How hard to pull a 454?

[aquafresshness]

How hard is it to pull one two 454s in a 1986 30' Scarab? I guess what I'm asking is how involving is it? What all has to be unbolted? Does the tranny come with?

Thanks

 

[Don S]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

Have no idea. Look at it. Is there room to work and get the engine out? Will it fit through the engine compartment hatch without dissassembly?

 

[legoman67]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

since you mentioned tranny i am assuming you have inboards. If you have a excavator or tractor or backhoe that can get in overtop of them, then it isnt any harder then undoing afew bolts and wires and lifting. Tranny doesnt need to come with it, but its easier to remove if it does, Just disconnect at the rubber joint past the tranny.

Sometimes getting the bolts out will be a pain, try to leave cutting them off to the last resort. If you are having trouble i would highly recommend these:

http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/jhtml/detail.jhtml?prodId=IrwinProd100512

they work miracles, those with a lever arm on your ratchet will get just about any bolt out. just be carefull you dont break the head off.

 

[Don S]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

If you have a excavator or tractor or backhoe that can get in overtop of them, then it isnt any harder then undoing afew bolts and wires and lifting.

You really haven't pulled engines out of many different kinds of boats have you?
A lot of boats make it almost impossible to get engines out of the engine bays without serious dissassembly of the engine so it will FIT the small hole it has to come out.
Manufacturerss like to put the engine and all the plumbing requiered in, then the put the upper deck on.

 

[coastalcruiser]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

I pulled my 302 out in 3 hours .... alone

 

[Don S]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

I pulled my 302 out in 3 hours .... alone

Yes, and I removed the transmission from my 1965 Pontic Tempest in 45 minutes in the dark.
But the simple fact is, It's mot even close to twin 454 inboards in a 30' Scarab.

 

[aquafresshness]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

I understand that some boats have a small opening for the motors, but along with twin 454s and 3 huge batteries, I can still fit about 4 and a half dead hookers in the engine compartment. The engine compartment cover that lifts to expose the compartment is about 6 feet by 3 and a half feet. All this said, I don't think fitting the motor through the hole is the issue here. These boats are designed to accomodate any number of different motor setups. I was mainly wondering how much is actually attached, how many bolts, different items have to be pulled off the motor before you can pull it from the boat. Engine mounts, raw water hoses, starter wires, tranny shift cable, throttle cable... etc. I haven't ever done it before, but I wasn't thinking it would be too difficult. Might be worthwhile to change out all the gaskets and seals while I have it out too... even if it's only 150 hrs old, it hasn't been run for 2 years.

 

[aquafresshness]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

see

 

[legoman67]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

what you need to remove comes back to the size hole, and machine you are lifting it with. If the entire engine will fit, then simply put remove anything attaching the engine to the hull or any other part of the boat. Wires, raw water lines, fuel lines, throttle and/or shift cables. Looking at your picture it looks like you have outdrives. so you need to pull the outdrive off the outside, which wil vary depending on the drive. Also there will be about 6 bolts holding the gimbal housing to your engines bell housing that will need to come out.

take afew measurements and see if it will fit through the hole as a full unit, round up to the next ft or so to give some fudge room. Then if need be start removing what wont fit. start with the manifolds/risers, which may or may not require removal of the alternators and waterpumps. Also having a guy or 2 in the boat well the other operates the machine makes it easier, they may need to nudge the engine or may find stray wires that were still connected as the lift begins. also to protect the rest of the boat from the engines well you maneouver them away.

also if they only have 150 hours i dont see a need to do any seals unless something is wrong?

why are you pulling them?

 

[Bondo]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

A lot of boats make it almost impossible to get engines out of the engine bays without serious dissassembly of the engine so it will FIT the small hole it has to come out.

Ayuh,...
I remember a Big ChrisCraft that the 427 Fords, had to come up into the Salon,+ out thru the side door of the cabin....
Pulleys, dollies, bars,+ Brawn,...

I pulled my 302 out in 3 hours .... alone

Ayuh,... And I can have my 4.3LX sittin on the floor is Less than a 1/2 hour...
But,...
I put it there,+ now I can reach Every Single Bolt,+ Nut,... Without taking the boat Apart...

I understand that some boats have a small opening for the motors, but along with twin 454s and 3 huge batteries, I can still fit about 4 and a half dead hookers in the engine compartment.

Ayuh,... Last winter I helped drop 3 454s into a 50'er,... Sacrab that is,...
Bobby ditched the TRSs,+ now has 3 Bravo IIIs hung on it....
He didn't get around to Splashing it last season,...
Hopefully, He'll get r' Done this spring....

Once you can tell Us what you've got for a Driveline,...
We can get alot more specific helpin' ya out....
If you wander up to the Adults Only section of this forum, you can download the factory Manuals for this thing,...
That makes Life Easier,..... With Pictures......

 

[aquafresshness]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

You mentioned the manuals... where are they? I haven't been able to find them ANYWHERE online!

 

[aquafresshness]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

Found it! Although I think I tried to DL this manual before for my '83 motors and it was a corrupted file.... I'll try the '86.

 

[slasmith1]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

Make sure you use both hands those blocks are heavy.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

You got the plenty of room and it's clear above the motors??

Then a 3/4 ton hoist hooked on something that wont give and high enough to clear the transom is kewl. You can pull the boat out from under the motor, or if you have a rolling hoist on a steel beam will work.

A hoe works, if you have one.

The question people were asking was did you have all that room above.

One guy i helped took us all day to take apart the whole back of the boat seats and all kinds of stuff just so we could get some clear space above the motor.

Then we had to take the risers, manifolds, and all kinds of other stuff off to be able to get a arm in to even start taking mounts off.

I swear you got to be part monkey and double jointed on some of these.

3 dead hookers ain't no fun and a half a hooker ?? Which half ??

 

[aquafresshness]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

Only thing is I guess I'd have to pull off the engine hatch on my 86. The 83 has 2 doors that open up towards the side of the boat and they open wider. I'm beginning to think I don't need to pull the motor anymore though. A boat mechanic at work said it's probably some gears in the outdrive or something. Or the gear in the gimball housing.

 

[Bondo]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

I'm beginning to think I don't need to pull the motor anymore though.

Ayuh,.... I guess this would be Alot easier if you just told Us what the Problem is,...???
Rather than just going in circles......

Btw,... There's Nothing wrong with the service manual files.....

 

[havasuboatman]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

Getting the engines out of your scarab isn't too difficult. They are put in after the deck is installed at the factory. Something to think about is this: are the motor mount bolts on the center stringer through bolted to both engines? Meaning are you losening both motors to get one out. Do you have access to an alignment bar? because both of those motors are going to have to be suspended while you align the couplers, then tighten everything down. and then checked for alignment again. Twins that share bolts can drive you nuts in that reguard.

 

[Don S]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

Something to think about is this: are the motor mount bolts on the center stringer through bolted to both engines?

That's impossible. There is no such thing as a center stringer with a motor mount from one engine bolted to the other.

 

[havasuboatman]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

You obviously have never been in the engine compartment of a 35' nordic V-hull twin.
I built 45 of them last year. Have you ever even seen a one-piece HP motor mount? No little pivoting feet, no engine mounting jig to set engine height.
Hallet also mounts all of their twin application HP motor packages that way. Avantage used to, and so did Scarab.
Care to lay money on it? I have been building High performance race and sport boats here in Lake Havasu City, AZ for nearly 30 years.
For a short time back in 2000, I had the pleasure of building the fastest production boat in its class. Lasted barely long enough to get printed, how bout you? how many times have you been featured on the cover of Hotboat?

 

[Bondo]

Re: How hard to pull a 454?

Ayuh,...

Hanging the Triples in Bobby's 50' Scarab last winter was like that,...
The 1 piece off-shore motor mounts,... No Adjustments,...
The Only Option is to get 'em Right....
I think I had that alignment bar in my hands for a Week,...'el, a few days anyways....
Hanging the forward center motor was a cool learning experince,... It's run off a jackshaft, back to the center drive,...
Setting the transom end,+ balancing the motor to the Same Angle/ parallel...
Bob had this digital compass, We got it to .10?...

Those boats are a tad different than the boats We usually see here at iboats,.......