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Rebuilding a 43L after Hurricane Ike

M

mforemantx

Member
"Greetings,

The house is re

"Greetings,

The house is repaired finally so now it's time to start on the boat. I had 4 feet of water on my property due to the surge and like a FOOL, I forgot to put the plug in the boat so it flooded up and once the bilge pump drained the battery dry I had a few feet of salt water in the boat.

I knew I had an oil leak, probably on the oil pan, but never got around to fixing it... turns out if there's more liquid on the outside of the block it seeps in!

To get it out of the way, everyone call me a dumba$$ because once the waters subsided I took the boat out to check out the local damage and didn't check the oil. Turns out it was about 80% salt water, 20% oil.

After a few miles it died. As I knew it wasn't going to be pretty, and the fact that I needed to get the house restored first I let it sit until now. (Roughly 4 months)

Today I've pulled everything off the block, removed the engine cover and back seat, and tomorrow I'm dropping the lower unit and pulling the motor out of the boat. So far I've taken the valve covers off and the timing chain housing. There's surface rust on just about everything. Took off the rockers and pushrods. A little scrubbing with an SOS pad cleaned those up nicely.

I welcome any advice or 'hey look out for's anyone might want to share as I delve deeper into my '$3 drain plug turned mega expensive engine overhaul' adventure."
 
"Strongly agree w/Bondo. Salt

"Strongly agree w/Bondo. Salt damage is too extensive internally. Wiring is also shot. Replace everything or get used parts from a donor boat from the north.
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"Well today we pulled the moto

"Well today we pulled the motor out of the boat and ripped into it. Pulling part after part everything was coming out fine. We finally got down to the crankshaft and pistons and found what was keeping it from turning over. Two of the cylinders had decent enough corrosion to seize up the pistons. With only those two pistons attached to the crankshaft we still weren't able to turn it over.

Once we got those pistons pulled the crankshaft FINALLY turned over freely.

Due to the fact that the water didn't get as high as over the heads, the wiring harness is fine. The starter and alternator will probably need to be replaced, if not rebuilt for sure.

So, tomorrow I start shopping for a rebuild kit for a GM 4.3L. I'm going to drop the block and crankshaft off at a local machine shop for an acid bath too.

I think we're gonna resurrect this one in time for boat season!
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Motor's out"">
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Totally disassembled
 
"Thought I'd post an updat

"Thought I'd post an update on my progress.

Today the rebuild kit came in. 'Sealed Power engine kit' It came with just about every gasket and o-ring on the engine I could find! I do have a question about the piston rings if anyone is familiar with them....

The rings come in chrome and metal colored. Each has one end red, and the other white. From what I can tell from the bevels, the red is on the left, and the white on the right, if looked at while holding the piston rod in your hand with the piston on top?? Am I right?

The paperwork included said the chrome ring should go on top so at least I think I got that right.

The block, heads, and crankshaft are still at Procell Performance machine shop. They asked me to come down and see the block yesterday. It looks awesome all clean and such, but they wanted to show me that they were going to have to take .001 or .002 out of the cylinders to get all the pits out. Still within specs for standard rings. The crankshaft was in great shape.

A good friend of mine took the pistons and balance shaft to his machine shop and cleaned them up very nicely. As far as I'm concerned they look good as new!

My Seloc Mercruiser Stern Drive service manual also arrived. It has everything I'd ever hope for in a manual. Clearances, torque settings, wiring diagrams, everything.

The starter was successfully rebuilt, but the alternator had to be replaced new. I picked both up at a local shop a few days ago (Don's Alternator Shop)

This weekend I hope to have all parts back and have the crankshaft and pistons back in place.

Oh, I also found the source of my oil leak while removing old gaskets. This is probably where all the salt water got into the block. It seems that the previous owner somehow cracked the plastic timing chain cover and tried to repair it with some kind of sealant.

Pictures attached.

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Rebuild Kit"">
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Pistons"">
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Source of Leak?
 
I am guessing that your sealed

I am guessing that your sealed power kit is for an automotive application and therefore has standard head gaskets? If so you might want to consider upgrading to marine grade head gaskets especially for a raw water cooled application. I know Fel-Pro makes marine gasket kits that are significantly cheaper than factory.
 
when i do major rebuilds
i on

when i do major rebuilds
i only use OEM stuff
spend the money on OEM parts

So you saved 100 on aftermarket parts
but how much money will another rebuild cost!
 
"I would have gone with OEM pa

"I would have gone with OEM parts, but I am on a budget unfortunately. Also, it wasn't just a hundred dollars, it was nearly double the price or more.

For example, the plastic timing chain housing was $127.67 at mercruiserparts.com, and $20 at my local auto parts store.

Now, I am taking Tom's advice on hunting down the marine gaskets.

Is there a better online parts dealer than mercruiserparts.com?"
 
Found some more damage while i

Found some more damage while inspecting the pistons. The #1 piston's rod is bent about an inch. Machine shop called it 'Hydraulic-ing'. Apparently water got into the cylinder. Probably what caused this whole adventure.
 
mercury parts express
dougrus

mercury parts express
dougrussle.com

Im talking gaskets and seals
fel-pro make a marine gasket kit
 
"Update..

Things are coming

"Update..

Things are coming along nicely. Went with the marine head gaskets as suggested. Bought a new piston and rod to replace the bent one and had the machine shop push it together. Replaced the timing gears and chain as well.

The heads came back in great shape. (Decided they needed a professional looking at after all) All the springs had to be replaced on the machinist reccomendation. He said rusty springs could eventually break but all the valves were cleaned up.

The engine went back together fine. Had to take the oil pan back off when I realized that the timing gear housing fits into the groove on the oil pan but other than that, it was uneventful.

Replacing ALL the sensors and sending units, waiting on them to arrive. Total for those was about $150 but I think it's a good idea.

Then all I'll need is the new distributor parts (cap, rotor, ignition thing (Thunderbolt ignition)), coil, spark plugs and wires.

Going to drop it back in the boat this weekend and bolt everything back on it. Supposed to be a beautiful 65 degrees this weekend in SE Texas.

All said and done, I managed to rebuild it for about $1300 (so far) ($600 of that was for the machinist work but it was worth it to find out the block and heads are fine and done right)

Pictures forthcoming."
 
"mark, thanks for the step by

"mark, thanks for the step by step! glad you are getting it built right and being "on it " till the key fires the boat up! remember to use an alignment tool and get the right engine-- outdrive geometry so you do not have to replace the coupler after 5 hours like i did, i guy on e- bay sells them for $30 plus shipping.advance auto rents the oil pump primer shaft for free, small block chevy style fits the 4.3,you can prime oil pump and bring pressure up before you fire off,
looking foreward to seeing your break in photo!
make sure you have good gas in your fuel tank!!
6 or 7 months without any stabil additive , i would not use that old gas!
is your workshop that equipment trailer?
good job so far mark!"
 
"Umm.. Oil Pump Primer? How

"Umm.. Oil Pump Primer? How does that work?

Yes, I have 15 gallons or so of gas to siphon out and planning on doing that for sure.

I talked to a really knowledgeable person at http://www.captkirks.com/ (no kidding, that's the name) North Houston while I was in town about the alignment tool. He said it costs over $200 and they usually just tell people it's better to bring it to a shop to have it aligned versus buying the tool. So, $30?

And sorry I'm showing my ignorance here, but what is engine/outdrive geometry?

And yes, the trailer is the workshop. It's setup under a carport with a 4x8 plywood workbench on blocks next to it for all the parts. Good thing I'm single too, because for a week or so there all of the new stuff was spread out on my den floor.

Not exactly you're sterile workshop environment but I did my best to tarp everything when I wasn't working on it and luckily we've had no thunderstorms.

And nary a part went long without a good coating of WD-40 or oil."
 
"Engine's in the boat!

"Engine's in the boat!

I spent most of today cleaning the engine well of all the dirt, oil, yuck that's built up over time. (and stepped on the bilge pump, thoroughly breaking it, oh well, what's another expense)

Around 3 o'clock I hooked up the 'workbench' trailer to my lawn mower, loaded down with a completely re-assembled engine. Had my 12 year old daughter drive it around the block with me behind her pulling the boat over to a guy who has a 2 ton lift on a tree.

With her working the chain and me manhandling the block into position, I'm proud to say it's back in the boat! I found the best way to get it positioned on all 4 bolts was to first land it on the two bolts under the middle. Once it's there, re-attach the hook on the back loop (the wiring harness one), jack it up bit and then stab the bolts while yelling up, or down, until you get it positioned. She did a great job and we had it bolted in after a total of maybe 20 minutes.

And yes, I plan to either align it myself or have it done professionally before the lower unit goes back on. Not getting this far and having it flop after 5 hours!

Exhaust manifolds are some heavy suckers!

Still waiting on distributors parts, plugs, wires, and my sensors/senders (which have finally shipped!) http://www.ishopmarine.com is really a cool place to order from. They keep you posted on the progress nicely.

I think the last technical thing I haven't tackled yet is getting the timing set. Gonna have to get me a timing light, and read up!"
 
"Oh! I forgot to mention a pa

"Oh! I forgot to mention a particularly incredible point.

Once the motor was in the boat, and all the peripherals were installed, I had zero parts left over!! No bolts, brackets, or hoses!

I attribute that not to my memory, which sucks, but rather to the hundred or so pictures I took during the disassembly. Nothing beats sitting there with parts while looking through the laptop of pictures of what it's supposed to look like!"
 
"[b]"while I was in town a

""while I was in town about the alignment tool. He said it costs over $200 and they usually just tell people it's better to bring it to a shop to have it aligned versus buying the tool. So, $30?"

Ayuh,...

The Alignment Bars can be bought All day long on ebay for $30./ $50...."
 
"mark , the angle that the eng

"mark , the angle that the engine , sitting in its mounts,must be properly aligned before you install the outdrive. the tool on e-bay comes with instructions to correctly align , also the procedure is discussed in the merc. manuals
simply put the engine coupler, bolted to the flywheel, must be aligned or centered,near perfectly before you slide the outdrive in.
the adjustment is made on your motor mounts , the tool slides in thru the transom into coupler
freely when alignment is right, much like a clutch alignment tool on a manual trans.
oil pump primer goes in distributor hole in place of dist. turn it with a drill, it turns oil pump shaft and oil pressure comes up, this will prevent a dry start, i use one when boat has been sitting over winter"
 
"On to the lower unit...

Wh

"On to the lower unit...

While waiting on the remaining parts for the 4.3, I went ahead and dove into the lower unit cleanup.

I knew the u-joints were pretty rusty but I was pleased to see that the seals must have held up. I removed the topcap cover on the upper unit and found a well oiled set of gears.

I took the prop off and was suprised to find a few parts rattling around in the exhaust area. I recognize the metal part as one of my exhaust baffles that burnt out a few years ago when the water intake got clogged and they melted off. I didn't realize one of them had fallen all way to the bottom. As for the melted plastic part... does anyone have a clue what it might be?

The water pump was rather uh... filty, but it wasn't so bad inside. I plan to replace the impeller and gaskets though.

My speedometer inlet is majorly clogged. Will have to get that cleaned out while it's all apart too.

I welcome any comments or suggestions on this stage of my adventure!

Anyone have a pdf'd service manual for a 1999 alpha?
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Gunked up"">

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UJoints"">

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What are these things?
 
"I think I know what the melte

"I think I know what the melted plastic part is.

Take a look at the white (well soot covered) plastic part in the center right, by the impeller in this picture. Could the mystery part be one of these? It too is already deformed. It fell out when I broke the upper and lower units apart so I'm not entirely sure where it goes, could also use help on that.


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"
 
"Ayuh,...

In the picture ju

"Ayuh,...

In the picture just above this post,...

The plastic piece just above,+ to the left of the impeller is part of the burnt exhaust Shutter....

The piece that's just below, to the right of the impeller, is the water tube alignment piece for the water pickup tube...

That sure is some Nasty lookin' $h!t you've got there...

Btw,... I'd Replace those U-joints,...They don't like being bathed in Water..."
 
"Did all of 10 minutes on the

"Did all of 10 minutes on the U joints today. Cleaned them up pretty nicely.

Oh, I found the manual online for the alpha drive.

http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mnetdata/SERVICE/CRUISER/Servmanl/14/14cover.pdf

to me the u joints seem in great shape. From what I've read they're 'perma-lubed'? All of the seals seem to be intact.

I'm still confused as to how water got into the u joint baffle. below the u joint, into the lower unit, is fine. No sign of water.

I can only assume that water came in from within the boat through the transom into the u-joint baffle?

If that's the case I'm ok, because I have no plans to have another 4 feet of water flood into the yard without the plug in!

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U joints after cleaning
 
"Oh, status on ordered stuff.

"Oh, status on ordered stuff.

First off... my alarm speaker. It apparently failed some time ago. I found the speaker under my console and cut it out. Tested it by hooking it straight to the battery and got nothing.

According to my online searches of mercury marine parts sites, the going rate is $66.50.

The label on the speaker showed being made by 'Floyd Bell, Inc' so I did some googling and found their website, http://www.floydbell.com/

This site is full of alarm speakers, even allows you to listen to them and make your choice.

I ordered one of their 'ultra loud' console mounted variants for $12+ $6 shipping.

Lower unit water pump gaskets, impeller and upper unit gasket set placed on order yesterday.

My engine sensors and senders are due in tomorrow ($150 for all), the alignment tool from ebay ($30 + %15 shipping) any day. Unrelated to the rebuild is my new Faria instrument array ($170), replacement under deck two step ladder ($150), and great new two seater tow tube! Oh, new steering wheel too! ($70. but c'mon, gotta look stylish!)

The distributor parts, spark plugs, spark plug wires are still in kinda limbo, gonna shake some tree tomorrow on those and get a status.

So close to firing over!"
 
"good job mark i only wish i h

"good job mark i only wish i had your money and your time and weather its still -6 here in buffalo ny, good luck"
 
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