Remove head and manifold or leave well enough alone?

[Marty_B]

Hi All,
I recently acquired a boat with an A4 and have since removed the engine for repair of the boat and engine. The question is this: The exhaust manifold has some pretty bad flaking on the inside, at least what I can see from the exhaust port, and am considering removing it and the head for further inspection. The studs for both actually look decent from what I can see, and I dont see any leaking. Should I leave them on and risk further issues after reinstalling the engine, or should I remove the head, manifold and studs and replace all of the studs?
This boat has been in a fresh water lake since it was new 1n 1974 and has never seen salt water.

[Dave Neptune]

It is not a bad idea to open the engine up to inspect in most cases. Did it run before? Does it spin on the starter? You may even want to do a pressure check which may not be necessary for a fresh water engine.

It is not difficult to cobble a stand for an A-4 and once on the stand (or even on the floor) you could do a compression check. If the compression is suspect it's a lot easier to tear down out of the boat. And with a stand you can even run the engine before reinstalling.

Do you know anything about how it does or doesn't run?

Dave Neptune

[sastanley]

Marty - welcome..it is always a process, but we got you. From another thread, sounds like you pulled the engine. Gaskets are cheap, relatively speaking. I pulled my manifold (salt water motor for many years) and discovered a leaky stud on the block side..I never would have seen it with the manifold intact and it explained the slow loss of antifreeze on the fresh water side. That being said, I have not needed to pull my head off my engine yet, and once I got the #4 cyl valves freed up with various concoctions in the spark plug hole, she runs pretty well. Compression test maybe to see where you are at?

it all depends how far you want to dig into it, but a lot easier on a stand and not in the boat. Start snapping some pics and adding to your posts..it helps us a lot...many members have seen it all before..

[Marty_B]

There are conflicting stories about whether this boat ran before. It does turn over (by hand) and feels pretty smooth, and appears to have compression, but I have not checked it yet. I have been working allot of hours and have not had time to check it out yet. I was told that when the carb was gravity fed fuel it would run. That would explain how it could run with the fuel pump disconnected.
Also I will try to take some pictures and post them. I will also build a stand for the engine and try to get it running in my shop. I have it sitting on boards right now and would not be stable enough to run without falling over. Overall, from the OUTSIDE, it looks decent. The OCD part of me wants to pull the head, manifold and reverser cover in the hopes of revealing any hidden leaks or problems, then I thought, I might as well replace the studs if i do that.
I will take some pictures either tonight or tomorrow and see what you guys think. Thanks again for all of your advice.

[sastanley]

I have a project motor in my shop too. It would bind up during hand rotation, so I took off the head to avoid damage..turns out a little rain must have gotten into #2 spark plug hole, and there was some rust on the cylinder wall. Sprayed it with a little stuff, and loosened right up. Now I gotta scrape the gasket and all that stuff...shoulda just sprayed some stuff in the plug holes, and it might have loosened up without yanking the head. I might try a compression test before you pull the head..unless you enjoy the tedious scraping. I have not touched mine since last fall now..too many other projects. :-)

[Al Schober]

Hi Marty,
Welcome to the forum!
Not sure of your goals here. An engine that runs, ASAP (I need to get it reinstalled)? Perhaps an engine that you'll be happy with for years to come. The quick course is to just get it running but then you risk the surprise of finding out that it leaks oil and coolant and smokes up the cabin.
The engine is out of the boat. That's one of the hard parts of doing a full overhaul and upgrade. Let us know your goals and we can advise.