Hoisting the engine

[ILikeRust]

You know, I mentioned that to the engine shop guy, and he said, "um, yeah, we can do that." But I never actually confirmed that is actually what they did. I did emphasize I wanted it surface ground, not milled. I was concerned that milling might removed too much material. I wanted them to remove pretty much the least amount they possibly could to just clean the surface up and get it flat.

[13jeff13]

You know, I mentioned that to the engine shop guy, and he said, "um, yeah, we can do that." But I never actually confirmed that is actually what they did. I did emphasize I wanted it surface ground, not milled. I was concerned that milling might removed too much material. I wanted them to remove pretty much the least amount they possibly could to just clean the surface up and get it flat.

Yep,, My guy was a little suspect of that roughness,, suggesting it may even lead to a poor seating of the gasket,,,,

I hate to come asking for advice, and then question it,,,,,

But,,, MMI has been doing this for a while,, I wonder if they still hold to that standard?

[sastanley]

ILR, the gaps in the pump are weepholes..their job is to keep the sea water out of the crankcase and to keep the oil out of the ocean..mostly the former...if one bearing/seal fails, the offending liquid drains out the hole instead of into the other side.

BTW - all your stuff looks GREAT..Keep up the good work!

[domenic]

SORRY...I DID NOT READ THE POST WHERE YOU TOOK THE ENGINE OUT.


RUST;
If your engine in in the cockpit, build a four Legged A frame from
4x4’s. (or 2x4's doubled.) Two legs in the cockpit, and two on the ground aft of the transom. Use a steel pipe, or I beam for a center section from one set of legs to the other. Make sure the center pipe is somewhat level. Secure the frame to cleats etc where they will not move. Take everything off the engine to lower its weight. The A frame will support the A4. Rent a chain block & tackle to lift the engine. Use a smaller block and tackle secured to the one holding the engine, and secured it to the two legs on the ground…grease the top of the pipe.. And pull the engine over the transom.

[ILikeRust]

The reassembly begins...

So - first thing to be put back together after completely disassembling the engine.







The only question now is whether it actually works!

I guess I need to bench test it to make sure it spins and the Bendix spits out when it's supposed to. So - I'm assuming I can pretty much just secure the starter motor so it doesn't roll all over the bench and just connect it to a battery with jumper cables for a second?

[ILikeRust]

A reminder of what it looked like when it came off the engine:

[Moondancer]

Engine Removal

I pulled the A4 from my C30 using the boom and a come-along. The engine sits nearly in the middle of the cabin, so I couldn't use the main sheet as a block and tackle.

I wrapped two straps under the engine, with four hooks meeting in one location that I attached the come-along to. I pulled the starter and alternator for clearance and weight reasons before lifting the engine. It came out rather easily.

As a simple test, have two guys hang on the boom and look for any deflection. If it's bending too much, don't use it. On my boat, the boom and mast are pretty stout and appeared to hold up to the load well. In fact, I did not notice any deflection in the boom.

[ILikeRust]

On Friday, I picked up the block from the machine shop again. They previously had surface-ground the deck and head. When I got the block home and took a good look at it, I realized that the valve seats really needed to be re-cut. They were mostly gone, and one exhaust valve in particular had a lot of corrosion. It was too much for me to just lap out. I wish they had suggested getting the valve seats re-cut before I brought it home!

Anyhow, I dropped it off last week and on Friday it was done.

My neighbor came over yesterday with his cylinder hone and helped me hone the cylinders to get rid of the old glaze and re-establish a good cross-hatch. In doing so, I discovered that every cylinder has a little bit of scoring, but nothing that I think is bad enough to get them bored or anything. He's re-built dozens of antique Italian engines (his hobby is restoring old Alfa Romeos, Fiats, Abarths and other rare and arcane small Italian cars and turning them into racers), and he took a good look and gave his opinion that the scoring was light enough that it wouldn't matter - he said, "heck, it will allow a little oil to get up there and help upper-cylinder lubrication." HA!

Here's the result:





Looks great!

The stud holes and water passages look a little rusty, but it's just surface rust from sitting around in my shop after I hosed the whole thing out a couple weeks ago.

Last weekend I went in search of valve lapping supplies, and the guy at the car parts place said "we don't get much call for that anymore." They didn't have anything in stock.

I ended up buying what I needed from Amazon.com.

So maybe tomorrow after work I'll lap all the valves, then do the final cleaning and wire-wheeling of the block, which will prepare it for primer. After that, some paint, and then next weekend I should be able to start reassembly in earnest! I figure I should be able to get it mostly reassembled next weekend!

Today, my wife came with me up to the boatyard and we did a little cleaning up and a few bits of this and that on the boat. I pulled out the old through-hull for the raw water intake - I'm glad I did that. I'm pretty sure it was the factory original, so 42+ years old. I'm surprised it wasn't leaking - it came right out, way too easily, and whatever sealant they had used was all dry and crumbly. It was a wimpy little fitting anyhow and always made me nervous. I'm going to replace the whole thing and do it right with a flanged adapter, as explained here.

I already was thinking of replacing it, but what really convinced me was this discussion and explanation. Under the heading "Preferred and non-preferred installations," mine looked exactly like the "non-preferred". Not only that, it was a 42+ year-old non-preferred installation. Yup, definitely time to do it right.

Thanks again and again, Maine Sail!

[ILikeRust]

So, picking up where I left off -

Here is the old through-hull fitting for the raw water cooling intake.







Wrong in so many ways...

I can't believe this thing had not yet leaked. When I pulled it out, the sealant/adhesive/whatever that crud was was all dried up and crumbly. It was surprisingly (and frighteningly) easy to pull the fitting out. The whole removal job took me about 4 minutes - and some of that time was spent crawling up out of the bilge and then down the ladder. Yeah, this thing totally was due for replacement with the proper hardware.

The right through-hull and Groco ball valve, with a Groco flanged adapter, are on the way in the mail.

[ILikeRust]

Wednesday evening, it was back to work on the engine block.

Several hours of work over the past couple of weeks got me to this point:







She's on the painting table, cleaned, masked and ready for primer!

[ILikeRust]

Here's the primer:

[ILikeRust]

Last night I shot the first coat of color:





She's gonna be right SWEET!!

[ILikeRust]

Today I spent the entire day out in my shop, working on various little bits.

I stripped and cleaned the accessory drive housing and executed the Moyer-recommended modification to raise the oil level:

Here's the old oil drain hole tapped and ready for a set screw:



And here's the new hole:



I forgot to get a shot of the little screw, but I JB-welded a hex-head set screw in the original hole.

Then I masked and primed the housing.

[ILikeRust]

After all the discussion a while back about the lifting eye and how it can potentially damage the head or cause a head gasket leak, I came up with a modification so the load is distributed among four head bolts instead of just two.

It's just a hunk of plain old angle iron and some creative use of the angle grinder:



I then demonstrated my lack of any observable welding skills, but did manage to melt enough metal in the right places that the two pieces are now irretrievably joined:



All I can say about my welding abilities is thank god for angle grinders and blurry digital photography. Looks good from here, don't it!!

My motto is "good enough!" Ain't the prettiest weld I've ever seen, but It'll hold.

A little primer and paint, and she'll be fine...

[ndutton]

I have to believe age and decades of salt water cooling are factors contributing to the reported cracks from lifting with the factory eye. I've personally lifted at least 100 new A-4's with the factory eye without a single issue and was present with maybe 300 more new A-4 lifts also without problems.

This suggests to me that with our old engines the modified brackets are even more important.