Engine Rebuild Part 2

I rented the crane down at the yard for an hour and luckily Lester was driving the thing, he’s the master of the boom truck. He’s the master of the travelift and any other piece of yard equipment too for that matter.   Also a fine rigger and all around good guy.  In about 10 minutes we had the engine plucked out of the cabin and into the back of Cliff’s truck.

This F150 has 2 motors

Obviously the mounts are shot, I don’t think they were ever replaced in 14 years.  Here’s a closeup.  Looks kinda tired.

One tired mount.

I paid for a membership at http://www.boatdiesel.com/ to get a second electronic copy of the shop manual, plus the installation manual and parts catalog.  Good deal.  Here’s the block, head, and injectors after disassembly.   Cliff is taking the block and head to a local machine shop for measurement and hot tanking, I’m taking the injectors and injection pump in for testing and a rebuild if necessary.  Once we get everything back, we’re going to get together, make a parts list and order the parts (thank god Torreson Marine is just a couple hours away), then reassemble it together.  Should be educational!

Doesn't look to bad - no visible scoring

Some carbon but not bad for 3000 hours.

 

Injectors and pump

 

 

 

 

January 7th, 2012 By Gary  in Engine No Comments »

Refrigeration Upgrade

Rubicon came with an almost new Cold Machine which was less than useful to us due to the poor insulation around the icebox.  For the past few years we’ve been making do with a cooler in the cockpit since we never go out for more than 4 or 5 days at a time.

The old icebox liner was cut up and removed along with the nasty old insulation.  The interior of the box was lined with alternating layers of Aspen Aerogels Spaceloft and Cryogel Z which is Spaceloft with a foil vapor barrier.  Here’s a shot half way through, the foil on the bottom is the Cryogel Z, the liner cut from 1/8 inch FRP panel is half installed.

Halfway lined

Once the liner was in place I bought polycarbonate corner guards for the joints instead of trying to get cute with epoxy filets.  Here’s a shot of the almost completed box, the insulation on top is supported by a sheet of FRP with cross members made from scrap pieces of Corian.  There is one more layer of insulation on the bottom of the plywood/corian top.  The cutout is for a Glacier Bay They Cost How Much!? vacuum panel hatch.  It got too cold here  for the adhesive to setup before the top could be installed, that’s going to have to wait until spring.

Just waiting for the top to be installed.

Whole thing is powered by almost new Cold Machine that came with the boat.  I took it to those old guys up in Mt. Clemons who soldered on new quick connect fitting instead of the stupid single use ones, vacuumed, charged, and tested the unit.

It sure will be nice to go sailing without that damn cooler in the cockpit!

 

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January 7th, 2012 By Gary  in General No Comments »

Engine Rebuild!?

I’ll try to keep this short which is contrary to my natural inclinations.

14 years ago Rubicon was repowered with a Yanmar 3GM30F.  The previous owners, Frank and Ralene, sailed far and wide after the repower, from Belize to Nova Scotia.  As a result, the engine, though well maintained (Frank was a machinist) has over 3000 hours on it, is hard to start on a cold morning, smokes a little until warmed up, and will sometimes stall at idle speed.  It may just need the injectors serviced, but I’ve been longing for a full rebuild just to restart the clock.  It’s really the last major project that needs doing, and I already have the fuel tank and water heater out of the engine compartment.  Last but far from least, I saw Rob S./Valeroso’s brand spanking new white engine room and have been dreaming of having one of my very own ever since.

Cliff, our 70 year old carpenter, was over one day last week and mentioned the lack of work in the winter.  I said “I’ll rent the crane down at the boatyard.  You come down with me, we’ll hoist the engine out of that sucker and you can take it home and rebuild it.”   Cliff’s response: “Alright.”

A carpenter rebuild your boat engine?!  Never fear.  The first time I went to Cliff’s house, I lifted a tarp in the garage to discover an early 70s Donzi, about 16 or 17 feet long with a BUILT 427 Chevy smallblock.  Cliff and his sons used to build and race Super Stock drag cars, he’s rebuilt more engines than I’ve had hot dinners, everything from weedwackers to diesel tractors.  Not only that, but I know if he does it, it will be done RIGHT.

Now for the downside: We didn’t launch this past summer in order to get a lot of projects finished.  Our original plan was to launch next May, do a “Circum-mitten”  around Michigan to the other side, and get a summer slip in Saugatuck which for my money is the best resort town in Michigan.  If we have to reinstall the engine in the spring, there is just no way in hell we can launch by Memorial day.  I WANT TO GO SAILING DAMMIT!  It is after all the whole point of the entire enterprise.

Here’s a photo of the engine sitting under the companionway, and another of the grimy mess that is the engine bed and environs.

Ready for the crane

 

Grimy Mess

 

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November 25th, 2011 By Gary  in Engine No Comments »
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