September 14, 2016
Acadia 2
Wednesday
Before beginning on the engine removal, I took some time to thoroughly document the original condition of the engine and engine room. These photos show the general state of things, but I took many more for posterity and to help later in reassembling some of the existing systems (mainly wiring runs, since most of these would end up remaining intact).
To begin, I had to remove the front panel, as well as a side panel–basically everything I could remove to improve access for disassembly and, later, removal. To remove these panels, I also had to remove various wiring and plumbing runs that were in the way. For now, I draped the wires over the engine for later attention.
Now, I systematically went through the space, documenting as necessary, to remove all the connections to the engine itself to release it for removal. This included various plumbing, raw water bypass for a defunct water heater; raw water cooling hose; exhaust hose and riser (which unbolted easily from the engine, making removal of the bulky riser possible), and fuel line (supply only; no return on this old engine). I also removed the wiring harness to the nearby gauge cluster, positive battery supply and grounds, and anything else directly connected to the engine.
With most of the ancillary clutter out of the way, I could lean over the top of the engine (made possible thanks to the easily-removed exhaust riser) and remove the coupling bolts. I was briefly vexed when it seemed the rusted nuts were rounded over, but quickly I determined they were Allen head bolts, so with the correct wrench and a breaker bar, I could remove the four bolts relatively easily, releasing the engine from the shaft.
Finally, I unbolted the engine mounts–two machine screws and/or lags at each corner, or eight total–which released the engine for removal.
Next, I hooked up the gantry crane and carefully lifted the engine from its beds, out of the cabin, and finally over the side to the shop floor, leaving an empty and filthy engine room behind.
I spent the remainder of the day working to remove whatever else I could, including unnecessary wiring (i.e. old gauge wires), the old fuel filter, waterlift chamber, propeller shaft and stuffing box, and disassembling the rest of the engine room to make room for the work ahead, as well as to remove some old sound insulation on one side. To make it easier to get the old wiring out of the way, since the existing wire bundles were a mishmash of old and new additions that criss-crossed in unfortunate ways, I removed the battery switch and redirected some other wiring as needed so I could finally drape the wires out of the way on both sides of the engine room, leaving the main part of the space clear for the work ahead. Any wires I could get rid of at this point went in the trash bin, but there’d likely be more thinning out later as I determined whether other wires were obsolete. I also cleaned out the worst of the oily/rusty/dirty debris from beneath the engine as a starting point.
Total time billed on this job today: 7.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
52°, mostly clear. Forecast for the day: sun and increasing wind and humidity, showers and thundershowers in the afternoon. High in the 80s