Engine Removal

To gain an adequate amount of access to the transom, the engine had to be removed. My thanks goes out to my helpful uncle, and his company's fork lift. Also my brother was around to help lift the engine. After following the detailed steps for outdrive and engine removal documented in the manual (Mercruiser: Stern Drive Shop Manual 1986-1994 : Alpha One, Bravo One, Bravo Two & Bravo Three) that I bought from Amazon, we were ready for a hoist to pull the engine out. There are only 4 bolts that hold the engine in, but a few hoses, electrical wires, along with the shift and throttle cables are required to be carefully disconnected. Rather than duplicating what is in the manual, I'll simply show some photos of the results.

Once again my sincerest thanks goes out to my beloved uncle.

Hoist it!

Oh wait, that big fork lift makes the engine look tiny. It's actually not the fork lift hoisting the engine, it my brother levitating it. Let's do the beast (engine, not my brother) some justice with these photos. Use the Force Luke.

With all joking aside, the engine in this thing is a Mercruiser (5.7 liter) 350 Magnum. It's a powerful engine and it sure is massive. We eventually put the engine on an engine stand rated at 1000 lbs. The stand held up, but flexed a lot so I ended up asking to store the engine in the shop you see in the background of the photos. Now the pressure is on to meet the deadline, I certainly do not want to take advantage of gracious hospitality. With that said, here are some more photos of the progress. The photo on the right shows the four (4) mount points the engine is actually attached to.

After attending two family gatherings, I actually spent a few more hours on the boat today (Easter Sunday). My wife and I removed the entire bell housing and gimbal housing from the boat. It was getting dark by that time so I'll take some photos tomorrow when the Sun is out. Right now the boat's transom is completely exposed, so progress is definitely being made.

This project has been a huge consumer of "free" time, but it's been very interesting so far. I look forward to the next step. If I was retired I think this project would take about a few weeks. I do love my job though, and I'm no where near retirement, so I'm happy to take my time on this.

Ok back to completion of the Damage Assessment phase.

Or check out the next steps with the outdrive repairs here.