Except for these! The 454s have conventional water pumps for circulating block coolant, AND have a sea water pump each for pulling in lake water to cool oil coolers (trans and Lube oil) and then on to the block and exhaust manifolds. These guys are buried wayyyy deep and require 2 basketball stars with 4 foot long arms to reach all the hoses, clamps and bolts. Took 4 hours to install the rebuilt pump yesterday. The OEM was a 1974 and wasted. I picked up a new/used, rebuilt one for $75.00 instead of the catalogue prices of around $600.00- $800.00. Who are they TTS? The new to me pump had to completely come apart and turn the nose down in my lathe to fit the slide mount on the block. Theres about 30 steps to the install that needed to be done in the correct order, or youd hafta backtrack 3 or 4 steps. what a PITA, but that part is done. Now to mount the sea strainers and wrestle the Anaconda. That's new, 1-1/2" Parker black water hose and she's a stiff'n. ws
Boat designers are from a different universe. They don't think like us. But then so are these new car designers too. Mikey
The late Smoky Yunick, with "The best damn garage in town" in Daytona Beach FL refused to work on boats because (he said), all of his mechanics would have quit. I'm not sure whether boats or airplanes are worse to work on.
Gotta say boats; at least you can remove the cowling and walk around the power packs on a plane (for the better part). For me, the boat IS the cowling. Sometimes ya hafta think outside the box. I sure hope OJ (orange jumpsuit)(step son) will be "free" tomorrow to help finish this off! ws
Got the first bulkhead ready for a mount! The strainers are about 30# each and mount on three 1/4" stainless bolts through a 3/4" plywood bulkhead. The trick is not to drill through any water or electric lines LOL... ws
Thanks Geoff... Since I cant afford to get a job done like this, ya gota do it yerself! So far, theres probably 100 hours into all the running, purveying, making and installing, at $80/hr adds up in a darn hurry! Having just about built the whole boat myself, minus the hull and cabin, at least I know how the sytems were run. I couldn't imagine some stranger figuring this out for those hours; maybe doubled? I'm having problems getting my computer to accept pics to post, but Ill keep trying... Bill in TR
That's why they say BOAT actually stands for "Break out another thousand". It's brutal for the average Joe to own a big boat. I always chuckle when I see the boat magazines in Dr's + dentist offices! You are lucky you can do stuff.
My dad bought this 1963 Roamer in 1972 and kacked in 1980. Ive owned it since then and the novelty is beginning to wear off LOL !! ws
Car looks great! Yeah...the boat...weird! The AC dumps the heat into the engine compartment where there are twin BBC's? Is that the water heater? Wow...that looks like a tough job to do that......
YUP! The AC dumps condensate onto the diamond plate and out through the bilge pump. Theres an outside air duct (white hose on top) for fresh air intake. The water heater is a 120V electric 12 gallon that runs the shower HOT for about 20 minutes and a 30 minute recovery. Guys rag about tight spaces on the cars, but this thing will getcha sprung like a pretzel and you cant figure your way out; scary! The silver thing on the AC is a "Horn Blowers" brand compressor for the 3 gallon air reservoir tank. 200psi in about 4 minutes. ws
When I had my 27' Sea Ray, I had to replace the sea water pump, wasn't bad really, but I had to squat, squeeze, squish myself into position next to the 454, freshwater holding tank, hydraulic pumps, poop/pee tank. Go to the dealer, he says "480 bucks" Told him its not the Queen Mary, he looks again, and says "oops, wrong pump, yours is 80 bucks" I love boats, but HATED working on 'em
IIRC, it was for just the impeller for the engine mounted pump like in your pic. I sucked up lake bottom the season before and fragged the impeller, but being the boat is in the water all season, the cooling system stayed "primed" enough to feed the factory mounted pump. At haul out, there went the prime
That's somewhat what the strainers are for. At least major debris from grass on up, and sand can have a chance to settle out. The guy I bought the pump from carried it as a spare. He had a guy put a new impeller in it 2 years ago. Didn't happen but the guy got paid! The impeller wasn't changed and several gaskets were rolled over themselves; absolutely NFG... Got the strainer job completed 100% !!! YIPPEE!!!! CASE CLOSED. Now onto list No.47... ws
That pic of you scrunched in the engine room and tools and parts on the cockpit floor brings back memories Especially the Shop Vac!
Hey Mark... A lot of folks don't realize whats involved in doing this stuff; elbows, buttocks, and the killer, TIME. If you can imagine, almost all that stuff I carry with me. Rarely do I need to bring something from home. The hull is aluminum, he house is fiberglass, but the structure and finish is all WOOD. Let something go for a year, and it turns into 3 major projects next time round. I keep telling myself "one of the days Ill be done..." , yeah, right! The guy in the hole is my step son. He's 6'5" and skinny, but does he ever have a reach on him! I do the thinking part, visualize it and he jumps on it to getter done. Even he tells me how good the stuff turns out. ws
