Post by zz28zz on Apr 26, 2022 23:10:31 GMT -5
I've been a boat owner since 1991. I do all my own maint except gel coat. All prev boats have been cuddy cabins and/or go-fasts. Zero cruiser experience.
Found a Regal 322 locally and went to marina to check it out. Love the layout and features.
This one has the 7.4 liter MPI Bluewater engs and V-drives.
Checked both eng oils and they looked/smelled good.
Both eng started right up and idled ok however tach showed both idling at 1500 RPM's. My experience with stern drives tells me not to try putting in gear above ~900 rpm, so I was hesitant to do so with the V-drives. Oil pressure and water temp looked good and stable on both engs. Starboard voltmeter was jumping around a little. Port voltmeter looked steady. Starboard fuel level indicator was jumping around all over the place. Port fuel level was steady. Lots of water coming out the exh on both engs.
Took each eng out of gear and adv throttles. Port throttle was nice and smooth, starboard throttle was sticking (bad cable?). Pulled both back to idle and tachs both drop to ~700 RPM for a second or 2, then both climb up to abt 1500 rpm again but engs don't sound like they are increasing in RPMs.
Decided to take it out for a spin. First thing I noticed was the steering was VERY stiff. Seemed like something was going to break but didn't. Get out of idle zone and attempted to get on plane. Starboard eng seemed short on power even though tach showed 4200 rpm at WOT. Port eng was at abt 1/2 throttle to achieve 4200 RPM on tach. When port throttle was advanced tach showed 6k+ rpm and it pulled pretty hard. With both engs indicating 4200 rpm, speed was 29 MPH (GPS). I believe the boat should do 45+mph with these engs at 4200 rpm. On the way back noticed starboard eng had a lot of steam coming out exh. Port eng exh had no steam at all. Water temp gauges were still at ~160 degs and stable.
Finally, trim tabs didn't appear to work at the dock. Tried them at speed and they didn't do anything until I jabbed the switch 3 or 4 times, then the next time I jabbed them, it felt like it went from fully up to fully down instantly. Boat rolled over and yaw'ed significantly.
Questions:
1. How does the steering work? is it strictly cable operated, manual-hyd, hyd with some sort of assist?
2. If it's cable operated, how hard is it to access? Do engs have to come out? (very tight bilge).
3. I suspect both tachs are reading wrong. Is there anything they have in common?
4. Suspect head gasket/s may be bad on starboard eng causing steam out the exh. Any reason head gaskets couldn't be replaced with eng in boat?
5. Are the trim tabs hydraulic or electric? Is it common for them to stick, then release all at once?
Sorry abt all the questions at once but gotta make a decision on this beast soon.
Thx in adv!!
