o2batsea
Outstanding Contributor
My current boat, a 1970-something Allmand Ticonderoga 24 is getting a Bravo 3 installed in place of the current OMC Cobra. The Cobra is fine, and no real reason to replace it other than I wanted a dual prop drive for like as long as I can remember and this B3 came along and was too good a deal to pass.
The engine on the Cobra is a Ford 302 that has about three hours on the rebuild. I did all kinds of stuff to it...made it fuel injected even. It was a pretty sweet setup. But, it has two strikes against it. It's OMC, for one and it's a single prop, for two. Anyway, even tho that engine is still brand new I'm gonna do this.
The Bravo 3 is from a something or other (searay, chapparal?) that was getting scrapped. I took everything...drive, engine, wiring, even the battery cables.
Engine is a 7.4 LX MPI. Raw water cooled. I'm OK with that since the boat lives on a trailer anyway.
So yesterday, I got the drive and the engine separated. Got the flywheel off the engine and bolted to an engine stand so now it's up where I can work on it. Let's say there are a few challenges.
First of all, the engine is seized. I know, I know, but hey it was really a gimme part of the deal so I'm into the engine side of this mess for zero money so far. The other thing is that the manifolds are rust-welded to the heads. The bolts are eroded away so no chance to get a tool on there to turn them.
So, chore #1 is to get those manis off the heads one way or another. Probably going to have to get in there with the air rasp and whiz the heads off. Not worrying about saving the manifolds, so I just need to get them free and then get the stumps of the bolts out of the heads. I am allocating an entire day for this.
With the manifolds off, I can finish removing all the external parts of the engine and get down to the block itself. I will have to determine if this should go out for machine shop or just buy another. There seems to be a lot of these out there, so maybe I can find another one for cheap and move the parts over to it. Dunno. That will be coming up in another installment.
Sorry for the lack of pics, I'll get some up soon.
The engine on the Cobra is a Ford 302 that has about three hours on the rebuild. I did all kinds of stuff to it...made it fuel injected even. It was a pretty sweet setup. But, it has two strikes against it. It's OMC, for one and it's a single prop, for two. Anyway, even tho that engine is still brand new I'm gonna do this.
The Bravo 3 is from a something or other (searay, chapparal?) that was getting scrapped. I took everything...drive, engine, wiring, even the battery cables.
Engine is a 7.4 LX MPI. Raw water cooled. I'm OK with that since the boat lives on a trailer anyway.
So yesterday, I got the drive and the engine separated. Got the flywheel off the engine and bolted to an engine stand so now it's up where I can work on it. Let's say there are a few challenges.
First of all, the engine is seized. I know, I know, but hey it was really a gimme part of the deal so I'm into the engine side of this mess for zero money so far. The other thing is that the manifolds are rust-welded to the heads. The bolts are eroded away so no chance to get a tool on there to turn them.
So, chore #1 is to get those manis off the heads one way or another. Probably going to have to get in there with the air rasp and whiz the heads off. Not worrying about saving the manifolds, so I just need to get them free and then get the stumps of the bolts out of the heads. I am allocating an entire day for this.
With the manifolds off, I can finish removing all the external parts of the engine and get down to the block itself. I will have to determine if this should go out for machine shop or just buy another. There seems to be a lot of these out there, so maybe I can find another one for cheap and move the parts over to it. Dunno. That will be coming up in another installment.
Sorry for the lack of pics, I'll get some up soon.