how long should it take?

[hobbystock98]

this weekend myself and a friend are going to be pulling the engine out of my boat so i can start on the floor. its a 87 renken with 4.3 mercruiser. the outdrive says alpha. we are both decent mechanics and will have air tools but have not done a lot of work on boats. any other good pointers someone wants to offer up would be great.

 

[Don S]

Re: how long should it take?

Let's see, pull the drive, remove the 6 motor mount bolts/lag bolts, fuel lines, cables, electrical cables, power steering hoses if equipped, hour, hour and a half tops.

 

[Bondo]

Re: how long should it take?

Let's see, pull the drive, remove the 6 motor mount bolts/lag bolts, fuel lines, cables, electrical cables, power steering hoses if equipped, hour, hour and a half tops.

Ayuh,.... Tops, if ya got a Hook to pull the motor...

 

[Fun Times]

Re: how long should it take?

Ayuh,.... Tops, if ya got a Hook to pull the motor...

That's because you already know what size tools to get out of the tool box beforehand.

Don't forget about the the refrigerator in the garage is probably full of beer right about now but might be empty by the time they get the engine out. J/K Good luck guys.

Don't forget to put the drive into forward gear before removing the drive off the boat.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: how long should it take?

I pulled the 454 Mercruiser out of my Formula 24 last fall ....



First time pulling an engine . . . It took about 4 hours

 

[hobbystock98]

Re: how long should it take?

i pulled the out drive this afternoon after work in about 15 minutes. could not believe it came off that easy. the u joints look bran new from what i can see the gimble bearing looks good too but i am going to get someone else to take a look at it. as for tools mostly sae stuff i am assuming? other special tools i might need

 

[tpenfield]

Re: how long should it take?

i pulled the out drive this afternoon after work in about 15 minutes. could not believe it came off that easy. the u joints look bran new from what i can see the gimbal bearing looks good too but i am going to get someone else to take a look at it. as for tools mostly sae stuff i am assuming? other special tools i might need

Yes, SAE stuff, nothing special. Things to disconnect (based on my recollection) . . . now that you have the outdrive off. . .

Fuel line, water intake hose from transom, electrical connector and any misc. wires (I had to cut a few and then terminate them with connectors), battery cables to starter and engine block, exhaust pipes, engine mounts on transom assembly, engine mounts on engine block.

It is best to detach the front engine mounts from the stringer mounting points, leaving the pedestal mount still attached to the engine block. That way you'll have something to rest the engine on if you are not using an engine stand. (as per my photo, I rested the engine on cinder blocks).

Use zip-lock bags for all the fasteners, etc. so you have everything organized for when you put it all back together.

Do you have a hoist of some sort? It will weigh about 800-900 lbs., maybe a bit more. I took a bunch of stuff off of my engine before I pulled it, so it was more in the 800 lb. range. See my web page (link in signature below) for some pics of pulling the engine, etc.

 

[hobbystock98]

Re: how long should it take?

yes i have a cherry picker but i dont believe it will be tall enough to lift the engine over the transom so my friends farther has a contraption we call bones(chevy 4x4 blazer chassis with a boom) so we are going to take the boat over there to pull the engine. ill post a picture of it tonight.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: how long should it take?

yes i have a cherry picker but i dont believe it will be tall enough to lift the engine over the transom so my friends farther has a contraption we call bones(chevy 4x4 blazer chassis with a boom) so we are going to take the boat over there to pull the engine. ill post a picture of it tonight.

Yup, raising the engine high enough is usually a challenge to have sorted out beforehand. You can probably Google some stuff on folks who have done it, etc.

For what it's worth, you should remove the batteries first, so there is no chance of electrical shorts, etc while you are disconnecting stuff.

 

[hobbystock98]

Re: how long should it take?

got the engine out in about 30 mins only had one bolt that was difficult the drivers side rear engine mount bolt took a little persasion to come out. here is a few pics of the contraption we used to get the engine out

 

[sam60]

Re: how long should it take?



With the right equipment at a friends shop, This was easy. That's a 6' ladder. No pics of taking it out but it took me 4 hours to get it ready for removal while getting familiar with what a boat engine has hooked to it. About 50 trips in and out of it.:facepalm:

 

[dollarten]

Re: how long should it take?

I pulled the 454 Mercruiser out of my Formula 24 last fall ....

View attachment 132395

First time pulling an engine . . . It took about 4 hours

That's an awful amount of cast iron hanging in the air

 

[Pete104]

Re: how long should it take?

hobbystock, nice job! That "bones" piece of equiptment is as kool as they come!

 

[tpenfield]

Re: how long should it take?

got the engine out in about 30 mins only had one bolt that was difficult the drivers side rear engine mount bolt took a little persasion to come out. here is a few pics of the contraption we used to get the engine out
View attachment 132519

Nice work!!! Do you plan on doing any engine work in addition to the floor? The back end of the boat sort of looks like a early day Formula . . . is it?

That looks like a great 'hoist' that your friend has.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: how long should it take?

That's an awful amount of cast iron hanging in the air

Here is a pic of it hanging in the air . . . that is my assistant ready to grab it in case it drops !!!

 

[hobbystock98]

Re: how long should it take?

its an 87 renken. my plan is the floor and the stringers transom if nessary. i am going back with gelcoated floors. while i have the engine out it will probably go on a stand and pull the pan to check everything out. it ran pretty good the last time it was out. although a nice lopey cam might find its way in to the engine

 

[Struc]

Re: how long should it take?

although a nice lopey cam might find its way in to the engine

Nope! Bad idea! You're asking for water injestion with a big cam. You should read up in this forum about that. You can go a little bigger than stock, but not too much. Also, since the max RPM of a boat motor is normally around 4800rpm or so, there is no point to it, as most "big" cams increase airflow only at high RPM, and hurt low rpm performance.

 

[hobbystock98]

Re: how long should it take?

Nope! Bad idea! You're asking for water injestion with a big cam. You should read up in this forum about that. You can go a little bigger than stock, but not too much. Also, since the max RPM of a boat motor is normally around 4800rpm or so, there is no point to it, as most "big" cams increase airflow only at high RPM, and hurt low rpm performance.

i will do a lot of research before buying a cam kit.thanks for the heads up. now you do have me curious. i have done a lot of engine work for street cars and trucks not marine. how does the large cam lead to water ingestion? is it through the exhaust valve?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: how long should it take?

Yes, you can Google info on 'reversion and marine engines', it is a risk more than a danger.

 

[dollarten]

Re: how long should it take?

If the cam and lobes do not have any wear , I would save your money for other parts of the rebuild . Mercury did not put in too samll of a cam in order to save the engine . When you put in a bigger cam , you are bleeding off cylinder pressure . Hence lower bottom end power . Jet boats run a bigger cam because they have a lot of slip in the jet pump until the boat gets well underway . The cam that is in your boat now in spec'd for the carb , intake , and size of cylinder heads and exhaust flow . Unless you intend to tweak the forementioned , I would leave well unough alone . I have seen to many people in the automotive world for street use put in a big cam , only to take it back out again