Diesel Engine Repower & Overhaul - Facts request

[hpeer]

What did you do with the old Volvo MD7?

[Shawn67]

Originally Posted by hpeer

What did you do with the old Volvo MD7?

I sold them as a pair on Craigslist with the transmissions and a bunch of spare parts. That brought my repower cost down to $2500.

Shawn

[sailah]

Originally Posted by ed2068

Hi Everyone:
I will be doing a top overhaul on a Westerbeke 38 hp. After reading in the forums that the engine is basically a Mitsubishi Tractor engine, I found the reference number on it as a K4D 1.305l.

I asked the mechaninc that is going to do the job if I could pick up the parts at the Mitsubishi parts store instead of Westerbeke (which would be more expensive). He suggested that he would only guarantee the job if it was Westerbeke parts do to the fact that these parts are Made for the marine engine enviorment and not land.

Is there any truth to that??

Not knowing exactly what is what on your Westerbeke, but for mine (44B which is a Mitsubishi S4L2 block) I opted to only buy factory Mitsubishi parts. Things like head gaskets, injectors, pump, fuel etc are all made by Mitsubishi or their suppliers. Westerbeke makes very little that is marinized. Stuff like the exhaust manifold, heat exchanger, hoses (maybe..depends) you are stuck with getting bent over a rain barrel. And those are made for sea not land but that's it. For hoses you can easily go to an autoparts store and match up sections or buy on Amazon for $10 that WB wants $90 for a simple elbow. Now 1 hose on mine is custom so I had to buy that from WB.

I haven't done a full rebuild on mine, but I have gotten pretty deep into it. Having done this a few times I found the factory Mitsubishi service manual (excellent BTW) and parts list. Now finding parts is pretty simple and reasonable.

The vast majority of parts you will need in a rebuild are actually Mitsubishi which Westerbeke marks up 1000% so why not just go to the source? Another helpful source is finding out which agricultural equipment like tractors use that engine block and often you can find them cheap online.

If the mechanic isn't competent enough to realize he's actually rebuilding a Mitsubishi then I'd be finding another. Sounds like he's trying to cover his rear end, or gouge you on parts. Only the HX, RW pump, exhaust manifold, lift pump (which is actually a Facet) and maybe a couple other things, everything else is just a diesel part makes no difference other than your wallet.

I can't even imagine buying a full rebuild in parts from Westerbeke, probably cheaper to buy a new Beta.

[drcat]

I am a powerboat owner with Volvo Penta gas engine so I can't speak about personal experience with sailboat diesel. However on many forum strings there are estimates for repowering with 3-4 cyl diesels in the $15-$20K range. Diesel engines are available for much less in less developed countries. Instead of the Yanmar vs Volvo vs Westerbeke vs Beta which are all up there in price, you might look to Chinese diesels built for sailboats. For example on Alibaba there are 21-40hp 3-4 cyl marine diesels with transmissions and control panel in the $2500-$4000 range. Google or go onto Alibaba's website searching for HF-3M78 or HF-480M for a few examples.

[nmccubbin]

Our Volvo 2003T failed often. At about 2500 hours the transmission quit going forward, but worked in reverse. Volvo price for parts was about $7000. Installation would have been costly. I looked at the Volvo workshop manual an identifies several spots where special tools are required, and skillful adjustments made. (a sign of poor machining in the day and age)
We bought a Beta 60 and installed ourselves.
Main reasons for choice were
1) Beta were happy with our old exhaust system, specifying only that we had a maximum measure back pressure. Yanmar would not talk to us and wanted to new exhaust system if warranty was to be valid. I spent a few hours with Beta's chief engineer discussing modifications.
2) Beta mean time between failure is FAR longer than Yanmar . Volvos are a joke

We have never heard the starter motor in the Beta, except on first start from new. It starts first bang, even in the Arctic with ice drifting around, and without using the heater plugs
The oil still looks clean when change time comes. Volvo was black in 5 minutes running.

A major engine overhaul, with paid labour will probably cost as much as a new Beta or Nanni. You can save cash by putting in your own time to overhaul