Pull it all the way down,it will just cost ya a set of head gaskets extra,the bock really needs to be jet cleaned 40.00, the cam bearing 40.00 need to come out ,metal likes hiding there.See if metal went thru the oil pump,oil hoses,if it got up top?lifter orifices,oil cooler all it takes is just one sliver!!

Something caused the dist gear to go out,steel gear?cast cam?

I would think if its mismatched on balancing it would shake the boat at idle,I did it once on a SBF vibrated bad.


your oil flush should work,carb cleaner cuts the oil better than lacquer thinker, acetone,gas etc.

We can walk ya thru on the valve adjustment,its easy.

Rob

All of these guy's are giving you good information. Tear the engine down completely. Get it flushed and cleaned. If you feel comfortable putting the crank and bearings in then your capable of installing the heads and using a feeler gauge to adjust the valves. No different than a car engine. Get a book. The extra cost now which is minimal, some head gaskets and some shop cleaning work, is much cheaper than doing this all over again because you couldn't get all the metal out.

I'm just curious, if you found a chewed up dist. gear, why did you flush the motor with kerosene? I've heard of flushing one issue with diesel (#2, not #1/kerosene), that had a water intrusion but not for something like that.

Tx,

If it actually "spun" the three center mains, then you need to take the block to your machine shop to have the main bearing bores checked. If there is any discoloration of the main caps at all, it will most definitely need to be align honed at minimum.

I think that even though you are trying to save money, you are actually going to spend more by persueing your course of action. Like everyone else said .... You absolutely have to disassemble the engine, take out all of the oil galley plugs and clean everything.

Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md

i already pulled the engine apart and took the block and crank to the machine shop today.

I do not know why the dist gear failed, the cam is billet, but has a pressed on cast gear. The engine builder said this is not the first time it has happened to him with a MSD gear.

I just decuded to bite the bullet and fix it right, this just sucks as the motor had less then 10hours on it. So far i am at about 4-5 hours wrenching for every hour spent enjoying, this is no exageration.

BTW if anyone has a good engine coupler for a Bravo they want to part with at a resonable cost I am in need.

I need one more piece of advice on this motor. It currently has a set of GM performance heads that are obviously low hours, that were built with the motor. They have Iconel exhaust valves and have been worked, but are only 250cc intke runners.
I have a set of merlin 345cc intake heads that are build similarly, also with low hours, just need one intake valve replaced, guy at machine shop said he would get them ready to go for basically the cost of the valve. Should I put these on the 509? some say I would lose midrange, but on a 540 I had these heads ran awesome, with tons of mid range.

Thanks for the advice

I think the 345's are too big for the 509, unless you've got a huge cam and are spinning it up to 7500-8k.

I agree that they are too big. After numerous combinations, I believe the sweet spot is about 320 cc. The stock Dart IE 308's would be a performance value. Maybe you could find someone who would trade you 308's for 345's in the OSO Swap Shop.

I may have missed the post regarding the fact that you were going to replace the oil cooler. I think bigjim mentioned this and it is good advice. I have been down this road myself and don't want to scare you of all the details but just ad an extra 150.00 - 250.00 to the project and replace it. If you do reuse it be sure and clean it until your sure it's OK and clean it two more times. Also your lines...
Good Luck with everything. I know these tear downs are agrivating and expensive especially when your in the middle of the boating season.

Also be sure to check your end play on your camshaft when your reassembling. You can either get help here, engine rebuild books or even google it.

I have a coupler that has roughly 50-60% left in it that I took off of my motor when I pulled it out. Would let it go for $200 or shoot me an offer. But why would you want to put on another used part? Why not bite the bullet and spend the $ for the new so that you know there are not going to be any problems?