Longest most painfull engine rebuild in history !!
 

For those who care ......
Long story made short ...... sort of .....

My rebuilds are driving me to drink !:( First , 1 block was worn out,(over bored too far) had to buy a new Merlin tall deck (THANKS DAN) . Machine shop took a little longer then I thought .(SURPRISE ?) Couldn't ID conecting rods .turns out they are HAND MADE and had to have bushings made for the pins . I asked Machine shop to get all the parts or tell me and I would .He says I'll let you know . WHen it was DONE , he tells me he didn't get the rest of the parts !
I overnight everything .comes 2 days later ! Half of it is missing and half of the half that showed up is wrong ! Overnight more stuff , again wrong ! (3 times ) ! I work on it late at night so stores are closed . Ready to assemble no rear main seals ! 4 days later and 45 miles to one store and 40 miles to another ,now I have the seals . Main studs wrong size ! Put cranks in ,cant' find torque specs for hand made rods ! another 2 day delay . Now file fitting rings , one brakes ! oil pump pickups are wrong . I find I only have 1 oil pan gasket instead of 2 .
2 head studs missing . 1 rocker studs missing , 2 nuts missing , run out of "lock tight ". Can't get copper head gaskets to fit 4.56 bore that are .085" thick that I need .have to use 4.5" gaskets and machine them bigger to 4.56. Can't find key way for balancer even though I bought it the day before . bought another one and then found the first one ! try to put cams in to find I need different shims behind the Jesel time belt mounts . And I forgot for 2 days now to find some ! Lost 1 head stud nut . Tried to use a regular nut , IT DOSEN"T WORK ! At 60 ft lbs it took the threads out of the nut ! I need to go to 85 . 1 of my intercoolers is leaking so I'm using it as a spacer only ( NO water through it ) untill I find another . I will just back off the boost and run it easy . couldn't mount the intakes because I still don't have the right gaskets after 2 weeks and 1 head isn't torqued yet ! can't degree cams because I cant' tighten the timing covers with out shims . cant' put on rocker arms and set lash. Can't even paint the friggin thing because the intakes are not on yet !

Dam ! So much waisted time ! Every little bolt or nut missing or broke was another day or 2 . You never find out things are missing till you need them . Even after going through everything the week before ,somehow things got lost .

Sorry for the long bla bla bla stuff ,but sometimes you got to share it with the ones that understand ..........

Was hoping for a Saturday test run . Not looking good .:(

Anyone else have such luck? After almost 3 weeks of working 5 nights a week till midnight or more ,I still only ,almost, have the long blocks done ! When I raced mud boggs I once picked up an engine block at 10am ,by 3 oclock it was in the vehicle running on it's test run includding tunnel ram and dual stage NOS system !And that one ran hard for 3 years ! I hope these run for at least 10 years with all this work !

HA HA HA HA!!!


you should try the TURKISH-MECHANICS!!!

HA HA HA HA!!!!

:D :D :D :D

I supposed to test-dive my boat in April,It is almost september and still waiting.

Boot,

I feel your pain! Take a day off and let the fog clear.

I can feel all your pain bro. That just sucks!!!!! ISn't there any place local that sells hardened nuts and bolts.

Jon

I found some nuts ! I took um off someone elses motor . Had to order the shims from Jesel. Hope they will be here tomorrow .

Was hoping tohave one together tonight and running on the ground but I forgot AI have a Dodge to put injecters and an exhaust on tonight :( I am not complaning . If it wasn't for work we couldn't have the toys ! It just kind of stinks when you forget and have a truck show up when you planned on working on your boat . OH well ... One day the boat will run . I do have a good winter coat !:eek:

A torch and a little soldier should fix that cooler. One of mine sprung a leak the end of last season. This past spring I pulled it(port side thank God) and soldiered the end cap. Took five minutes , not including removing unnecessary ps pump and exhaust manifold then replacing exhaust. Then clean up mess from oil and ps lines removed. So three hours for a five minute job...not bad huh:rolleyes: ?

We've been there, done that a million times although it does suck. This is the time where you increase your fleet and rotate the running boats with the broken boats, if you know what I'm talking about Joe. 3 is better than 1 ;)

Hey, welcome to boating's advanced stage of doing it yourself. Just think, you won't ever use a grade 0 nut on a grade 8 stud :D You will also know the engine like the back of your hand for the...gulp...next time.:D

mopower , I wish it was the cap .It is leaking in the fins like a lawn sprinkler ! And I know that oil thing too ! I have a 2" in the bilge :(

Becca , I thought the same thing . I actualy have 4 boats now ! nothing to brag about . a 12'er 7.5hp ,a 16' 140hp out board , a 21' with 460 jet drive and the biggest head ache my 39' express cat . the 12' dosn't run either , the 16 is too fast and scares my girlfiend to death .(maybe because we stuffed it twice in 3 trips out ) ! the 21 has a bad bearing in the jet. and the 39'....... well you know that story ! I did the same thing when I had trailer trouble too ! I have 4 boats and 6 trailers and looked at another one yesterday ! I think I need profesional help . I have an adiction ........

MitchStellin , I don't even think that was a grade 0 ! BUt your right . It was only suposed to be temporary to torque it , and run it long enough to heat it up for the retorque . When I retorqued it I was going to have the right nut . But I didn't work anyway ! I went up and stole a nut off his motor under his bench !



:D :D that problem is solved , time for the next one !:cool: