff. I have had some minor engine issues emerge. Nothing real serious, but don't like it still. It's tough to describe, like the battery is always almost dead. It seems to charge when driving, but it starts very hard. It will just barely turn over like it's dead, then it'll rumble right to life and sound strong. Then it will idle low and sputter and die. Sometimes when putting boat in fwd or reverse it will die unless more power is given. Runs fine at higher speeds. It must've died 50 times. Could be starter or solinoid, alternator or even just battery or fuel filter. Replaceing those two for sure. Batt first.

Then while I was messing with the engine I forgot to unhook my fat sac pump.....drove away and it sank like a rock

So of course my thought now turn to a permanant ballast system - or maybe kind of semi-permanant. I'm not going to tear up my floors unless I have problems. So Under-the-floor tanks or bags is out of the question.

But the compartments I'm thinking of using could be dedicated to a well-fitting bag in the sundeck compartment as well as under the open bow storage area. First and most important is the rear sac.

If I could mount a reversable pump somewhere and run tubing to the sundeck compartment that would rule. pump could be in sundeck compartment or maybe in bilge area so tubing could run to front and rear?

Just need to hide tubing and figure out where water is pumped IN and OUT of the boat from. How do people do that without cutting the hull?
Wow nice lil rant here. If you've stuck w/ me congrats and thanks.

The Supra SunSport has thuroughly won me over and I can't wait to get everything dialed in. It's a great wake boat so far. We've put 4.5 hours on her now and have used 1/2 a tank. Tank is ~40gal. Love the Proline Delta carbon handle. Getting matching rope soon. Gotta stop now...

Dallas,

Here is a picture of my boat if you wanted to know what yours will look like with out the stickers. They are a pain to get off but I wasnt a fan of the multi color theme either. Mine is for sale by the way if anyone is interested.

WakeMikey,
Your boat get's better everytime you take it out,
Go Supra Sunsport!!!

Monty - Need your ballast system help plz! As I indicated in my above rant, I am pretty sure now how I want to set up my simple auto-ballast system. Want to use ONE BE Atlas reversable Simer pump to fill one bag. That's it. Was hoping to use the main bilge drain for fill/drain. Or else the raw water pump. One sac in the rear ski locker.

Also Monty PLEASE PLEASE tell us how you took out the plastic compartment in the rear ski locker! I think I would have to cut mine out...

I was also wondering how I could maybe run tubing from the rear ski locker to the rest of the boat, like for a second sac on the floor. So I'd need to get to underneith the rear seat or engine shaft compartment/prop shaft compartment. Always more questions....

Mikey do you have a picture of your rear ski locker ? On mine the compartment is removable as for running another hose off of the rear ski locker setup all you would have to do is put a tee in the hose with an on/off valve on each side of the tee one for the rear and one for the sac on the floor. I can make a diagram for you if you want

I just posted here but apparently it was lost....

I don't have a picture of my ski locker but I will try and get one in next couple days. It looks a lot like yours but my compartment isn't removable.

It's plastic but I can stand and jump in it w/ no problems. No damage yet from a 680lb sac for a few days (like I said I need a pump) but I would like to remove it if it'll give me any more room. I'll take measurements and then get a dedicated sac for it.

I was thinking just like you were, to make my system very simple but expandable. Just one pump, one sac, then a tee valve so I can fill a sac on the floor (or disconnect and store it when not in use).

Okay, update, I just called BE Atlas and they told me they sell the BW85P (same pump w/ removable puddle scoop) for ~$100 w/ free shipping. This is waay more than $65. Any comments here?

Ordered one Flotec BW85P reversable dry-priming sump pump from Hardware World for ~$85 shipped UPS ground.

https://www.hardwareworld.com/stockstatus.aspx?pdx=7OAK2H

Black Monster Tower MT1 should be delivered tomorrow afternoon! I will try and take a new round of pics tomorrow afternoon.

Scheduled Delivery: 06/05/2008
Shipped To: ANOKA, MN, US
Shipped/Billed On: 06/02/2008
Service: GROUND
Weight: 59.00 Lbs
Multiple Packages: 2