f26 clean slate for new 350 and zf trans

[32pacemaker]

out with the old

[prowlersfish]

Lookin good

[Paul]

Clean looking bilge. When you remove the engine, do you plan on sealing up the bare wood stringers under the motor mounts?

[32pacemaker]

Hi Paul, i was going to coat it with west systems and mix some gel coat and touch up my bilge area where the engine goes. the big thing i was trying to work out is with my new left hand engine is how to get the prop to turn to the right i was thinking of a zf 45a trans but those have a 4.94 offset and a 8 degree down angle and i am concerned that it will raise the engine to high after doing the math it will take 35 inches to make the 8 degree down angle to pay off, and it is going to be a tight fit anyway just using the stock velvet drive. when i took out the old engine its front was skewed to the port about two inches and i did some research and found that was designed in to single engine boats to compensate for the effects of prop walk. but now after doing some more home work i am just going to make it turn to the left and see what happens if handles bad i will reverse the rotation of the engine i think there is a guy in California that can re flash the ECM and you can buy the engine parts from Crusader cam, distributor, and crank position timing wheel ect.. to get the job done if needed. so this week i will have the engine in for a dry fit and see how thing line up.

[32pacemaker]

here is a picture with the engine out

[32pacemaker]

and another

[32pacemaker]

and to the rear

[32pacemaker]

that battery in the picture is for my dinghy's electric motor for getting the dog to shore, and i use a Anchor auto battery combiner to charge the battery the set up works great also adds to my house bank when not used for the electric motor. Also my Honda 2000 will fit on the shelf for storage but with the extra battery and the Leech Neville 105 amp alternator i have not needed it lately.

[Paul]

Using west system is exactly what I was thinking to seal up the bare wood. As for coating the the rest of the bilge with gelcoat, I think that the bilge paint that you used on the bulkhead would look great in the rest of the bilge. As for changing the rotation of your 350 to a right hand, only the crank changes direction while the cam shaft still rotates to the left. This is done by swapping out the timing chain and sprockets for a set of 2 mating gears. The cam shaft will have to be changed however the distributor will remain the same with the exception of the firing order. Also, to get the starter to crank in the proper direction, it'll need to be relocated from under the engine to the starter port on the back side of the bell housing above the transmission.

One last thing, I'm guessing that your batteries are under the steps in the cabin. When I re-did my boat, I moved them to where you have that battery tray above the shaft log. The main reason for this was because batteries give off gasses when charging or discharging and I don't want these vapors in the cabin. An added bonus to moving the batteries is that the boat handles better with the weight moved farther aft. I was also able to increase the battery size, my house bank is 2 T105 6 volt golf cart batteries wired in series to give me 220 amp hours at 12 volts. My cranking battery sits right next to them.

Let me know if you want to see pictures and I'll post them.

[32pacemaker]

Hey Paul, of coarse i would love to see your pics. as far as the engine rotation and fuel injection if you want to retain the roller cam, the timing gear set is the same for right and left and on the roller engine you change the cam and distributor the gear helix is flopped on the cam and dist. so the oil pump turns the right way. except the thrust on the dist. is down instead of up and the housing has to be different to accommodate the change.

[MattSC]

Looks really nice, it's going to be like new.

My engine is LH. I'm using the original velvet drive, though it was rebuilt when I did the repower, but we had to flip the pump and it works fine. I did have to change the prop though. Once underway, except for the power difference I didn't really notice the difference between RH and LH. However, when docking everything you do is in reverse, she will back to starboard. It's not hard to get used to, and in my case is actually better for me as I tie up on the starboard side.

Keep the pictures coming

[Paul]

Below is the battery set up that I mentioned earlier.



After moving the batteries, I built a new set of steps into the cabin with a top step that lifts off in two pieces creating lots of storage were the batteries used to be.



I also cut a removable panel into the bulkhead behind the steps which gives me easy access to the front of the engine for service.

[32pacemaker]

Hi Paul hat looks great i can only hope mine turns out half that nice. is that GM power in there and a drip-less seal on the shaft, my batteries are two maintenance free group 27's they don't vent as bad as the none maintenance free batteries there in the hanging locker and a group 24 under the step, what are the vents for under the dinette ?

[Paul]

It is GM power, its a 350 cid with a 1:1 Velvet drive. The shaft seal is a LasDrop assembly. I love this thing, I installed it in 2001 and have had a dry bilge ever since. I do inspect it occasionally however there is no maintenance required on this seal.

As for the vents under the dinette, their for the CruisAir air conditioning / heat unit installed under the dinette seat.

[32pacemaker]

i Just installed , aligned and bolted down the 5.7 i had to remove a 1 inch notch out of the stringers so the front mounts would fit