mercruiser 7.4L engine replacement project

[Bondo]

Re: mercruiser 7.4L engine replacement project

Quick update, last Saturday we had some 60 degree weather and most of the snow has melted although my drive way was a mud puddle, so I decided to start disassembling the transom housing to assess what I need prior to installation of the engine. All went OK until i realized the shift cable was frozen in the bell housing . I then pulled the cable out with the bell housing to I could get it on the bench. After some fighting/cutting/banging/drilling and of course lots of cursing it finally came out without any damage to the bell housing. Since it is an older bravo drive I will need to drill out the shift cable hole in the bell housing to accept the new style shift cable. I then used the new slide hammer puller set that my wife bought me form my B-day to remove the frozen gimbal bearing. So at this point I am ready to start cleaning in preparation to re assemble. I do need everything shift cable, all 3 bellows, trim senders, bearing, water hose ect... as well as a steering cable. My plan is to get the cable bearing trim senders and steering cable in before that HUGE 7.4 L chunk of cast iron is in the way. Anybody know how long the steering cable on a 90 Sea Ray Sundancer is? she is still all cover over and have not had a chance to remove it yet. Will try and post some pics of next time. Have a great day and think SPRING.

Ayuh,... Yer cable should have it's length printed on it, within a few feet of one end or the other,....

Either that, or Measure it,...

'n ya might wanta consider a complete Helm, 'n cable Kit,... helms wear out to ya know,...

 

[mr300z87]

Re: mercruiser 7.4L engine replacement project

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in NJ, almost 65 degrees, so my friend and I removed the steering cable, which I might say was a pain in the you know what. First I had to cut it near the steering ram since it was frozen in to the ram's tube. That is one tough cable!!!!! Here is a pic of that half after a fight to remove it from the ram. I won!!!!!!!!!!!

This pic is missing

Then we had to unbolt it from the helm which was not and easy task since there is NO room behind the dash but we got it, no pic of that. Next we were able to pull the cable out and new kit has been ordered.

I did have a minor set back earlier in the week my wife and an accident with her car, she is fine but the car not so much, $8K worth damage. Thank god for insurance!!! Here it is at the body shop with all the broken stuff removed.

Some of the money I set aside to put the transom assembly back together will have to go towards the deductible, hope it doesn't slow me down too much.

Anyway back to the boat here are some more pick of the dis assembly.


Bell housing and frozen bearing on the work bench, the Bell housing is in good condition the corrosion looks worse in the picture. Prep and paint before re assemby.

Here is the nasty looking transom assembly and again it looks worse in the pic than in person. It is kinda gross looking but everything moves like it should and nothing is broken. Question since this will be an slipped boat in the salt waters of Barnegat bay what is the best practice for anti fouling the transom housing and drive? My other boat is trailered.





And the nasty parts that came off.

Not much time on it today but I was able to take out the bolt that secures the trim sender wires (I was worried about that one) and broke loose all of the trim ram lines. I have a used set of rams to replace the originals. At this point the transom assembly is all apart with no broken bolts. Hope to install new steering cable,helm and newer style steering ram next weekend, weather permitting.

Next time I in the boat I will take some pics of the interior to show you all what I am working on.

Weatherman is predicting snow for tomorrow so let all think spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy what is left of the weekend.

Mike

 

[mr300z87]

Hello all,

It has been a long while since I have updated my thread, since there really has not been much to update. Back in the spring I was able to get the new helm and steering cable installed and then there she sat. Priorities have been kids and family stuff, soccer of course and most important getting the Invader ready for the watr, and since she is in the water we have been using her. This has put the Sea Ray on the back burner. Today with small craft warning a 15MPH winds I had some time to start getting her ready for the engine install. First up was to finish up the steering by installing the new steering ram. Which I did today.


I Believe I have most of the required small parts needs to in stall the engine but one of the things I am missing are the exhaust shudders and I am a little confused on which ones I need. Can anyone help me out here. The exhaust pipe I have has small round holes which held round grommets



and used this style shudder.



I am thinking that I either need to find new old stock of 14348A 2 (original) or newer style 807166a3. Please help me here so I can get the right parts ordered. The documentation i have found on some the parts web sites has some conflicting information and states I need 807166a1, these has square grommets??

Hope everyone's boating season is going good so far, and have a great day.

 

[mr300z87]

It has been a while since my last update but I am still plugging away although slowly. Boating season is winding down here in NJ, hope to get out maybe one more time!!! Since the weather has cooled down I figured it was time to get some work done on the Project Sea Ray, after weeks of trying to decide how to get the massive 7.4 in the boat I finally decided to build a gantry for the job. A trip to Lowes a few weeks ago yielded materials to build these.




Next weekend I will do final assembly.

I also prepped the transom assembly for the pending engine install.

Zink Chromate


Rustoleum Pro primer


And a coat of black Rustoleum Pro. This was last weekend, today after a scuffing I added a coat of Primocon and then a coat of Black Trilux 33 outdrive paint. No pics. Next up I will install the trim senders, water intake hose, shift cable and probably the gimbal bearing before the engine get dropped in. Hope to have the engine in the boat within the next 2 weeks weather and time permitting. I got a pile of parts ready to put this thing back together.

 

[achris]

Have you sorted out the exhaust shutters yet? If not, I did a post a while ago (some time in the last 12 months, I think). regarding all the variations of the new style exhaust shutters. Basically there are 3, and that have the part number -807166Ax ('x' being 1, 2, 3).

-807166A1... Original shutters fitted to post 1996 V8 and V6 with '2 piece' exhaust system (separate manifold and elbow).
-807166A2... Original shutters fitted to post 1996 V6 with 'single piece' exhaust system (the notoriously bad 'batwings').
-807166A3... Replacement shutters for pre 1996 V6 and V8 engines with the old style exhaust Y-pipe. These (shutters) replace the single piece shutter with a SS axle. They have a 'mounting kit' as part of their structure. And are what you should be looking for, and they come as a pair.

HTH...

Chris....

 

[bolo78910]

keep going at it bro i bought one also same exact boat she is now puring like a kitten . good luck

 

[mr300z87]

Thanks achris for the flapper info you confirmed what I thought. I have not ordered them yet, now that fall is here in NJ there is no rush.

Thanks bolo, I know slow and steady win the race and I plan to be on the water next spring. Is your powered by 7.4, if so how does she perform? My friend has an 89 model with 260 HP 5.7L and it was kinda a dog but her also has been in dry dock all summer with an engine problem so it might not be a fair statement.

So this weekend in between father and husband dutie my partner in crime Don came over and we erected the 12 ft x 12 ft gantry in preparation to do an engine install. We did a test of it strength by lifting the back of my pick up truck with it. No pics of that :noidea: Other than a few creeks it seemed all good It made of 4 x 6s and lagged together should work great. Anybody know how much a 7.4L weighs? Here is a pic to prove its ready.





If the stars align this coming weekend the engine will be in and my 68 Plymouth can have her garage back.

Everyone have a great week.

 

[Hoosmatroos]

Hi Mike,

The weight of a 454 is approximately 1150 lbs. You're making progress.

Martin

 

[mr300z87]

Well it doesn't look like the stars are going to align this weekend. It's Saturday morning the plan was to install the shift cable, trim senders, water hose and gimbal bearing, just my luck it's raining. This has been the story of my life for the last couple of months, I have free time and Mother Nature screws me. Of course tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful but we have a soccer game and hour away which pretty much kills all day. The sacrifices we make for our kids. Have a great weekend

 

[mr300z87]

Well here I am, another weekend and the forecast for Saturday is rain. We had a minor set back this week when came home Wednesday night I found my 10 yr old Australian Shepard, Taz had died suddenly in my daughters room :-( :-(. Totally out of no where, my daughter said she seemed fine just a couple hours before. So now tomorrow my wife is dragging me to look at puppies. Not sure I am ready yet but who knows. This is the first time in 20 years I have not had an Aussie in my life. RIP Taz. I miss her terribly. I took this pic just 2 weeks ago


So rather than engine and boat prep I will spending the day with the wife and daughter looking at dogs. I still hope the have the engine in on Sunday as there is no soccer game this weekend. Thank you Chris Columbus.

I hope to have much more productive update by the end of the weekend.

Mike

 

[Fun Times]

So sorry to hear of your loss Mike, It's very sad to lose a family member like this.

RIP Taz

 

[GA_Boater]

Sorry, Mike. The furry kids grow on us.

 

[saginawbayboater]

Sorry about TAZ mr300z87.

 

[betayv]

sorry about your dog, I'm in fort lauderdale and I been having the same bad luck, as soon I pack and get where I have the boat to works on it RAIN, that is OUR luck!!!. good luck with your project

 

[mr300z87]

I have a small update and a BIG ONE, first let start with the smaill one. We are the proud parents of now a 14 week old Australian Shepard puppy named Oliver (Oli). I hope to bring him with us on the boat next summer. Here he is last week.


He is a really nice dog, now if we can get him house broken all will be good :mad-new:

FOR the Big update. The engine is IN , after weeks of having nightmares of something breaking and the engine falling straight through the hull to the ground LOL, it went in really easily. I borrowed a friends engine lift, chain fall hoist and another friends leveler, so we were ready go. Good friend and boating partner Don and I got started right after the kids were off to school. First up was tho get the large mass MerCruiser calls a 7.4L off its cart and in to the truck.


and then to a short ride up the drive way the the gantry.


Here you can see the old girl in pre-op waiting for her transplant

more to follow......

 

[mr300z87]

As promised here is the magic flying MerCruiser 7.4L. My home made gantry worked like a charm not a creek out of it. Can not say the same for the 2 old guys!!!



Final prep to the boat before she get her new power plant. Lined up as best we can.



Up and over she goes, I was worried that I was not going to clear, made it by almost a foot.



Here it is almost home, The only issue we had was the motor mount on this motor had smaller holes than the originals and the Lag bolts would not fit. I had another set that I pickup a last year that were installed, problem solved.



On her mounts, waiting for final assembly and alignment.



I am so glad this is major milestone is done, all in all it took us about 3 and half hours complete, I would say with the right tools it is easier than a car engine install. Having the exhaust off was a tremendous help. The hardest we worked all day was moving the gantry into the drive way then back out. Now she will be covered up until better weather. I am hoping for a mid June 2015 splash. Then the real work begins, making her livable.

Have a great rest of the weekend

Mike

 

[mr300z87]

I have been quietly lurking around, but had no real progress to show. We used our Invader almost every weekend all summer which did not leave much time to work on project Sea Ray. Now that the Kids are back to school, the weather is cooling off and the Invader is out of the water it time to get moving on this thing again.

So today my friend and I decided it was time to tackle the engine alignment so I can start getting engine back together and maybe a test run in the boat before the cold weather sets in. We had trouble getting this thing align, but we think it is close then some rain set in so it was time to bail. We will get back on it soon. Since the weather had tuned sour I decided to stop messing around and get the Carburetor back together. Here is a photo of the Weber Carburetor freshly rebuilt and ready to bolt on.

This photo was taken on the kitchen counter, and no the wife is not home LOL.

Once the alignment is done the Exhaust, carburetor, fuel/raw water pump, fuel filter/lines, water intake hose can all go on then maybe its engine noise time .

 

[Hoosmatroos]

Nice to see the project is going on. Keep up the spirit!

 

[mr300z87]

its just going really slow, too many distractions, like my daughters soccer games, HS marching band events, car maintenance, lawn mowing that my daughter was supposed to do , Spit firewood, work on friends broken boat (heard it from the wife for this one :facepalm and my all time favorite that 4 letter word WORK 5 days a week. And my wife says how come you didn't work on the boat, what did you do :grumpy:.

The alignment is giving me fits and I have not been too excited about climbing in and out of the boat a zillion more times but the nice weather is running out here in NJ so I better get too it. LOL I just got to get with it !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mr300z87]

Quick update, in between work and installing an engine for my friend in his boat, my Sea Ray's red twin
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...058931-water-in-oil-and-hydrolock-need-advise
I managed to find the time to work on the engine alignment, which I am happy to say I think have nailed down. It was a lot of trial and error, in the boat out of the boat but it is to the point where I am moving on. Part of the time I had a helper but I he is a Yamaha out board guy so I am not sure he new what to do. LOL Let me tell you about removing his power head to replace the corroded exhaust last spring got to love outboards. I thing next up will be putting the steering ram back in, had to use the Sea Ray in the Invader to keep it going back in July and then the exhaust, If all goes well might even do an engine run in a few weeks. Although cold weather is coming and the Invader still need to be winterized. All have a wonderful evening.