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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2009 : 5:28:25 PM
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Haven't seen my baby since about Dec, am heading up this weekend, will see how things faired over the winter!
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2009 : 6:09:22 PM
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Things actually faired very well over the winter!
Am working on water supplies etc at the Marina, & on my boat at the same time, so have been very busy!
As many may remember from last year, my Port engine was leaking oil and had low compression on a couple cylinders.
Definitely in need of a re-build.
Will re-build the Port engine this year and the Starboard engine next year.
Was considering replacing the 302s with 351s or possibly Chevy 350s, but the amount of time, money, & effort involved making an engine change, made me decide on a solution using the existing 302 blocks.
That way I can use all of the existing water pumps etc with no required changes in manifolds etc.
(And it will FIT in the bilge! lol)
It turns out you can get stroker kits at a very reasonable cost that make the 302 into a 331 or 347 ci displacement. The stroker kits cost just a bit more than regular replacement parts.
This gives you better quality parts and a larger engine with more torque at near the same cost.
With the right combination of parts, this will make the engine 300+ horsepower, with serious torque!
(The current combination I am considering should make about 350 HP, a big increase(55%) from the 225 HP stock set-up.)
The biggest limiting factor with the Ford small blocks is poor flowing heads, so no matter what route I take, the heads will be changed to higher flowing units.
As I remove the existing engine, rebuild it and re-install, I will post the pics & information here.
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 11:48:46 PM
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Pulling the engine was fun! lol
Am on dry-dock & gunwale is WAY up in the air!
Rigged up a frame to lift the engine with...
The rear deck is covered with a silver tarp.
It was snowing the day I pulled the engine.
Waited until spring to pull the motor so it would be warm!!!
THAT worked well! lol
In the background is the Fiberglass Radar arch I built for the boat.
Designed the Arch so it hinges back to allow going under low bridges and for storage. (Like winter)
The Arch is in the tilted back position right now and makes the frame for the tarp covering the back deck.
The lift frame board is 2 - 2x4s screwed together as one.
One end supported by the stainless rail on the flybridge with a vertical stanchion right below it.
The back end is supported by the fiberglass deck frame and another vertical 2x4.
As unsteady as it may sound, it was actually very solid.
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 04/17/2009 09:48:55 AM |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 11:52:07 PM
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I had made a temporary "back deck" out of oak planks and plywood for half of the deck opening for a platform to work from.
Lifted the engine out of the bilge and set it down on the temp wood back deck.
Had stripped the engine down to a "short block" to cut down the weight I had to lift.
Actually lifted the block with a 2" ratcheting strap, the chain was a precaution.
Worked pretty good!
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 11:57:37 PM
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Hole left by pulling the engine.
Will be doing some cleaning of my bilge this weekend!
Can't wait until it's spotless again!!!
Hahhahahha!
This is like a Hillbilly engine lift!
It a lift in the back of a truck, strapped in.
This gave us enough height to lift the block over the gunwale to get it out of the boat.
Definitely worked well!
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2009 : 12:00:20 AM
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This was interesting...
On cylinder number 5.
Note the partially crushed alignment dowel.
This appeared to be from the factory as the head gasket was a ford factory part and had a date code very close to the block date code.
Hmmmmm...
Note also the blow-by out of the cylinder to the lower right.
The other head gasket was a Fel-pro, apparently there was some head work performed or something.
The block has the factory 4" bore.
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2009 : 12:19:33 AM
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Loaded the new (to me) engine onto the truck & brought it home.
As I explored the possibilities more, turns out I could get a newer roller block with performance heads and gain serious horsepower AND mileage by increasing the Volumetric Efficiency.
(At least without a mileage penalty.)
Have learned a Phenomenal amount about Small Block Fords over the last few weeks. Already knew quite a bit, but there is always more to learn!
Found a suitable engine and picked it up today.
The engine has this cool Engine Oil Cooler, but it is made of thin aluminum and probably isn't a good idea for marine use...
Will be tearing down the engine over the next week, cleaning up parts, & selling what I don't need off of it.
(Like the intake manifold)
This is my Current heading:
'96 302 Explorer Roller Block
GT-40 performance heads
Freshen bottom end.
Balance reciprocating assembly.
Custom ground Cam
New Valve springs
Freshen heads in general.
Use existing roller lifters.
Weiand Stealth Intake.
Port match Intake & exhaust manifolds/heads.
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 04/17/2009 12:25:07 AM |
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woodboat
Canada
131 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2009 : 12:44:40 PM
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| Man, Rock, hope i never have to go to this extent on my Voyager... way beyond my experteeeeeze ... lol ... I am back in BC (brought my dad home) and will head back to Ontario in a week or two... Will then work on my boat for a couple of weeks in May hoping to launch around third week. ... must do, as I have no home (rented out) and live in my van until i can move onto the boat... feel like a hippy (again) and i am 56 lol |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2009 : 9:32:56 PM
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Hhahahha!
That's funny Steve!
I have no doubt if you decided to do your motors, you would figure out a away to get 'em done!
Feel free to ask about the electrical system also when ya get to it!
Rock 
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 04/19/2009 9:35:53 PM |
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Bob On This
USA
135 Posts |
 Posted - 05/04/2009 : 8:31:04 PM
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Hey Rock,
Where you been?
Hows the engine overhaul going?
Diver Down |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2009 : 11:02:05 AM
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Hey Guys!
Sorry I haven't posted for a while.
Have been majorly busy... 
Major busy at work. (M-F)
Installing Water Lines at the Marina. (Weekends)
(We now have water, installing electric next, YEAH!)
Re-building boat engine. (Evenings)
With all this, has been crazy!
Needless to say, haven't had a day off in a long time!
Don't currently have any pics as I left the camera on the boat...
Will post pics later.
Here is the current status...
Engine shop finally finished the machine work, they did a great job but took quite a while.
Block cleaned & magged.
Block bored to .030" over.
Block decked.
Rods re-conditioned with new ARP Rod Bolts.
Heads re-worked with valve job & new springs.
New rings & pistons.
Compression ratio is 9.0:1 so I can use 87 octane gasoline from anywhere.
Had to re-machine one of the exhaust manifolds to get a good mating surface again.
(MUCH cheaper than a new manifold!)
Had another machine shop balance the reciprocating assembly.
The balancer mentioned that the crank was 200 grams out of balance and that it probably shook quite a bit before, glad I had it balanced.
Used the existing flywheel, they added material to it so it balanced.
Basically the engine has been blueprinted & balanced.
Should run incredibly smooooooth... 
The machine shop didn't have the time to re-assemble the engine for a couple more weeks and there was no way I was waiting that long...
So...
Picked up all the parts and assembled the engine at my shop. 
Not tooo bad, just very tedious.
Have to keep everything incredibly clean, so I cleaned the shop well beforehand.
Especially tedious is measuring the bearing clearances.
Had the engine totally finished in a couple days. (While also working)
I LOVE the internet. Was sooo easy to get bolt torque specs, just look up and do.
One note...
Using quality oils AND filters makes a BIG difference inside the engine.
(NEVER use FRAM oil filters!!!)
My old engine was very clean inside, no coke, no varnish, no build-up of any kind.
The engine out of the explorer required major cleaning of all the parts.
LOTS of coke, varnish, etc.
The difference inside the engines was huge.
Painted the block without the intake manifold on Sat night.
(Aluminum Weiand STEALTH intake, looks goooood without paint.)
Finished assembling the engine Sunday & loaded it to take up to the boat.
The engine looks awesome!
Too funny...
Loaded the engine on a pallet, then onto bed of truck with the tractor, tractor runs out of gas
(been mowing like crazy).
Check shed for gas...
None...
Have to run down to gas station to get gas...
Meanwhile, new HEAVY engine is settling on tailgate of truck...
Hope tailgate doesn't bend... 
Get gas, re-fill tractor, fires right up and finish loading.
(Tailgate is ok TG!)
Drive up to lake.
Cleaned the bilge again, this time with foaming engine de-greaser, worked well.
Re-placed the frozen in place Port Sea-cock (Gate valve) with a new Nebco Ball Valve.
If you ever have had to do this, you know how much work it is.
Replaced the Starboard one last spring and the Port one this spring.
The Nebco valves should last about forever.
It was much easier yet still alot of work to re-place the valve without the engine in place.
Rigged up and even MORE Hillbilly engine lift to put the engine back in place! LMAO
The only thing it lacked to make it truly hillbilly, was a ladder, extension cord, and water...
Can't wait to post the pic of this one... lol
It worked great!!!
Lowered the engine into place, bolted on mating plate, flywheel, and damper plate.
Getting the engine to mate to the transmission was a different story...
Tried about everything until I remembered a trick,
took 2 long head bolts and put them in the top two holes through the bell housing and into the engine block.
Wiggled the engine a bit and it popped right into place.
(Wish I had remembered that trick a couple hours sooner... lol) 
Bolted engine and transmission together.
Bolted on engine mounts.
Port Engine is back in place!!! YEAH!!!
Did run into an odd thing, the balancing shop had gotten a harmonic crankshaft balancer for me, had asked them to get a 3 bolt so I could just bolt on the old lower pulley.
They ended up getting a 4 bolt balancer.
Ok, figured just drill for the other 3 bolts.
However...
Turns out the new balancer sticks out much further than the old one.
So I have to cut and weld on the old lower pully to make it line up with the existing pulleys bolted onto the new balancer.
Think making one work out of the old one is going to be easier than finding a bolt on one...
Hope to be in the water this coming weekend!
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 06/03/2009 8:40:06 PM |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 06/03/2009 : 9:16:40 PM
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Engine loaded and strapped down solid to the pallet for safe shipping while taking to the boat.
Lifting the engine into the truck, this is when the tractor ran out of gas, with the weight settling onto the tailgate... lol
The home made pully I modded to be able to get the boat in the water.
Had about 4 hours in modding the pully.
You can see the Top Dead Center(TDC) Mark and the 10 degrees before TDC mark I made on the balancer.
The balancer was for a newer engine and FORD had relocated the timing pointer and therefore the balancer marks on the newer engines.
(They also changed the balancer weight.)
So measured true TDC and marked the balancer accordingly.
The port side exhaust manifold was the worst part of putting the engine together, took serious effort!
After a great deal of work...
New engine installed into the boat!!!
More to come... 
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 06/03/2009 9:31:13 PM |
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Bob On This
USA
135 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2009 : 3:46:33 PM
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Good job.
Looks like a case of "good ol boy", shade tree mechanics.
Great fun......Hope you had lots of cold beer.
So, Rock, when I get ready to remove my two engines, should I leave the exhaust on, or take them off first?
And if you did the install again, would you put the exhaust on first?
My plan is to borrow a service truck from the shop, or one of my customers, so weight will not be an issue.
Diver Down |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 09:35:59 AM
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Hey Bob!
Ty! Definitely alot of work, at the same time, it worked great and looks great!
I would still remove the manifolds first before pulling the engine and put them on after you put the engines in.
Reason being: You have to "work" the manifolds into the 3" exhaust hose by moving the manifold in multiple directions. Can't really do that with the engine attached.
Vasoline helped alot here...
Didn't put enough Vasoline on the first one and it made it alot harder to install.
The starter on the port engine is also easier to install without the manifold in place.
Everything else I would bolt on first before setting the engine in place.
(Flywheel, damper plate, water pump, pullys, alternator etc.)
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 06/05/2009 09:37:13 AM |
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mille73
USA
38 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 1:40:47 PM
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Hi Rock,
I missed your call & misplaced your ph. number, call my cell again
Dale
Mille73 |
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2008 & 2009 Season!
