Engine Room Prep

Well I got my Webasto heater put together. It was a basket case taken completely apart but the previous owner but cleaned and parts well organized. Also he had purchased the parts he thought were needed to repair it. I put it all together and fired it up and it works very well. I’ve also got the Frankenmaker to install (which will be a different topic when I get my photos lined up) so it’s time to tackle the engine room on Marquesa. I’ll be posting the before pictures tonight and will post my progress as I go along this week. The goal is to have the heater installed and the Frankenmaker bolted in by the weekend. We will see…

Here is the Webasto. What a great little heater. I have it set up here on the bench doing testing for operation and fuel consumption. I’m welding up a special thru hull fitting for the exhaust and I’ll put some photos up of that when I find my camera.

Anyway the best thing about a real mess like this is that the after pictures are going to be soooo dramatic!

George

Well here’s an in progress from yesterday. I got down in there with and took a sawzall and grinder to it. Man what a mess but it’s like they say… you can’t make an omelet without breaking the eggs.

Here are a couple shots of all the crap I took out of the space. An old rotten battery box, a platform for parts of the old refrigeration system, a relay box also associated with the old refer, a half dozen 50 pound lead pigs, the lead sheeting left over from foam with lead sound deadening (the foam has long since disintegrated). Lots of wiring that didn’t go anywhere. Hoses the same. I took a touch it once policy like I did with paperwork in the military; if I touch it I deal with it all the way. So a lot of the time was spent tracking a wire or hose back to it’s source, de-looming the whole way, and removing it.

George

Hard to get an angle that shows off the clean up and paint well but here’s a view towards the aft stbd bulkhead where I’ll be installing the Webasto.

I’ve about 90% decided that this will be the time to pull the cyl head on the motor. I want a look see in those cylinders before we shove off and I have a cyl head from an industrial 4-108 that has the better valve guides and the ports for glow plugs. I’ll probably take that one to the machine shop next week and let them go over it. Also while the engine is in good physical condition the wiring is the original 30 year old harness and that just will not do. It also needs corrosion control. While I’m at it… arghh, new hoses, belt and rebuilt raw water pump. Anyway before I install the Frankenmaker and build battery boxes I have all this open space next to the motor and there will never be a better time. I want to deal with this compartment as completely as I can before moving on to the aft cabin.

George