1987 Mercruiser 3.0L/Alpha One - dumb questions

[Rick Stephens]

Find some ebay or CL used ones.

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

Find some ebay or CL used ones.

Yes sir, that was my first thought. Then I realized that these folks on ebay and CL are trying the sell these things to fund their early retirement! LOL

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

Next dumb question.... bilge blower system.

The bilge blower is shot, but no biggie. They aren't that expensive. The problem is - all of the ducting had been ripped out. So I am left to guess.

There are remnants of 2 ducts attached under the vent on the starboard side. So my assumption is that hose lays down by the bilge, goes to the blower, then after the blower there is a Y and it goes from 1 tube to 2 up to the vent. Does that sound about right?

Now, port side. That vent also has 2 remnants of hoses. I am guessing that they come down the the motor/bilge area to offer some air cooling to the motor and fresh air for air intake to carb.

Is any of that even remotely correct?

 

[alldodge]

First a blower, blows air out of the engine room, so in short it sucks air out not blow in

There is normally two vent openings (one on each side) and on each vent there is two places to attach ducts.
Run one from under the motor and thru blower then out one vent.
Run a hose from the other side down about even with the motor.

Most run another hose from one of the sides down about half way and just leave the other 1/2 vent without a hose

You can also use 2 blowers if you like, one on each side

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

First a blower, blows air out of the engine room, so in short it sucks air out not blow in

I should have been more clear, I get that it sucks air from the bilge area to remove fuel vapors, and was expecting to find a hose running from one end of the blower to just above the bilge (the suck end..lol) and the other to the side vent on the gunwale. it confused me when I saw remants of 2 ducts on the blower side vent. Then when I saw the duct on the other side, I was scratching my head.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Rick Stephens]

On my smaller boat, it came from the factory with the blower (suction) side hose mounted deep in the bilge while the opposing side hose only comes in even with the deck. Those hoses are connected to angled plastic bezels mounted through the hull that the 'IN' side faces forward towards the bow, and the blower or 'OUT' hose's bezel faces to the rear. My guess is to circulate air down and out to keep fumes down while under way. That's the main thing. Any cooling would be incidental.

Rick

 

[Ed Harris]

My points screw stripped on my 1985 3.0L also. Takes a extra set of eyes to find things like that sometimes.

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

Time for another question. While I've been working on tearing out the deck and stuff, my son was working on the various mechanical needs. Rebuilt the carb, etc. So he got to the point of pulling the drive. Apparently a PO didn't care that there was a crack in the drive bellows. Lots of rust at the u-joints. The shafts are still clean and smooth though. So I know u-joints are getting replaced, and possibly the shafts. Oh well. We still have to remove the housing to get to the bellows. All of the bellows have to be replaced.

So looking at the housing, the right side has obviously been rubbed hard - not really sure what that part of the housing is called. Same thing on the drive for the same side. What caused this?

 

[hoowahfun]

Time for another question. While I've been working on tearing out the deck and stuff, my son was working on the various mechanical needs. Rebuilt the carb, etc. So he got to the point of pulling the drive. Apparently a PO didn't care that there was a crack in the drive bellows. Lots of rust at the u-joints. The shafts are still clean and smooth though. So I know u-joints are getting replaced, and possibly the shafts. Oh well. We still have to remove the housing to get to the bellows. All of the bellows have to be replaced.

So looking at the housing, the right side has obviously been rubbed hard - not really sure what that part of the housing is called. Same thing on the drive for the same side. What caused this?

If I had to guess, your busted trim cylinder on that side wasn't doing it's fair share of the work and the drive was getting slightly kinked to one side and rubbing.

Edit: Just wanted to add, that mine look like that a little on both sides. I discovered this weekend the previous owner had let the front pin holding the trim cylinders in place get loose, so it wobbled to both sides causing the rubbing. Tightened it up and all is better now.

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

That makes sense. Thanks!

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

How does this impeller look? I think I can get another season out of it. What do ya’ll think?

 

[hoowahfun]

Just put some black RTV sealant on the cracks and let it dry a day, then you can get another season out of it :laugh:

Looks like all of it is still there, good thing they didn't break off totally then have to hunt for the pieces in the intake hose or engine block.

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

With all the talk of fiberglass and stuff on the boat side of this project, I figured I'd just throw some resin on it and shove it back in there. It's not like this is a critical piece or anything. How can it be important? It's rubber, for pete's sake..:laugh:

Between this and the absolutely horrible smelling black lube that came out, it'll be a miracle if this thing actually ever sees a lake again. But then on the other hand, if I am successful, this boat and drive will love us for saving it from the dump.

 

[TurtleTamer]

The boat will only love you temporarily, in the sense that it will treat you great for a little but until something else happens, like the factory smoke in the alternator lets itself out, the fuel pump diaphrams ruptures and dilutes the oil, or so-on and so-forth. But I tend to enjoy tinkering and the more you can get fixed on there, the more peace of mind and confidence you'll have.

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

Is this bad? Does this need retainer ring need to be replaced? Or does it not matter that one of the little ears is broken off?

 

[hoowahfun]

Might be okay.

If that broke during operation there could be larger issues going on. How did it break?

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

Might be okay.

If that broke during operation there could be larger issues going on. How did it break?

Well, it sort of broke during operation. I was operating on removing the 31 yr old u-joints with an impact wrench when it happened . LOL

I just know that if I start trying to remove it to replace it, I am probably going to introduce more problems.

 

[alldodge]

If there is no crack into the threads you should be fine

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

Its not cracked in to the threads. If it were, I'd feel better about being able to get it off. As is, I think it would take more ooomph than my arms are able to produce in order to get it to budge!

 

[tank1949]

Its on the short list of things to do, and will definitely be done before the boat sees the water. This is our first boat project, so there is a bit of a learning curve Right now, our biggest priority is getting the engine to run. I have a lot of hull work and seat work to do and we won't even consider starting on the tear down if we can't make the engine run. We got the boat for a steal, but it needs a ton of TLC. An engine rebuild is out of the question.

It has good compression on all cylinders, oil is clean, fuel gets to the cylinders, but no spark. We changed the ignition coil and are getting voltage in, and we have voltage out of the coil center wire, but we aren't getting anything to the plug wires. We already ordered a distributor cap, rotor, condenser, and points - which will be here tomorrow. If that's not the problem, then the only thing left would be sweat equity in running down all of the wires and testing. But I'm not willing to put any more money in to it until the engine at least runs for a minute or 2.

Thanks for your help!

U do know what BOAT means? Bring on another thousand! Original fresh or salt water motor. Fresh water motors last considerably longer, including exhaust manifold and riser. Be sure to inspect. If flakes of rust on outside, the inside is worse. Saltwater cooled exhaust manifolds and risers last about 5 years.