Just another overhaul thread

[Surcouf]

Don't forget to drain the oil, it will save making a mess.

chapster5

Thank you for this wise advice. Sadly, I do not have anything to suck the oil out, and nobody works at the yard on Sunday, so we may be up for a indoor spill...

Is there a plug below the oil pan?

[Peter]

There is a plug in the pan below the starter at the flywheel end of the engine.

Please be aware that there is no main seal at the flywheel end of the engine so if you tip it forward, oil will pour out if you have not drained the oil.

Good luck with the job and be careful - it is a heavy lump.

Peter

[Surcouf]

#%**%# coupling!!!

So engine is now loose on the front (engine mount cut), but we still have an issue on the coupling: the bolt that I believe I need to remove to be able to move the coupling backwards is solid frozen. See the picture
Questions:
- if I decide to cut the coupling, where is the prop shaft likely to end?
- How long is the engine side of the coupling compare to the flange? I cannot separate the 2 flanges more than 4-5mm, and cannot see the end of the engine shaft.

Plan B is to find a way to cut the engine mounts at the back, to be able to move engine forward first to clear the coupling, and not up first to clear the engine mounts... but access to cut is extremely poor..


Thank you for your help!!!

[ndutton]

If the immediate goal is removing the engine, remove the hose clamp from the shaft, clean the crud off of the shaft with emery cloth strips in a shoe shine motion, slide the coupler/shaft aft with a twisting motion until it clears the flange nut. You're almost there, not too much more needed.

[Surcouf]

If the immediate goal is removing the engine, remove the hose clamp from the shaft, clean the crud off of the shaft with emery cloth strips in a shoe shine motion, slide the coupler/shaft aft with a twisting motion until it clears the flange nut. You're almost there, not too much more needed.

Is this going to work with my boat still being in the water , and shaft probably pretty dirty just before the cutlass bearing ?
Thank you!!

[ndutton]

Is this going to work with my boat still being in the water , and shaft probably pretty dirty just before the cutlass bearing ?
Thank you!!

I can't speak to the condition/maintenance of your underwater equipment but for sure the clamp and shaft condition in your picture is working against movement. Where's the risk in trying?

[edwardc]

...Plan B is to find a way to cut the engine mounts at the back, to be able to move engine forward first to clear the coupling, and not up first to clear the engine mounts... but access to cut is extremely poor...

If you remove the screws holding the engine mounts to the stringers, you can slide the engine and remove it with the mounts attached.

[Surcouf]

If you remove the screws holding the engine mounts to the stringers, you can slide the engine and remove it with the mounts attached.

Yes would be ideal... Of the 8 screws, 4 are already removed, the 2 below the water pumps do not have heads anymore due to rust, but still hold on (chisel is next once engine is off).. one rear port one has not been attempted yet. one front has been «*rounded*», during previous attempt (the engine mount bolt was cut on that one).

I am stuck at a kiddo swim meet, back to the boat in a couple hours to attempt the recommendation on pushing back the shaft.

[Surcouf]

It is out!!!

I will post details later, with further questions... but the beast is home. Thank you for all advices... and one thing is true, baby is heavy!!! So removal was clearly not pretty, not even always safe, it involves cutting, pushing, pulling, swearing etc... but it is done. Now for overhauling, cleaning and sadly spending ...
Thanks again

[Surcouf]

So a few notes regarding the A4 extraction from a Catalina 27:
- we had passed above the back of the engine my "car engine removal bar". It would have helped us lift the engine if we had found a way to move it away from its super-rusty engine mount (the one below the water pump). We ended up cutting that one.
- once the engine mounts are free, you can basically "pull the engine from its bay, with the front of the engine hoisted. The back of the engine slides nicely on its freed engine mounts, or blocks of wood.
- baby is HEAVY, and has a tendency to show it to you swinging widely when it gets out of its cave. A couple nice scratches on the fiberglass to prove it.
- drained the oil with the plug behind flywheel for first time, with engine lifted. Pretty convenient. Plug inaccessible in a C27 usually.
- and thank you for the advice on the coupling. I cleaned the shaft before the stuffing nut, then tried the nice advice to "push while rotating"... I ended up prying with a large bar and rotating with a not less large 2nd bar... and the shaft went back half inch suddenly. Something that will be looked at once on the dry


thank you to all threads I could found and read on this forum regarding rigging the engine out... this was the worst part. My comments:
- I used both the main halyard and the front sail one, creating a "loop", to divide the tension of those by two. Nevertheless, I am pretty concerned of any potential damages done to the rollers of the pulley located at the top of the mast. Even with my main sheet 4 wires lifting devices, it was very hard to lift that engine...
- one of the best advice I go from the forum was one regarding attaching a line of the boom to control its swinging. Indeed once you start pushing the boom to rotate it to bring your engine to the dock, boat heels, and without that line to control and limit rotation, I could have easily made a nice hole in the sailboat located on the other side of the dock

The rest is surely known to anybody who did that job. But I would like to give an Oscar, not to my father in law who spent 8 hours swearing-sweating with me, but to the best tool that we used today: the ladders!!! Of course the engine got on the dock with the night, and we arrived to the wagon (no pick-up) at night, with the perspective to lift the engine in the trunk, breaking our back. We used a ladder to lift the engine in the car in less than 2 minutes, same for moving it out. Best trick ever. Just put the end of the ladder on the back seat (head rest removed, and something to protect the seat), then attached the engine to a rung in the middle, and then lift the other end of the ladder, and push it it (making sure not to destroy your windshield).

A few pictures of the operation

[Surcouf]

so now... what do I have

So now the questions to the specialists!! What do we have here? What version of the engine / head / pump etc... do I have? I think I have the late head (due to the form of the thermostat housing), but appart from that, I have no idea of what I am looking at... is the block old? is the exhaust manifld old?

Of course it is obvious that we have a LOT of rust, and that the spark plug went AWOL, and was teh reason of my engine refusing to run under such poor maintenance by, maybe its PO, but surely by the one of the last 4 years, me. Critics are welcome...

On the scope of what to do... what would you recommend, appart from changing the head (or repairing it), painting it etc...? . I want to limit the work to the minimum: this boat sails on the Narragansett bay not on blue waters.
Thank you !!

Note: the dark picture is the inside of the exhaust manifold

[Surcouf]

last picture

[joe_db]

I may have missed this - does this engine pass the pressure test? If so, I am not sure how - or if - one can tell if the block is 10% rusted through or 99.9999%.
The engine looks late model to me.
Re the ladder -what a GREAT idea. I wish I had thought of that before we hung the engine from a tree branch, backed my wife's hatchback up to it, and just about when she showed up to see why we had her car the engine tilted forward and dumped 2 quarts of oil into her car She was not pleased

[Surcouf]

Re the ladder -what a GREAT idea. I wish I had thought of that before we hung the engine from a tree branch, backed my wife's hatchback up to it, and just about when she showed up to see why we had her car the engine tilted forward and dumped 2 quarts of oil into her car She was not pleased

This is a great story... a couple years after the facts!!

Regarding the pressure test: none done, and obviously would have failed it after Labor Day when I realized there was a leak around that spark plug.

[joe_db]

This is a great story... a couple years after the facts!!

Regarding the pressure test: none done, and obviously would have failed it after Labor Day when I realized there was a leak around that spark plug.

Well that was after we lowered the engine into the dinghy, went from the mooring to the dock, and only then realized we had neglected step B. We borrowed some lumber from a dock redecking project and made a ramp to pull the engine up on the dock and then used some round wood to pyramid-builder style roll it to the tree. It was quite a day!