Finally Complete

[Tim]

I finally finished swapping my old A4 for an A4 that I rebuilt. I didn't take any in between photos, but here are some before and after pics.

Before:

[Tim]

And After:

[sastanley]

Tim,

Looks good..why did you "undo" the Thatch mod from the first pic?

Also, are you running a thermostat with the new FWC?

[Tim]

I was originally going to mount the heat exchanger on the bulkhead - that's what the 2x6 with the lag bolts sticking out is for. The bulkhead mount would have allowed for the Thatch mod.
When I got the motor in place, I decided to mount the heat exchanger on the side of the engine. The freshwater inlet on the heat exchanger points directly at the aft fitting on the manifold, it is a nice straight line of hose from the inlet of the heat exchanger to the aft fitting on the manifold.I would have had to either use a few elbows or make a weird loop in the hose to connect it to the forward fitting on the manifold.

I am running with a thermostat for now. I only have a couple of hours running the engine in gear in the slip and the sea water is about 50F. Coolant temp has been staying around 170 at lower RPM and around 180-190 at higher RPM.

[GregH]

Looks Great! Nice work ( from a newb persepctive )

I'm amazed at all the space you have in there around your engine! .. that would be heaven!

[TomG]

Nice work!

And don't the new seacocks help you sleep better at night?

[thatch]

Tim, Excellent work on your FW conversion. You certainly have my blessing, (not that you need it) in routing the hoses the way you did, I would probably have done the same. Actually, in a FWC system, the coolant passages are considerably more temperature stable so the benefit of, what has been termed, the Thatch mod is lessened. If there is one aspect of your exchanger mounting that might be considered a negative, it would have to be in the reduction of carburator access. It does appear though, that the exchanger is easilly removable which would make periodic cleaning a breeze.
Tom

[Tim]

Yes, the current heat exchanger location does limit access to the carb., but that seems to be the only drawback. The bulkhead mount would have given me more engine access, but the heat exchanger would have to be mounted higher up to ensure the HX remained the highest point even when the boat heels. Mounting the HX higher up would make adding coolant much more difficult and would complicate the overflow tank location.

Also, the new seacocks, two scupper drains and the engine intake, are a relief. The old valves weren't leaking, but all the corrosion made me nervous. Upgrading the seacocks actually took much longer than the engine install, by a long shot.

[sastanley]

Upgrading the seacocks actually took much longer than the engine install, by a long shot.

+1 on that.

[Tim]

Yep, the seacock upgrade was not complicated but it was time consuming. It involved: 1)making the fiberglass backing plates, 2) dry fitting the parts, checking to ensure everything fit flush, disassembling, sanding the inside of the hull to try to improve the fit, repeat until it all fits flush, 3) epoxy the backing plates to the inside of the hull, 4) install the seacocks with bronze bolts, 5) cut the thru hull fittings to length and install, 6) seal/fair over the bolts on the exterior of the hull with epoxy and fairing additive.

I used clear PVC tubing on the starboard scupper drain so that I could locate the waterline from inside the boat. I'm going to mark the waterline and replace the clear tubing. The waterline is a little higher than I had thought. It's about 3-4 inches over the highest point on the engine. Knowing that helped to design the exhaust system - the water injection point is 6-8 inches above the waterline.