Can't Remove Flame Arrestor

[TyeeMan]

Thanks AD, I appreciate it.

 

[TyeeMan]

AD, I was thinking about yours and Bondo's comments about the amount of engine alignment.
Prior to this springs engine alignment, I could get the flame arrestor out but by all means I had to hold my mouth right, stand on one foot and cross my fingers.
Having never seen the original engine, I kind of think the new dual plane manifold is higher and the new/ different Weber carb might be taller. Just a hunch.
The place that did the work has Merc certified techs. So I hope they did the work correctly. That can be neither here nor there I know. As I said earlier, she is much smoother and quieter than last year.
I have a alignment bar so I could check it myself.

The underside of the ridge is the thickness of the carpet and maybe < 1/4" of wood and then it's aluminum.
Might be worth trimming it back as much as I can.

 

[alldodge]

After hearing about the new manifold, this sounds like it cause the issue. In this case its probably OK and maybe just need to work the issue a bit more. Might be able to take some tin snips (if others agree) and clip off a bit of the pieces

 

[mr300z87]

TyeeMan, I was reading through the rest of the posts here and was thinking you might be able to just bend the air defectors down slightly and out of the way. They are just soft steel an bend quite easily and then just strengthen them back into position after you re install the spark arrestor. Possibly see if you can find a arrestor with a lower profile to make this easier in the future. Good luck

 

[TyeeMan]

It's hard to believe that these air deflectors do anything appriciable. That said, the system works so smoothly and delivers awesome power, I'm reluctant to mess with the carb in any way.
From what I've learned, when I purchased the boat last spring from a dealer, the new engine package was just out of break in but, it has been 4 years since the installation.
The original engine froze and the block cracked when a big cold front came through while the boat was on the lift, , , previous owner.

I had a long conversion with the previous owner. Assuming he wasn't BS ing me. Merc technical service confirmed a lot of my questions.

 

[JoLin]

There's nothing magical about the stud that holds the flame arrester in place. Remove it from the carb and replace it with a (shorter) hex-head bolt. A drop of lock tight on the bolt threads will keep it from loosening. To remove, unscrew the bolt and pull the bolt and arrester out together.

My .02

 

[TyeeMan]

JoLin, If the stud was the problem I would have had this licked before even thinking of posting my problem. The #1 problem is there isn't enough clearance between the top of the flame arrestor and the boat to allow clearance between the base of the flame arrestor and the two air deflectors. If you look at the 2nde picture you can see the slight interference between the air deflectors and the base of the flame arrestor.
The secondary problem was the stud. Also, the stud has a "land" on it which the top of the flame arrestor sets on once the nut is snugged up, then I can put my fancy decorative cover over that.

 

[JoLin]

Okay, gotcha. Glad you found a way to get it off.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

I replaced my Weber w/ an Edelbrock about 10 yrs ago.
The Edelbrock didn't have the wings......

 

[Lou C]

Is that ridge just a piece of carpeted wood underneath? I'd probably peel back the carpet and see if you can clearance it enough to easily remove the flame arrestor. You're lucky you don't have a points distributor lol! But even so, you would need to get in there if you ever needed to set the timing. Does that whole carpeted and upholstered piece come off easily? If not I'd re-engineer it so it was able to....

 

[Bondo]

Is that ridge just a piece of carpeted wood underneath? I'd probably peel back the carpet and see if you can clearance it enough to easily remove the flame arrestor.

Ayuh,.... Ditto this,.... I was disappointed with the pictures, 'cause the backside of the lip wasn't shown,....

Even if it's aluminum, I'd do this,....

 

[TyeeMan]

If you look at the last picture, the one with the pry bar, you will see to the left of the pry bar there is the jump seat cushion, and below that there is a vinyl cover to an access. The other side of the boat is a mirror image. What the seat cushion is mounted to is all one piece of wood that goes from one side of the boat to the other, , and over the engine as shown.
Due to another winter project I need to remove that entire piece of wood to gain access back in there. So I'll take the opportunity to trim up the portion that spans the engine. I'll be lucky if I can cut it back a 1/4", but it might just be enough to make life easier going forward.

Maybe rather than wrapping the carpet around the board, I'll just bring the carpet down to the edge, bond it in place and seal any exposed wood.