NEW Projects - Wiring Harness & Diesel Rebuild

[Stu Jackson]

Thanks to Dave Sanner for the new posts.  Just click on C34 Projects at the top of this page.

The Wiring Harness is one that applies to boats around 1992 and older.  I'd downloaded this from the Internet a number of years ago and realized that we'd referred to it a lot, but never had it posted.  It includes the wiring diagrams.  FYI, a C36 owner in our area just bought an older boat and is now doing this.

Dave's diesel work is a very interesting and informative article.

Enjoy.

[Craig Illman]

David - Wow! I'm inspired for possibly an engine project next winter. I just need to figure out how to coerce my brother, the Honda tech, to help me with his mechanical skills and experience. All your pictures were great! I did notice that the first picture shows the engine with the stock mounts, while later pictures show your Vetus mounts. The "engine mount fairy" must have snuck in while the head was pulled? 

Thanks for posting both these excellent write-ups!

Craig

[BillG]

Dave, what kind of symptoms did you have  with the engine, that  led you to know you needed an engine rebuild.

[David Sanner]

I had a few symptoms none of which were that bad.

-If I ran the engine too hard before it was completely warm
it would drip a little oil.  (There was no coolant in the oil)

- The factory compression is 450 with an allowable lower limit
of 340 and 10% variation between the cylinders.  All of the
cylinders had enough compression but the lowest was about 15%
less highest.

- A little extra smoke coming from the breather tube.

Overall the engine ran ok which is why I kept putting
off the rebuild but as I mention on the project page it was
a good thing that I did when I did because the rod bearings
were in bad shape, apparently caused by an engine rebuild
long ago where the mechanic mixed up the connecting rod
caps.

Craig, good eye... I did upgrade my mounts to Vetus K75 about a
year or so before... sometime after the 'before' photo was taken.

[Craig Illman]

David - How hard did the engine start before the rebuild compared to after? How difficult was it to pull the pistons? Was there a noticable ridge at the top of the cylinder? What services did the machine shop do for you compared to what you did yourself?

Craig

[David Sanner]

With 15 secs of glow plug it would start right up. After the
rebuild it seems to run a bit smoother right after it fires up
and I think it idles a bit smoother but that's not dramatic.
Again my compression was ok just a bit low in two of the
cylinders and more than 10% variation between them.

There was a noticeable discoloration on the top of the
cylinder wall but no ridge... fortunately.

Pulling the pistons was relatively easy, just feel for
the two bolts that hold on the rod end cap and back
them out. Then give the crank a half turn and push
them out the rest of the way from below.  Some of
this is covered in the  service manual.

The tricky part is getting the 18 pan bolts out/on as well
as dealing with the bolts that hold on the dip stick tube.
I wound up getting a 1/4" drive socket that had a built
in universal joint.  It's not that bad with the right tools
if you don't mind lying on your stomach for about an hour.

Since I was getting a new head the machine shop
onlyhad to prep the old valves, lap & install them.
They cleaned everything else up for me including
blasting my oil pan (it has some rust) and rebuilt
my sea water pump.  They also installed my rings
for me to make sure I didn't mess that up... though
it's pretty straight forward.   Besides the great shop
work the expertise and help explaining what I needed
to do... and what not to do was invaluable.  They
even let me borrow their (loaner) deglazing tool.

[Tom Glennon]

Dave:
Great job posting the step-by step pics.  I'm curious about the removal of the oil pan.  Youd did that without lifting the engine? My oil pan is looking pretty rough these days, and I was thinking about removing the pan, making sure it was still worthy, and not about to rust through, then repainting and reinstalling with a new gasket. My 25XP is an '87.

[David Sanner]

Tom,

Getting the oil pan off was pretty straight forward
just tight and tedious.  You can see 14 of the 18 bolts.
The 4 bolts on the aft end of the pan are the tough ones,
mainly getting back on, but doable.  The combo
socket / universal joint helped.

As you can see the sump sticks down below the
block but the pan clears without lifting the engine.

Getting the bolts back on for the dip stick tube
was hassle too, but in reality only took 5 or 10 mins.

The metal in the pan is pretty thick so unless it's
incredibly rusted you might be better of scraping it,
sanding what you can and putting some sort of rush
inhibitor on it...  actually neither sounds like much fun.

One last note, make sure you get as much oil out of
the pan as you can so you don't make a mess like I did.

[Tom Glennon]

Thanks David... It is something that has been in the back of my mind as a "preventive maintanance" project.  Doesn't sound overwhelming at all.