hole in water jacket

[Mo]

MMI - Ken

A good approach would be to call Ken at MMI in the morning. He will have parts and has hauled a few of these apart. It may just need tightening but that would be too easy.

I'd talk with him (Ken) for sure to see if there are any other issues that typically arise when dealing with this. My thinking is that if you have to take things apart there it's a good opportunity to check and replace any "iffy" components while there.

This should be pretty straight forward fix and good luck with it.

[ndutton]

Here's where I think you're headed

You can't go wrong following Mo's advice and contacting Ken. For the sake of discussion here is what I believe you'll (a) have to do and (b) I recommend:

1. The side plate is coming off. The 8 bolts are 5/16-18 and if original are of very soft metal. You'll likely break at least one, maybe more. There are some excellent threads on this forum dealing with broken bolts, one of the better ones describing how to use the sideplate as a drilling pattern.
2. If the side of the block where the bolts thread into is damaged MMI has a terrific repair kit. Ask Ken or check the catalog.
3. This is an excellent opportunity to muck out the water jacket. As long as it's all opened up you may as well.
4. You have a few options regarding what to do about the leak. Sideplate replacement is about as good as it gets and you can consider getting one with a welded alternator bracket. Some of us have drilled and tapped the hole in the sideplate to the next larger pipe size and increased the Tee and internal diverter sizes. Search the forum, there are threads covering it.
5. When it's ready to reassemble consider using studs, brass washers and brass nuts (MMI has a kit found here.) The product description covers the advantages.
6. Finally, if you are re-using your old plate, consider replacing the alternator bracket from the original single hole to the new two hole style. Again, the product description covers the advantages and it will help prevent future leaks and block damage. It's found here.

edit:
Be sure you are well versed on reinstalling the distributor with the correct timing orientation prior to removing it. The entire TDC timing exercise can be avoided if done properly.

[Mo]

Nicely done

Nicely done Neil....great reply.

[ndutton]

Thanks Mo. I often feel I post too much and comments such as yours only encourage me to keep on keepin' on.

[uminski]

YES, Thanks Neil
Great advice! I like the idea about redrilling a larger hole. I will search the forums.
The idea of removing all 8 bolts with potential breaking issues and removing the distributor and alternator seems daunting. Some of the bolts are not easily accessible.

There area around the "T" fitting is accessable with a few square inches of flat metal plate. I am thinking of adding a 2 inch square plate with new threads for "T" fitting, gasket and 3 or 4 tapped bolts into existing 8 bolt plate.

I hope I can finsih this project before the winter freeze. I better drain motor just in case.

Regards
Alan

[ndutton]

Here's a place to start

http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6285

. . . . . and removing the distributor and alternator seems daunting.

The alternator not so much but the distributor can turn into a real education if you're not familiar. I've mentioned it twice hoping to get an idea of your experience level and this quote suggests maybe we should discuss it before you start but I'll defer to you to let us know.

edit:
I went ahead and started a thread discussing distributor removal found here.

[sastanley]

a little education before disassembly

Alan, The folks here can walk you thru just about anything. One tip...it usually is much easier if you ask questions BEFORE you pull something apart and get totally lost.

For example, with the distributor, if you just rip it out without a few notes and markings, you'll likely never get it back together correctly without starting from scratch..which is what Neil is alluding to, I think. - so, with some pre-disassembly tips, we can probably help avoid a bigger problem.

If you want my opinion on the side plate (I was in the same boat as you a couple years ago), you are introducing more potential problem areas by adding another plate on top of the old one. With this forum's help, dive in and fix the real issue, don't bolt a band-aid on top. Also, with these old motors, you have to expect things like a broken bolt and allow time to deal with those. I was lucky, all my bolts came out..when they did, I got rid of them ASAP and fabricated studs. Since then, Moyer has introduced a nifty stud kit which I highly recommend.

By the way - it is all fixable..it just takes time.

[uminski]

Update.... All 8 bolts came off with no problems.
The only issue was when the plate came off there was a vertical wall of black sludge about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick covering about 50 % of the plate opening. I removed most of the sludge and not sure how to flush all remaining sludge from inside motor. Now I have to order new parts from Moyer and winterize before the freeze.
Regards
Alan

[wmmulvey]

Update.... All 8 bolts came off with no problems.
The only issue was when the plate came off there was a vertical wall of black sludge about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick covering about 50 % of the plate opening. I removed most of the sludge and not sure how to flush all remaining sludge from inside motor. Now I have to order new parts from Moyer and winterize before the freeze.
Regards
Alan

Al,

This is the link to the post I was talking to you about yesterday in the yard.

http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127&highlight=pressure+flush

Bill
ESPA