Engine Preparations

Oct 2 2015.

 

Rain, wind and more rain. Still, a good day to be on the boat. Bad thing, is finding more leaks because of the rain, but in a way, still a good thing to try stopping them.

 

I started getting the engine ready to move out of of the way so I can get to the fuel tank under it. I was able to undo three of the bolts holding the engine to the motor mounts. Those things wanted to hold on tight. The one bolt I wasn't able to loosen/remove was directly under the exhaust hose. Still, I removed the alternator and air filter and raw water filter to have more room to reach around the engine. Worst part of taking those off happened to be finding oil covering the air filter. I don't think it's necessarily from an oil leak in the engine itself. I'm thinking it may have been from the oil leak from the failed valve cover gasket I already replaced. Something else for me to keep an eye on later just to be sure.

 

Removing the alternator really helped to see more around the sides and just how much the engine has started to rust. It was looking pretty good until last winter when water hit the the engine due to snow covering the cockpit drains. Doesn't seem to be worsening lately so I have some cleaning up to do. I have a wire brush I can clean some of the parts with. I intend to replace the raw water hoses. I know they're filled with deposits and fresh hoses will help keep the lines clear. Thermostat is pretty green and may replace that too. I'll get a better look at things as I continue to disassemble everything. I was given some advice to find a "rust converter" spray, then just spray paint it. Going to look into options available. I'm also interested in upgrading the standard Hitachi alternator that came with the engine with something larger since I intend to increase the battery capacity.

 

When I took some wires off the alternator, I saw other wires around the engine and disconnected them too. Once I disconnected a couple plugs behind the engine, I realized the wires I disconnected on the front of the engine were part of a bundle attached to it. So I just created more work for myself than I should have.

 

I need to remove the prop and shaft. I was looking online at how others do it and apparently a puller is needed but those things are expensive. I'm going to see if I can find a place that can rent one out or see where I can borrow one. While the shaft is out, I may have to replace the cutlass bearing too so that's another piece I will need to figure out. I will need to replace the hose to the stuffing box. I was going to measure what's on the boat now but forgot about it. Still, no hurry since there's plenty of other things to work on.

 

Lastly, I sorted out the new chainplates to hopefully install soon, and still need to figure out where I put the new bolts for them too. I'd like to first paint a couple more coats on the red stripe by the toe rails.

 

View of the cutlass bearing

wire below oil filter was disconnected, but could have stayed

oily air filter, will be replaced.

two white plugs were all that needed disconnected for the wires.

getting a view of wire connections behind the alternator

View without the alternator or the air filter

Another view.



chainplates layed out