Launchpad McQ's Catalina 30 Atomic 4 Saga

[Ram41662]

Shawn, if you look at the last picture you will see the valve's mating surface, which is the larger beveled face toward the the top of the valve facing down toward the stem. That's the main area of valve/block interface for sealing the combustion chamber. As long as there isn't a hole through the other faces or signs of significant weakening, more than often corrosion isn't a major problem.

I'm old school enough to still own a set of lapping tools (suction cups on sticks, really) that I use to finish honing the valve and seat once any major grinding is done or to just clean up the surfaces when removing carbon and gunk. Just a little dab of grinding compound and a few hours of patience and your rewarded with a beautiful seal between the surfaces. It's mind numbing work, sort of like trying to rub a stick into a pile of wet tinder to start a fire, buy I love the results.

[Launchpad McQ]

I should’ve elaborated a little bit more on the previous post about the valve removal but I didn’t want to get out of sequence with the timeline given that the thread up to this point has been all “past tense.”

Although the original reason for the valve removal/valve spring replacement at this point was troubleshooting the crank/no-start condition of the engine, I subsequently replaced the springs, and reinstalled the “cleaned up” valves using the valve lapping tool Ram describes (a suction cup on a stick) and some Permatex valve lapping compound. After hand-lapping the valves they seemed to have a good mating surface with the block. I set the valve lash with a feeler gauge as described in the MMI service manual a.k.a ‘The Bible’

After *(spoiler alert)* getting the engine running again months after this point, the cabin would fill with exhaust fumes any time I ran the engine. I read all of the threads about the Indigo PCV kit “fix” for that problem (the pros and cons of the kit are both well debated here) and decided it was worth a shot. I installed it and it eliminated all of the fumes. However, those who argue the PCV kit only “masks the symptoms” of the fumes rather than “curing the illness” of excessively worn valve guides or compression rings, seem to be accurate in my case. Now that I’m in the middle of the full tear-down, I measured my valve stems with a micrometer and they’re definitely worn. Because of the small diameter of the valve guides, I don’t see any way of measuring those to compare clearances but I can infer. At present I’m down to a bare block so I’ll probably be replacing all of the valves and guides with new.

Talk to you soon Ken.....

[Launchpad McQ]

I left off in the story having just removed the valves to replace the springs and in so doing, removed the intake/exhaust manifold for better access to the valve gallery side plate. At this point in the process I had sufficiently lurked around this forum and read about the common overheating issues originating from clogged up water jackets and manifolds. I have to admit, I was incredibly jealous of my fellow A-4ians who's engines were running enough to have overheating problems. I figured what the heck, lets get ahead of this thing and if a 24 hour vinegar flush does-an-engine-good, what's wrong with a one week-to-a-month vinegar flush? So I picked up a big tupperware tub, bought a few gallons of vinegar, and dropped the manifold in. I figured it would come out looking hot-tanked clean. It didn't, but it definitely emulsified some of the buildup and made for a satisfying black goo:


A couple weeks-ish later:

Post vinegar bath and wire brushing:


Remember in the beginning when I said I live in Denver but the boat is in San Francisco? Well that meant my tools and workspace were 997 miles away. Thus began the weekly checked-bag shipment of engine parts back and forth. First to make the journey was the freshly cleaned manifold for further cleaning, painting, and bake-curing of engine paint:



In hindsight it probably wasn't the most prudent to use our kitchen oven to bake on high-temperature engine paint but I have a very patient wife sooooo....."Hey honey look at our shiny red manifold. I just saved us like $400!" For those curious I used VHT (I think Duplicolor makes it) red paint on the manifold and head. When I *spoiler alert* eventually got the engine running, the paint held up pretty well except in the aft bottom corner of the manifold by the exhaust flange which I suspect gets the hottest.

[sastanley]

Alright...running!

[southcoasting]

Nice! Been following this thread to learn a few things...Will be doing the same thing you're doing for the most part this coming Winter on an extra Craigslist engine I picked up...

[edwardc]

...In hindsight it probably wasn't the most prudent to use our kitchen oven to bake on high-temperature engine paint but I have a very patient wife sooooo.....

The first (and last!) time I baked a freshly painted engine manifold in the kitchen oven, it filled the kitchen with toxic purple fumes. The wife was not amused.

[Dave Neptune]

Edward, I now use the gas BBQ for the same reason.

Dave Neptune

[Launchpad McQ]

While the manifold was soaking in vinegar, I decided to preemptively start playing whack-a-mole with the common A-4 afflictions. Next on the list was the fuel system. Since the boat sat for "two-ish years" before we purchased it, I knew the gas had undoubtably gone bad. I didn't realize how bad. I bought a cheap-o Harbor Freight hand operated fluid transfer pump and started pumping the gas out of the tank. I found a significant amount of water in the tank. How much was the result of condensation inside the tank vs rainwater seeping past the dried out nitrile o-ring on the deck fill cap is up for debate. Either way, it was a bunch:





I figured since the gas tank was now empty I might as well pull it out, clean it up, and take a look at what's underneath. When was the last time that was done? I'm sure the answer to that question was "never." When I pulled the tank out, the bottom was in pretty rough shape. No pinhole leaks but my plans to polish it to a mirrored finish instantly evaporated.



I took a look in the tank with my LED flashlight and saw a bit of sediment in the bottom of the tank. I was able to stick my iPhone far enough down the fuel gauge hole to get a picture:

Varnished gas? Dirt? Bigfoot turds?


Before I describe what I did next, I want to make absolutely clear that by the time I got around to doing this, the tank had been empty for weeks and there was no gasoline smell present at all. Even then I understood there was a risk of blowing myself up and getting launched over the Golden Gate Bridge, but I decided to try to suck out the sediment with my mini shop vac. It was tough because the little 6" crevice tool wouldn't get to the corner where the gunk was trapped and kept falling off the hose into the tank where I'd have to fish it out with an old coat hanger. I think I got 90% out of there and the new Racor filter would take care of the rest (the engine previously had no fuel filtration at all, not even between the electric fuel pump and the carb)

[Launchpad McQ]

Since there was no way the aluminum tank was going to polish up shiny, I decided to get it powder coated. I found a pretty reasonable powder coating shop in South San Francisco (PM me for the contact info) who did the tank for $100. I read quite a bit on the pros and cons of powder coating aluminum and decided for this application, it was the right solution for me. Since the bottom of the tank had a fair amount of corrosion from (I assume) sitting on the plywood base that Catalina used for a fuel tank platform in 1979, I decided to cut up and install some rubber shower pan liner under the tank as a poor-man's vapor barrier. Probably just placebo but it looked nice:

[Launchpad McQ]

Since no fuel system overhaul would be complete without a carburetor rebuild, I downloaded Don's carburetor video, ordered the parts kit from Ken, and cracked open that intricate hunk of metal known as the Zenith late model 68. I found the evidence of my earlier attempts to "unfreeze" the motor with MMO down the spark plug holes. Plenty of it made it past the intake valves and down the manifold into the carb where it had mixed with the varnished gas.





I was able to confidently clean out the tiny jet passages with a small piece of safety wire but the varnish residue left in the bowl was tenacious!


As an aside, after seeing the manifold clean up so nicely with a vinegar bath I decided to soak everything in vinegar including the carburetor. Well, apparently vinegar strips the shiny gold zinc off small galvanized parts. So much for my new-looking carburetor linkage Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.



What I learned

• I'm not that bright

What I'd do differently

• Not soak small galvanized parts in vinegar for a week

[Bratina]

My favourite A4 thread, just so you know.

[Al Schober]

Another No-No is to soak aluminum parts in engine degreaser (ie: Zep purple) overnight. You'll end up with a light weight carburetor!

[Launchpad McQ]

Even though the narrative has been all past tense up to this point, I've tried not to jump around while describing my engine resurrection efforts in chronological order. Since most of the processes required a sequence (head removal before valve work etc) it makes sense to stay in order. As I mentioned early in the thread, much of this work took place a few years ago when I first purchased the boat. Its been so long since I started this project I can't remember all of the details of my ill fated attempts to get this motor running reliably that ultimately demanded a full teardown. So that being said, looking back at my iPhoto library it says sometime around the carb rebuilding timeframe is when I started working on "Operation Re-Wire Everything Everywhere." As you'll see from the pictures, replacing every inch (or cm for our international brethren) of wiring was not in vain. Just like the gas line that was routed next to the exhaust and chafed through, the wiring on this boat was a fire waiting to happen. It was so bad my dock neighbor suggested that if I were to ever get boarded by the Coast Guard, they would write me a ticket. He might've been right. It was also the time when I stopped referring to the previous owner as "PO" and started referring to him as the "PFO." Here's some of the highlights:

The batteries were two 12 volt AGM (absorbed glass mat for my fellow battery geeks) wired in parallel-ish to a battery switch that was so old, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla were still arguing the merits of DC vs AC for powering incandescent bulbs when it was produced. The (mis-sized) batteries were secured in the battery box under the nav station using state-of-the-art invisible battery hold down brackets. The battery cables were off the shelf automotive 6 awg, non-tinned cable that were long enough for me to make a belt out of. All of it just great



The batteries were toast. No seriously they were hot as sourdough toast when I touched them. It might've had something to do with the fact that his battery "tender" was in fact a Craftsman battery charger meant for recharging an automotive lead acid battery that was permanently plugged into the 120v receptacle charging at a constant 2 amps. Buh bye batteries.



For the replacements I chose the well-beaten path and purchased two 6 volt deep cycle golf cart batteries wired in series to make "1" big battery. I'll probably add a 12 volt battery for a starting battery and make the 6volt x 2 the house bank when I have the time to install it.



I decided I could do better than off-the-shelf battery cables while getting to exercise my obsessive compulsiveness by making my own custom battery cables with proper lugs, cable, labels, and heat shrink. I opted to solder because I didn't want to purchase yet another specialty tool. Those large gauge cable crimpers ain't cheap! FYI, from everything I've read, ABYC standards allow for battery cables to be soldered. It's still not recommended but allowed while everything else requires crimped terminals. I also added one of those Gucci MRBF fuses on the most positive terminal of the bank.



Old and new. Much 'mo betta!

[Launchpad McQ]

Ta Da!

[Launchpad McQ]

Another No-No is to soak aluminum parts in engine degreaser (ie: Zep purple) overnight. You'll end up with a light weight carburetor!

Dang it Al where were you on Feb 1 2014 when I needed this wisdom!

P.S. I'm actually very grateful you just mentioned that. I recently bought a parts washer for the garage and plan on cleaning a bunch of aluminum road bicycle parts in in. That would've been an expensive lesson. Beers on me next time you're in Denver or San Francisco.