Getting nautical. Hopefully not an epic overhaul thread.

[The Garbone]

Today I turned my first ratchet on my A4. After blowing the dust off the head I removed the plugs. I then stuck my finger in the hole and wiping up the rest of the rust with an oily rag after which I put a tablespoon of oil down each bore. I will let it set until Thursday when I plan on an oil change and possibly hand turn the motor.

My first big concern is my meaningless plug chop. #3 plug in particular. It appears to have rust and pitting. The other plugs look as expected with the standard black soot.

My guess is the motor is sitting at the exhaust stroke on number 3. How bad a sign?

[hanleyclifford]

Some valve(s) have to be open; you'll know better once you get the thing turning. BTW, you need to resize to around 460x520 so we can see the pictures easier.

[The Garbone]

I do need to figure out the Iphone photo post thing. Maybe I will start using my old photobucket account again.

Another thing I noticed was the detent toward the rear (can I assume this is reverse) does not hold. Not too concerned about that really, on my 8n it had a detent ball bearing and spring held in by the cover plate. The thing was so filthy I did not know it was there until I got the maintenance manual.

I order the manual from the our generous hosts and am currently watching the front door for the UPS guy... A bit anxious to get this thing running. Great fun.

[roadnsky]

Originally Posted by The Garbone

...Another thing I noticed was the detent toward the rear (can I assume this is reverse) does not hold. Not too concerned about that really, on my 8n it had a detent ball bearing and spring held in by the cover plate. The thing was so filthy I did not know it was there until I got the maintenance manual.

I order the manual from the our generous hosts and am currently watching the front door for the UPS guy... A bit anxious to get this thing running. Great fun.

The detent is actually forward, although we call the "tranny" the Reversing Gear.
Confused yet? I know...
The MMI Manual will help out a lot and the rest you can get sorted here.

[edwardc]

Yes, the detent in is fwd only. There is no detent at neutral or reverse.

Finding neutral is sort of a fishing expedition. I marked the position on my shifter handle once I found it.

Reverse is a pure friction affair. You have to hold the shifter in reverse to keep it engaged.

[joe_db]

Might want to shrink those photos a bit

[The Garbone]

Ok this looks right in preview.

[The Garbone]

Spent a little time reading and getting to know my motor.

It appears there is no oil, as the dip stick is dry and nothing comes out when pumping. Most likely due to my having it shipped.

However I do have a nice big spanner that fits on the nut on the transmission output. Turned the motor a few revolutions and every thing seems to move well.



I metered the coil and it shows 3ohms and I also metered thru the coil and moved the motor. I could see the point open and close. I then installed a plug and manually moved the motor a few revolutions with 12vdc on the coil but failed to see a spark. Not a big deal. I will worry about it more when I get new plugs and oil up the motor.



I also tapped the starter with some jumper cables and the motor turn a few revs. So the starter is good.



Here is a picture the heat exchanger that came with my W13. I plan on using it for my fresh water setup if possible. I do like the smaller size or 18 to 20 inches as I am space limited. Is it large enough is the question?

[HalcyonS]

eewww, that distributor looks nasty. You better check the centrifugal weights and springs, it looks like they'll be pretty corroded. You may need new springs. (assuming the prestolite has roughly the same arrangement at the delco)

[Marian Claire]

Garbone:
"It appears there is no oil, as the dip stick is dry" Where and with what type of dip stick are you checking the oil? The dip stick access looks as if it has been modified in the pic. Also is the engine on a slope or sitting flat? Dan S/V Marian Claire

[joe_db]

That engine appears to have spend some time underwater. I would dump some MMO in there - like a gallon - and slowly turn the engine over a couple of times and then pump all the oil out. See what you get from that.

Reminds me of the "great condition runs fine" engine I drove 300 miles to buy that had a very evident waterline about 90% of the way to the top

[The Garbone]

Sure gives me something to think about. Before I try to fire her up I will run an oil change through and see what I get.

Turning her by hand she seemed very smooth. No feel of bearing grind or any such.

At the moment I am at the boat enjoying drilling multipal holes in the deck replacing chainplates. I won't be able to fiddle with the mill much til the new year.

As for the dip stick, it is located just forward of the trans/ tombstone to the right. Looks like it has a piece of 1" hose stretched over the handle for better grip. Will get some pictures later. You can actually see it in the points picture at the 7 o'clock position to the distributor.

Engine is flat on a pallet.

[The Garbone]

Just an update because I acheived fire yesterday and it has me all worked up.

So the oil is coming out fairly clean as I turn her over with the starter and it shoots out that from the front fitting. I will pump another gallon through her and see if it comes out clean. I will have to clean out my drain pan as I had left it sitting outside and it had collected a bit of dirt and grime and was filthy to start with. I need a better feel for the oil quality than my current setup is giving me.

Made progress on my ignition system, cleaned everything including the points. I will be using a Bosch blue coil now as the one the motor came with went open. Have 2 sets of new NGK plugs and am getting a nice blue flame across the gap.

My next step is to rehab the fuel system, pulling the carb and pump for clean and inspect. I already checked the fuel bowl and it looks good with no corosion or evidence of deposits of stuff. The Seller said the motor was rebuilt in 08' so I hope the pump internals look good. I have ordered the kit from out host but hope to just have it as a ready spare parts kit.

I did the finger compression check on all the cylinders and the valve action seems to be fine.


The only real bad corrosion on the motor is at the point in the picture on the rear of water jacket plate. It appears to have a crack as seen in the photo. The 2 rear bolts are corroded but all the others on the plate are still shiney and bright. I have been hitting them with PB blaster every few days in hopes they will come out. I know PB is not the best but I have had the can in the garage for years so may as well give it a try.

Once I get the fuel system clean and sorted I plan to pull the Alt and clean out the waterjacket as I imagine it is full of scale. Will be putting on a late model stainless waterjacket plate after which I hope to fire her up.

[sastanley]

Gary, what most of us find in non-fresh water is that the water jacket is full of sludge..years of plankton and small sea creatures that die and decompose..if it is really smelly mud, you found it!

There are lots of threads about the side plate, so you can read up. I went to all studs a couple years back, and think it is a great 'upgrade'. Moyer Marine sells a really nice kit, but the P.O. had oversized some of the holes for me already , so I custom made mine by cutting off bolt heads, careful filing and thread cleaning, and JB welded them into the block threads. I used brass washers & nuts, thinking that they would corrode first rather than the block or ss studs, and the nuts are easily replaced.

[67c&ccorv]

Originally Posted by The Garbone

Just an update because I acheived fire yesterday and it has me all worked up.

So the oil is coming out fairly clean as I turn her over with the starter and it shoots out that from the front fitting. I will pump another gallon through her and see if it comes out clean. I will have to clean out my drain pan as I had left it sitting outside and it had collected a bit of dirt and grime and was filthy to start with. I need a better feel for the oil quality than my current setup is giving me.

Made progress on my ignition system, cleaned everything including the points. I will be using a Bosch blue coil now as the one the motor came with went open. Have 2 sets of new NGK plugs and am getting a nice blue flame across the gap.

My next step is to rehab the fuel system, pulling the carb and pump for clean and inspect. I already checked the fuel bowl and it looks good with no corosion or evidence of deposits of stuff. The Seller said the motor was rebuilt in 08' so I hope the pump internals look good. I have ordered the kit from out host but hope to just have it as a ready spare parts kit.

I did the finger compression check on all the cylinders and the valve action seems to be fine.


The only real bad corrosion on the motor is at the point in the picture on the rear of water jacket plate. It appears to have a crack as seen in the photo. The 2 rear bolts are corroded but all the others on the plate are still shiney and bright. I have been hitting them with PB blaster every few days in hopes they will come out. I know PB is not the best but I have had the can in the garage for years so may as well give it a try.

Once I get the fuel system clean and sorted I plan to pull the Alt and clean out the waterjacket as I imagine it is full of scale. Will be putting on a late model stainless waterjacket plate after which I hope to fire her up.

That crack in the water jacket side plate is probably caused by freeze damage - you also have a mechanically driven tachometer.

A late model water jacket side plate on an early model engine will also require some plumbing changes to the engine...you really need to talk to Ken about these kinds of changes you are contemplating. He saved me from a potential nightmare when I wanted to change out my late model square tranny cover to the earlier tombstone cover.

Was this motor a runner...or did the seller tell you it was a runner?

[The Garbone]

Seller told me it ran nice but not the last time it ran was.

The crack looks to be more of a split / flaking affair. I guess freeze damage is a possibility. The motor came from Maryland so they do have pretty cold winters. A week below freezing would do it I imagine. I bought it from a mechanic associated with a boatyard so hope that would preclude the "sell the ice split block to the rube" angle. Of course the seller said it had a reduction gear that is does not so there is that..........

I do plan on making it FWC with an electric pump on the FW side. Plumbing is in my future for sure.

On the tach I was hoping I could find a blanking cap and put a bit of grease in there before sealing it off. Plan on going with a digital tach off the coil.

I do plan on the stud kit but have to wait and see if I will also need the repair kit they offer. Joy.....

[67c&ccorv]

From the pictures I am going to say that getting the water jacket side plate off without breaking off the bolts will be some chore.

It needs a good clean up for sure.

[The Garbone]

Been doing the PB and tapping with a BF screw driver for the past week or so and things looked promising as a lot of scale fell off the worst looking bolts revealing nice clean bolts underneath.



Sure enough all 8 came out without issue. I have ordered the stud kit and stainless cover so hope not to repeat the issue.



My photo of the motor did not turn out well. Lets just say I need to clean out a lot of crud in the waterjacket. Garden hose and shop vac here we come.

Here is the now defunct cover plate.



I have come to the conclusion my iPhone takes horrible photos in low light conditions.

There does seem to be a lot of scale behind the starter and around the water jacket plate. With a bit of corrosion and loss of metal between some of the bolt holes and the opening. I hope it cleans up...