Saturday, August 20, 2016

Good Vibrations - Part II

New mounts installed

Peggy came down to the boat with me today, more for moral support than anything.

As planned, I raised the Engine off of the Motor Mounts that were temporarily in place on the stringers, filled each of the forward holes (4) with 2 part epoxy putty and left it to harden for 20 minutes then Re-drilled the stringers for the new mounts.

While waiting for the epoxy to harden, I spent some quality time cleaning up beneath the Engine. Not sure the area has looked that clean in many years.

After the epoxy had cured, it was pretty easy to get the new Motor Mounts installed and bolted down, although I did leave the mounting lag bolts loose enough that I could move them inboard/outboard if needed. It took about 3 hours to get all of that done and the Engine back on the motor mounts. Not bad for a first time doing an Engine job.

The motor mounts part of this job is nearly complete, only the Engine to Prop Shaft alignment remains to be done. Right now the Prop Shaft Flange to Gearbox Flange has gaps (4) of between .007" and .009" and I'm not sure of the correct gaps or range of differences that are acceptable. So I have asked the support of the C34 International Association for a procedure to follow. While I'm waiting there's always Google!

Update - Friday Aug 19th.

The Engine is aligned! Following the advice from the C34 Association members, I was able to get the Engine Alignment within 0.0025" and feel that I did a pretty good job (pats self on back a few times :)

Update - Saturday Aug 20th.

We made good progress today. The Control Panel is secured in place, including the beast of a job getting the Engine Stop lever back in place through the hole in the Control Panel. The harness is run down and forward to the Engine Space and the Blower Motor is wired up. The Starter is back in place with  it's new Solenoid and the Power Connection to the Solenoid is connected with fuse in place.

Next visit to the boat will be to get the new -ve bus bar wired up to the electrical system and engine. Then connect up the Fuel Pump, Fuel Tank Sender, Engine High Temp and Coolant Temp senders, Glow Plug connection, Alternator Excite and Smart Regulator connections in place.

To keep the control panel dry before the final screws are in place, there's a temporary Polybag taped over the panel. I have to trim the clear instrument cover slightly to make it easier to operate the Engine stop lever.

Once all of that is done, then it's time to reinstall the heat exchanger, Alternator, Raw Water hoses, Coolant hoses etc. Then inspect everything before hitting the start button for the first time.

We're getting excited! With a bit of luck we'll be able to take the boat for a test run by next weekend. WooooHooo!

Don't wait for us yet, but we'll see you on the water soon!



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