Engine Survey

BillM2

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A buddy of mine is looking for someone to do an engine survey on an 1970's 327 Chevy marine engine in a 28ft boat now on the hard. Anyone have any recommendations? He wants compression and vacuum tests done, etc. Boat is near Kingston.
 
If I was him and that's all I wanted I think I'd buy a guage and read up on it. Then do it myself. What is the purchase price of the boat?

By the way how long has it been laid up and wouldn't there be some requisite maintenance to ensure the thing cranked safely?
 
I don't know too much about it. But it's been in a guy's yard for sometime and not been run for a year or two. My friend's willing to do the compression readings but feels he needs a helping hand with someone with more knowledge. I've got my hands full at the moment and I'm no expert. Know anyone?
 
She's down in SC waiting on the hard for us. The current plan is to bring her back north in 2010. We figured we wanted to do the Bahamas one more time so instead of bringing her all the way north we left her reasonably close.

As far as knowing anyone, sure, but they will want 85 bucks an hour. The one team I would trust is scaling back but maybe they'd do it for a price. So to be fair your buddy is going to have to make the trade off and call someone in at a price. Consider travel time and a couple of hours. It could be expensive compared to the price of the boat?
 
Smart thinking and you lucked out up here with the rain this summer. Though nice cool nights are a good thing!
 
We are surprised how muddy the creek still looks. We got a report that the river is even worse! We did go down there last week and work on her a few days but it was 95 with humidity. Not exactly the best conditions when you can't use the AC on the boat!
 
Mike I was thinking that also but if they were good to it when they laid it up and changed the oil would it be an accurate representation of wear metals? I suppose you could start it with muffs on to warm it up.
 
I've been out on the river quite a few times these last couple of weeks. The day after a heavy rain, it's muddy. But a couple days later, it's fine. The debris is another story. The full moon tide must be really bringing down the crap.

And I've never been much on humidity. It was way more humid at RYB these past couple days than home in New Paltz.

If you think of a mechanic, let me know. The name Tom Turner came up with Jeff's Yacht Haven. I may give him a call.
 
Remember, the old engines from the 1970 burned leaded fuel. You may need to have the heads/valves rebuilt for unleaded fuel. Please read below.

This is not a problem for newer engines, which have been engineered to run on unleaded fuel, but can be troublesome for many of the older engines still out there. While the increased anti-knock properties that lead imparted to gasoline have been addressed with various other additives, the same is not true for lead’s lubricating benefit. Newer engines have been designed to operate without the combustion chamber lubrication that lead provided but older engines are susceptible to certain damage without this lubrication. In particular, the exhaust valves and their seats are vulnerable to accelerated deterioration when an older engine is run on unleaded fuel.

There are two ways to address this problem. The first is with the addition of lead or lead substitute to the fuel in your tank. This creates an ongoing expense and is a little bit of a nuisance but is probably the best solution for cars that are driven infrequently. The second way to deal with the absence of lead is to modify your engine so that it does not require upper cylinder lubrication. This is done with the installation of stainless steel valves and hardened valve seat inserts.
 
Thanks Bob! Will pass that along though the current owner has been using today's gas in the engine for many years. We'll ask if he's been using an additive or not. It's my understanding too he's got a water separator on the fuel tank. I would expect a valve job needed in the near future, no matter what.
 
Bill,

I can take care of any diagnoses work needed. Feel free to give me a call. 845-228-1071.
 
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