salty or any other edelbrock carb owners?

[wotan2525]

Hey guys -- The engine went back in my boat the other day, and today I'm making the final connections to get it back running. I did have a problem though -- my custom made, big money canvas boat cover was destroyed during the trailering process -- it banged around and beat some stuff up pretty badly. One thing that happened is that the carb throttle linkage was knocked all catty-whompas. The spring is now missing and some of the parts just seem disconnected.

If anyone could take me a close-up picture of just the throttle linkage (passenger side of carb) I would really appreciate it.

Rob

[Salty87]

damn, if it isn't one thing it's another, huh? and the cover too?

i keep coming back, hoping to read that you're back on the water...

i have these 2 on my computer, i can take more when i get home. you might be able to make out some details...

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a10/salty87/edelfrontin.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a10/salty87/newedelbrock.jpg

[wotan2525]

Alright.... doesn't look like I lost as many parts as I thought I did --

The boat should be running again today (fingers crossed). Of course, it also could blow up today. The only thing I really have left to do is go pick up some new plugs, and get a friend to help install those FAWKING(!!!!!!) exhaust manifolds. (Sorry... just dropped one on my hand trying to do it alone... ouch!)

I'll keep you updated. It's just been one of those projects where I can't catch a break. On top of that, I tried to learn how to barefoot yesterday and it was an incredibly painful experience. I'm really sore right now.

[wotan2525]

Oh sheeesh... this place....

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/6783/carb5je.jpg

[Salty87]

i'm sure you know your boat better than i know mine now, and i've had mine for 4 or 5 years!

the tall cylindrical deal is the coil. where that mounts to the block, you can see the spring for the throttle return. it runs under the throttle cable. it's nice and rusty. i may have put that in the wrong spot, i kept it from my old holley. it seems to work. that picture isn't totally installed, you can still see the old fuel line popping up near the front lifting ring.

worms....yes, my engine has worms when it comes to the engnie temp sensor wire. i've tried a few replacements and still don't have it working. hasn't worked since i got the boat! tiny little pain in the rear.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a10/salty87/throttlespring.jpg

ahhh I see.... My throttle return spring pulls from the front lifting to the throttle linkage.

I started up the boat last night and ran it for about a whole minute (and oh god did it sound beautiful)..... killed it so that I could check the oil level..... pulled the dipstick and it was....... WHITE!

Now today I'm pretty much just beating myself up and trying to figure out what could cause it, and how I'm going to get it this milkshaky oil out of there. The only suggestion I've received so far is to pull the engine again -- if I had a tall enough cherry picker, I probably would have lifted it up slightly and pulled the drain plug already. As it is right now, I'm just trying to suck it all out the dipstick tube hole with my shopvac and a really ghetto hose-setup.

Sigh.

Rob

[wotan2525]

ahhh I see.... My throttle return spring pulls from the front lifting to the throttle linkage.

I started up the boat last night and ran it for about a whole minute (and oh god did it sound beautiful)..... killed it so that I could check the oil level..... pulled the dipstick and it was....... WHITE!

Now today I'm pretty much just beating myself up and trying to figure out what could cause it, and how I'm going to get it this milkshaky oil out of there. The only suggestion I've received so far is to pull the engine again -- if I had a tall enough cherry picker, I probably would have lifted it up slightly and pulled the drain plug already. As it is right now, I'm just trying to suck it all out the dipstick tube hole with my shopvac and a really ghetto hose-setup.

Sigh.

Rob

[Juice75]

Man, you just can't catch a break. It your oil is white, I would worry more about what caused it than just getting the oil out. Usually, when oil is milky, it means that there is water in it. Best case, a leaky head gasket. Worst case, a cracked block.

Hopefully it's something simple and easy, so you can finally get back on the water. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[wotan2525]

I pressurized the water system last night and found a head gasket that was drip-drip-drip on the outside of the block. I'm going to pull that side today and re-do the gasket.

Wish me luck.

Rob

[Salty87]

damn, you might as well open up shop soon!

you make it sound like pulling the engine isn't that tough. i like that. i'm going to have to pull mine this winter for flooring work.....don't go anywhere!


if you haven't gotten one of these, they work pretty good: http://www.boatersworld.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&catalogId=10051&langI d=-1&productId=361857

http://a1672.g.akamai.net/7/1672/116/20050701/www.ritzcamera.com/graphics/boatersworld/products/366974343.jpg

another alternative, but hopefully you won't get the chance, is to install a drain hose on the oil pan if you have to pull the engine again. skidim has them, stick the hose hose through the plug hole in front of the engine and let it drip out instead of trying to suck the oil out.

[wotan2525]

Good news finally guys ---- I took my passenger side head off and guess what -- I FORGOT TO PUT ON THE DAMN HEADGASKET!

Wow was I embarassed.... but it was also a relief to discover what the problem was. I installed the head gasket -- fussed with the headbolts (ended up drilling 3 of them out, and heila coiling them) and then torqued everything down.

Took the boat out, fried the impeller (forgot to re-adjust the valves on the water intake), replaced the intake, fired the boat up, set timing, adjusted the carb idle screws and throttle, and today it was running beautifully. I did about an hour of mid rpms and easy accelerations and then changed the oil tonight. So far so good..... should be riding on sunday!

Salty -- I couldn't find a hose adapter that was low enough profile to fit under the oil-pan. I did figure out that as long as you warm the oil up, those little drill pumps work wonderfully. I should check out your little hand-pump though, I couldn't find one of those locally.

The engine really isn't too terribly hard to take out. The one thing I wish I had done is taken pictures every step of the process and kept my bolts more organized. I literally just started pulling bolts out and threw them into an ice-cream bucket. At the end I only had one small bolt left over so I felt pretty good about how it all worked out. The hardest part about pulling/reinstalling the engine was finding an engine hoist with enough reach and enough height to get over the sides of the boat. To get it out we used a huge engine hoist and ended up doing some pretty unsafe things (at one point the engine hoist had 2 floor jacks under it). To reinstall it I found a friend of a friend with a car lift in his garage.... he lifted the engine up, I backed the boat under it, and we just lowered it right in -- it was easy as could be. I didn't change the engine mounts, so re-aligning them was fairly simple -- but that did concern me because they are very sensitive to being just a little lopsided.

Why are you going to remove the engine to do the floor? I was thinking of pulling my floor out this winter to install balast tanks, but if it means pulling the engine again, I probably (well......) wouldn't want to do it. then again, if I get my garage remodeled, I'll be able to hoist from the ceiling and it would be about an hour in/hour out for the engine.

I'll keep you guys updated..... thanks so much for all the help this far!

[Juice75]

Congrats wotan! I'm glad to hear you finally got back on the water. Sucks that you forgot the head gasket, but atleast it wasn't something bigger broken.

[Salty87]

alright, wotan! that's some good news.

when i get ready to re-do the floor, i'd rather not take my engine out but the mounts are ugly. las vegas would probably bet against my engine staying securely mounted if i took a picture. someone did some goofy stuff with my boat before i got to it. i can't imagine they thought 1 bolt per mount was a good idea.

[wotan2525]

Yeah... my engine mount bolts were also in terrible shape. I haven't yet, but I plan on just buying the next size larger lag-bolt and using them. Either longer and or just larger diamter should cause them to sink in and work great.