#1
IP: 184.0.176.66
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Grampian G26 - A4 Repower
Hi Everyone!
We're starting the process of removing the late model Atomic 4 inboard that I showed to have a hole in the #3 cylinder in my previous thread. The first order of business is to start removing all the wiring (starting with hot lead to the external electronic fuel pump to avoid disaster), the alternator, and other usual parts to get the motor ready for removal with minimal damage to savable parts (and my boat). We plan to re-power the boat with a rebuilt early model A4 that I found here locally in Oriental, NC. Many thanks to Hanley and Dan for helping me pick up and transport the new motor and boxes of "stuff" This should be a very interesting and fun project to do because Hanley is going to help me complete this project and I know I'm going to learn a lot! I appreciate his knowledge and help. I plan to document with photos and updates as we progress. |
#2
IP: 184.0.176.66
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As you can see there isn't much room in here, there's just enough to get your arm and a wrench in to work on the motor on the starboard side.
So far I haven't had to fight anything as far as taking out the direct drive bolts and water pump, most everything is coming off fairly easily. Getting ready to pull the starter off now and then we're off to the port side of the boat. If you notice in the pictures I uploaded in my first post, you'll note that we had to remove the port side wall to gain the access necessary to complete this project. If there's anyone that's going to do this on their G26, the port wall is installed by the factory and the screws are put in from the back side (between the wall and the icebox). To remove the wall, carefully pry the wall open where it attaches to the hull of the boat and carefully cut the screws. Be very careful and patient when cutting the screws or you'll cut through the hull to the outside of your boat. This might be something you'll want to attempt on the hard and not while your boat is rocking in the water.... |
#3
IP: 65.94.247.123
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Do you have to split off the direct drive for removal? The bilge will get a lot of sump oil on it. Or block of the sump after you split the casings, with liquid expanding foam insulation. Keep the sludge in the engine.
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#4
IP: 67.237.205.216
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PT: Good luck and I look forward to the reports. Enjoyed the day and meeting ya'll. It was a wet but fun sail back to Matthews Point Sat evening/night. Dan S/V Marian Claire
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#5
IP: 184.0.176.66
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So we have completed disassembling As we disassembled the old motor, every bolt, nut, and wire was bagged and tagged so in the future we know what went where.
We've also removed all the oil from the old motor to keep from having a huge mess in the boat when the motor gets pulled. After removing all the attached parts and disconnecting and moving all wiring out of the way we took a close look at the way this particular motor was mounted. In the back the mounting studs were embedded into the boat, no mounting bracket was used. This made simply sliding the motor forward a bit of an issue. The solution was to tie a rope around the aft end of the motor, passing it through a small port in the cockpit, and lift the motor off the studs using the main halyard while someone inside was lifting and aiding the motor forward. One less step for the yard, saving money and possible damage to the boat/motor. We then attached a set of shackles to the lifting bracket to make lifting that much easier for the yard. By the way, we are going to Deaton's in Oriental, NC, to have the motor pulled out.
__________________
Paul S/V PT26 1971 Grampian G26 W/A4 "The Devil never comes to you with a pitchfork and a ball of fire" |
#6
IP: 184.0.176.66
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Quote:
No it all comes out in one piece. I will take a close up of the old motor tomorrow to show how much and what parts were removed. I would recommend removing as much of the oil as possible, even with a person guiding the motor out at some point it will tip and spill any oil in the motor.
__________________
Paul S/V PT26 1971 Grampian G26 W/A4 "The Devil never comes to you with a pitchfork and a ball of fire" |
#7
IP: 173.11.96.181
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Not to mention there's not a way to really "split off" the drive gear - you can take off the rear housing and pull the drive gear assembly out, but the oil pan would still be there. You'd shorten the length of the whole thing maybe an inch or inch and a half by removing the output flange, and also save a few pounds by removing the housing and gear assembly, but you wouldn't really buy yourself too much otherwise.
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- Bill T. - Richmond, VA Relentless pursuer of lost causes |
#8
IP: 184.0.176.66
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Pulling motor using boom arm on travel lift
So in the last two days we have successfully removed to old motor from the boat, swapped necessary parts and made mods and small repairs to the "new" motor, put the new motor into the boat, and we are now reassembling the motor - Today's goal, start the motor and see if it runs
Here's the motor being pulled from the boat using the lifting boom on the travel lift: The shifting lever had to be cut down, the lever from the new motor was much longer and by cutting it down we reduce the risk of interference from any wiring or piping that might make for an exciting moment later (don't want to get stuck in drive in a sticky situation!) We had to cut the bottom as well because it hung down too far and prevented the motor from sitting down on the sled. We plan to use the late manifold with the early head. So the head was drilled and tapped to use 1/2" NPT. We'll be running with no thermostat initially and implementing the "Tom Thatch" modification. On the new motor, we had 3 broken studs in the water jacket cover. Two were removed easily using some PB B'laster and a pair of vice grips and a little patience. The last once had to be drilled and tapped to be removed. They were all replaced with Grade 5 studs, copper washers, and nuts as opposed to using the funky old bolts.
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Paul S/V PT26 1971 Grampian G26 W/A4 "The Devil never comes to you with a pitchfork and a ball of fire" Last edited by PT26; 04-18-2012 at 12:57 PM. |
#9
IP: 128.183.140.38
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Outstanding progress! And great pics!
With no thermostat, and no bypass loop, I expect you will run quite cool. If it becomes a problem, you could always add an old-style external dole thermostat, or the new Indigo external thermostat, with their recirculating loop design. This has the added benefit of getting the coolant up to temperature quickly which is an advantage if you have an engine-heated hot water tank.
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@(^.^)@ Ed 1977 Pearson P-323 "Dolce Vita" with rebuilt Atomic-4 Last edited by edwardc; 04-18-2012 at 02:22 PM. |
#10
IP: 184.0.176.66
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Thanks Ed!
With Hanley's help the progress of this project has been wonderful and we are learning so much!
__________________
Paul S/V PT26 1971 Grampian G26 W/A4 "The Devil never comes to you with a pitchfork and a ball of fire" |
#11
IP: 173.11.96.181
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Is that Hanley on the tap wrench?
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- Bill T. - Richmond, VA Relentless pursuer of lost causes |
#12
IP: 184.0.176.66
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Yes it is We made some great progress today. The A4 runs like a new engine! As Droopy would say "I'm Sooooooo Happy" We still have some things to work out and finish up but the list is getting smaller.
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Paul S/V PT26 1971 Grampian G26 W/A4 "The Devil never comes to you with a pitchfork and a ball of fire" |
#13
IP: 173.11.96.181
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As my daughter's friend would say: "Awesome sauce!"
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- Bill T. - Richmond, VA Relentless pursuer of lost causes |
#14
IP: 67.237.205.216
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Congrats on the start up. Yeee Ha. Dan S/V Marian Claire
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#15
IP: 24.224.206.117
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One word.
Impressive !!!!!
__________________
Mo "Odyssey" 1976 C&C 30 MKI The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails. ...Sir William Arthur Ward. |
#16
IP: 184.0.176.66
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One of the best I've heard
Apparantly this engine was rebuilt 24 years ago and then just sat in a garage. Was full of auto antifreeze. The appearance of the cylinders from the water jacket side was one of very low hours and the sound of the engine running bears out this impression, Not even the usual "tick tick" in the area of the accessory drive. Color me green.
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#17
IP: 184.0.176.66
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Couplers Won't Couple
Everything seems to be running wonderfully and we are now working on aligning and coupling the shaft to the gear box.
They will not snap together. Any suggestions?
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Paul S/V PT26 1971 Grampian G26 W/A4 "The Devil never comes to you with a pitchfork and a ball of fire" |
#18
IP: 67.237.205.216
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PT: Hope I have the terms right. Is the issue the space between the prop shaft coupling and the drive shaft coupling? Could you make a "spacer" to fill the gap and use longer bolts? The bolts carry the load anyway right??? Its late. Dan S/V Marian Claire
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#19
IP: 184.0.176.66
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The issue is indeed the space between the two couplers. A suspicion is growing that the nut may not be the correct one but may in fact be a generic "jam" nut which is thicker. This will be investigated tomorrow.
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#20
IP: 184.0.176.66
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Dan,
I had a similar thought. If I had the room, the shaft saver piece (a sacrificial spacer for lack of a better explanation) that came in the boxes of stuff would be the perfect spacer and may have solved this issue...
__________________
Paul S/V PT26 1971 Grampian G26 W/A4 "The Devil never comes to you with a pitchfork and a ball of fire" Last edited by PT26; 04-20-2012 at 10:56 PM. |
#21
IP: 67.237.205.216
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PT: I remember seeing those pieces and as I placed them together I noticed the hole patten was slightly different between the two. Hope the one you need works or that I was just spacing out. Dan S/V Marian Claire
Edit: I have a few of those pieces/spacers/couplings from a direct drive in my spares here. I plan to head to the MC tonight or Sun AM. Will bring them with me just in-case. Last edited by Marian Claire; 04-21-2012 at 06:51 AM. |
#22
IP: 67.237.205.216
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The spacer I have is 1" thick, 3.5" across. The recess is 1 7/8" across and 5/8" deep. The holes match up with the prop shaft coupler I have. It is for a 7/8" shaft I believe. Will be on the road soon. Call my cell if any of this can be used. Dan S/V Marian Claire
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#23
IP: 184.0.176.66
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Finished
We really had a hard time trying to get the two couplings to go together.
The three of us had our own theory so we tried them all one by one only to find that none were the culprit. Hanley was on to something though... The coupling must have been hit with a mallet or hammer when installed and buggered up the male part of the coupling by the motor re-builder. It was also possible that the female part had a bur of some sort. The solution we came up with was to carefully clean out the female part and try to get it as smooth as possible, this proved to be very hard to do due to the limited space. The second was to leave them uncoupled and start the engine and using two different files letting the coupling turn and very carefully cut the male side down and smooth it with the file. this was a slow process because we didn't want to take off to much and ruin the coupling or put a flat spot on it. Much to our surprise we have completed the matching of the coupling and have it within four thousandths and the alignment is good with no shaft wobble The motor mount sleds have proven to be less than desirable and when we get home this is on the to do list to fix! Our test run has proven to be a success and we will be leaving here at the first sign of good weather. I have learned so much on this project and am so thankful to my friend Hanley for all of his help. All the best Paul
__________________
Paul S/V PT26 1971 Grampian G26 W/A4 "The Devil never comes to you with a pitchfork and a ball of fire" |
#24
IP: 24.224.206.117
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That there is the difference between mechanics and Afourians....good job!
__________________
Mo "Odyssey" 1976 C&C 30 MKI The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails. ...Sir William Arthur Ward. |
#25
IP: 24.74.202.154
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Yep. Today would have been no fun on the Neuse. Have a good run north and be safe out there. Dan S/V Marian Claire
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Tags |
a4 repower, g26, grampian |
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