guess what Ive been doing...

[cooper]

boat engine lift 001.jpg Views: 175 Size: 93.7 KB ID: 1742" style="margin: 2px" />

boat engine lift 011.jpg Views: 223 Size: 64.0 KB ID: 1743" style="margin: 2px" />

Guess what Ive been doing.....

[Alan Wheeler]

That looks real sweet. So what is that motor?

[never monday]

Lookd like a non marinized tractor motor to me.

[cooper]

Its a isuzu 53 hp industrial with cam driven injectors. Avery common engine used in everything from generators to fork lifts. The engine is keel cooled and has no marinisation at all. (except the mounts and bed that I did). 18 inch three blade (yacht style) prop , pss shaft seal and flexible mounts.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Cooper,
I marinized my Mercedes and did much of what you are doing now. How about transmission and prop shaft alignment? Gotten that far yet?
I kind of did mine with the shaft log in place and then built my engine bed to fit. Is that what you did?
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[Saildoggie]

Looks like a really clean install.
Hope everything goes well!!

[Alan Wheeler]

I was going to say it looks like an Isuzu. Honest :-) Great wee motor. What box are you mating it too?

[cooper]

Hi all thanks for your comments, it makes a project like this a heap more fun especially as I am nearly at the end of the build.
JohnL yes I put the stern tube in on the weekend, went in beautifully with perfect alignment. Finished welding just after dark. Came back on Sunday to tackle the prop skeg and discovered that one of my alignment tacks inside had popped. After spending a couple of hours with blocks and jacks and levers and sweat and a whole shipfull of rude words....I ground three quarters of the weld back off, realigned and by Sunday dark I was where I thought I was the same time the previous day. The gearbox and shaft flanges kiss and that is before any engine mount adjustment. I must say that I had a very large amount of strings and marks and every other bit of science and supersticion to try and help. I had a heap of trouble rebuilding the stern tube on my other boat (amongst which the "professional welder" put so much heat into it that it was like a bannana. The prop shaft was sitting in it with its bearings and held it sort of straight I now have an automatic bearing ovaling machine !!) I now do ALL my own welding. I would have done the turning but our lathe here is just not heavy enough and a little bit to "chinese" to take 80 mm OD hollow bar. Lets just say I couldnt bring myself to stand in front of it.
Wheels the box is a ZF/Hurth 15 M dropped output shaft. I wanted the MA which has an 8 deg down angle, but it was harder to get and a lot more expensive. As it is the engine has 6 deg down aft on it which should not cause any problems. I originaly built the engine bed for a second hand volvo I have, but couldnt get a gearbox at a humane price for it. Thats why the bed has the angle welded on top.
I II post some pictures of the finished instalation.....hopefully next weekend

cheers
Martin

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Cooper,
I'm so jealous of people who can work so much more quickly than I can. Way to go. It really took me months to do what you are doing in a few days. I was able to get the engine lined up perfectly out of the water and will check again when I launch. I used one of those flexible couplings.
Your installation looks nice and clean. Good job.
JohnL