This morning I gave everything a good twice over.
Nothing leaked overnight.... always a good sign.
Found one hose clamp that I had not tightened last night, so secured that.
Took the charger off of the battery and connected the battery to the boat.
Pulled the boat out into the driveway and hooked up the hose. I've read that you shouldn't turn the hose on until the engine is running, but I was by myself and not close, so I set the hose to a trickle and let it run while I looked over everything again.
You can imagine, after being SOOOOO friggin' ecstatic I was after installing the freshly rebuilt engine last time, when it appeared to run. I had attributed the idling issues to a variety of other issues and missed the root cause until after the damage was done. So, with that painful memory very fresh in my mind, I was incredibly nervous about starting the re-rebuilt engine.
This time, I knew that I had good carbs, as they were rebuilt 2 weeks ago and the rest of the fuel circuit was cleaned with filters replaced. The fuel was fresh with pre-mix at around 30:1. The oil injection pump had been tested and replaced with one that had better flow, and the system was thoroughly bled, and the injector lines primed. I blew a shot of carb cleaner through each injector to be sure they were clear.
I also took apart the RAVE diaphrams (had not taken them apart last time) and cleaned that whole assembly, as well as thoroughly cleaning the freshly re-contoured RAVE valves.
I swear... I could have had the engine back in and installed in probably 3 hours last night, but I double and triple checked everything and read and re-read the shop manual directions before each step. So, it took more like 6 hours.
Did you ever go back and look to see what your carbs were set to? What did your plugs look like? Do you think you nailed down the initial problem that caused your engine to die?
Good question! I knew what the carbs were set to when I lost compression. I had just rebuilt them and was running them rich. Should have been 1.5 on the low speed screw and 1/8 on the high speed. I had low at 1.75 and high at about 1. I was intentionally running rich and was in the process of turning them in to find the right setting when it died. The plugs were wet, since it was so rich. It was just warming up though, and I believe that the damage had already been done on the two prior trips to the lake when the carb gasket was misaligned and making it run super lean and hot. It didn't help that I had forgot to tighten the oil injector bleed screw and it fell out, so likely very little oil was being injected with the pre-mix. So... to answer the question directly. I don't KNOW that I nailed down the initial problem, but all the evidence that I've seen leads me to strongly believe that I did. I think that the pistons were pretty much shot from the prior overheats and just needed to warm up enough to fail completely. On good pistons I think that the pre-mix was strong enough to run without oil injection at all. So, I think the missing bleeder screw just let them warm up slightly faster... that even with the bleeder screw in it would have failed within a few more minutes of use. I could be wrong, as I was before. I guess we will know shortly.
When I talked to Tom at SES about this he said that starting rich and then "tuning" the carbs is the wrong approach. Rather, the factory settings are spot-on if everything else is right.So, I should start with the factory settings. If it wouldn't run right, then I know something else is wrong.
So, before reinstalling the carbs this time I set them to the factory settings.
Anyhow, Tom's assessment was that it was run super lean which made it run super hot, and that the air leak from the mis-aligned carb gasket was what he would have expected to have caused such a condition.
On the first install I also neglected to prime the oil injector lines or verify the oil injector pump output. I did both this time, so I know it is getting oil to both cylinders now. I also put a cap full of injector oil in each plug hole and rotated the flywheel by hand for several revolutions prior to installing the engine. Just before attempting to start it this morning I also sucked a little oil into a straw and let an inch or so of oil drip into each carb throat by the oil injectors, and washed it in with a cap full of pre-mix gas in each carb throat. And for the 8th time, I opened the throttle and looked down the carbs to be sure that there was NO GASKET showing.
So, back to this morning...
It is safe to say that I was dreading pushing the button for fear that I'd screwed something up and I'd either hear nothing happen at all, or a brief whir, followed by some loud clunks, a pool of oil, and possibly a raging fire. I was done around 1:30 am last night, but stayed in the garage liberating the rest of the blue-pink-purlpe LSD paintbrush swipe stickers from the hull with a razor blade while I thought through the whole install process to see what I might have forgotten or missed. I knew that going to bed would be a waste, as I would just toss and turn and keep my wife awake. Around 3am I finally hit the shower and went to bed. Surprisingly, I don't recall dreaming of fried engines or being towed back to the dock.
... but I digress...
Imagine my surprise when it actually fired IMMEDIATELY (as in INSTANTLY... as in, it was running before I was sure I'd even fully depressed the starter button) and ran for about 1.5 seconds. :cheers::thumbsup:
:coolgleam::reddevil::hurray:
I had hoped that the little gas I had put in the carbs would be enough to turn it over and prime the fuel system (I had not run it since reconnecting the fuel selector valve, so I knew it would need time to deliver fuel). It took another 7 seconds or so of cranking to get the fuel flowing fully. Once the clear in-line fuel filter filled up, the engine started and ran. It surged and sputtered for about 5 seconds, which scared the mess out of me, as it was just like before. However, it quickly settled down and purred like an angry kitten. It idled fine, which it really wouldn't even do well on the trailer before I found the carb gasket leak before.
After idling for about a minute and a half I pulled the key, disconnected the hose and quickly backed it into the garage, as I was already a few minutes late for work.
Next steps:
-reinstall airbox
-reinstall engine bay lid
-revisit the list of "to do" items I was working on before the re-rebuild.
I would LOVE to get the boat to the local lake for a test run before we pull it up to Smith Mountain this weekend, but I doubt I'll have time. Although, I may be able to squeeze in a quick trip after work tomorrow. Not likely though, as we are trying to refinance the house for a lower interest rate and I have a long list of stuff to do before we schedule the appraisal. I SHOULD be doing sheet rock repairs Weds. evening.
