Unknown to me, in gear at idle, a cut down prop (13 1/2" to 9 1/4" in a barrel with a lid pushed more water out than a full blast hose in the barrel could keep up with. I was working on the dash. I heard a distinct "TICK!!". Loud enough to hear over motor noise. Quickly turned to see, no tell tale. Smoke rolling from exhaust. I was running double oil for break in. Ran her hot. Real hot. #1 coil melted a layer of plastic where it meets the head. Some other wiring insulation melted over 2 and 4. Let is cool naturally. Turned flywheel by hand. Still turns. Did compression check. 135 across the board. Fired it up on muffs. Seemed to run fine. Then out of the blue this leak. The general take here and with a friend of mine was that the powerhead to exhaust adapter was leaking. Pulled powerhead, examined everything I could get my eyes on. Set a test to push water from lower. No leak at adapter. Adapted a hose to powerhead water intake, low pressure. no leak. Put it back together with OE thin brown paper gasket and permatex 2. Redid inner exhaust tube and water tube grommet-gaskets. It leaked, just like before. No difference. Pulled it again, cleaned it thoroughly, did base gasket with WSM composite metal core gasket this time. Used Copper Coat spray. They're like an old school exhaust manifold gasket. It leaked, just like before. I have another block, I'll need to buy four more pistons, gaskets, etc. This block cut at .020 over, my spare won't. In studying the spare block, #2 and #4 water jacket are scant fractions of an inch from where the block mounting holes bottom out at the end of the threads. There is another cast hole in the block that pushes water into #3 water jacket. I suspect an internal water jacket crack now. "TICK!!" I'm past being pissed, bummed, frustrated. I did everything right, except keep an eye on the barrel. Thinking full blast hose would handle flow. Nope. So for the big question. How can I tell if this block is internally cracked, while hanging from an engine hoist? If so, where? I'm not at all inclined to try a repair. This boat will be used well beyond the shore line off of Morehead. I'll build another one. Time and money.
But I would love to know for absolute sure this block is toast. Thanks for your input.
www.crowleymarine.com
