Big Block-TRS / Hornet II

[Forrest]

Woooo!!! Man, oh man. Has anyone ever taken a big block engine out of a Hornet with a TRS outdrive? Let me tell you first hand, it's no fun. Last night I went to pull the engine and transmission of my 1979 Hornet II. With all that room in the engine compartment, I figured that it shouldn't be any big deal since all you have to do is unbolt the motor mounts, after disconnecting all the plumbing and electrical connections, and the pull the whole works out with the cherry picker. Haa!!! The drive was off already, so I didn't need to remove it. After attaching a carb-mount lift-plate and a neat extra heavy-duty stainless-steel swivel that I bought at local commercial fishing supply house, I began to lift the engine. Well, no sooner than I got the engine lifted off the mounts and pulled forward in order to clear the transmission tail piece from the transom plate, the engine was hitting against the bulkhead. No big deal I said, I'll just remove a the water-circulation pump and the should give me enough room to clear the tail piece. No way! Now the power steering pump is touching the cross stringer located just in front of the engine. With that, I then removed the power steering pump and tried again. Now, the belt-driven raw-water pump hits! Geeezzzz! Then I removed it. Oh boy, it looked like the engine may be able to come forward enough to clear, and it did, but now the engine/transmission was wedged between the bulkhead and the transom plate. I couldn't rotate it, couldn't go up and couldn't go back down without tearing the dog-crap out of everything! at this point, I broke out the big pry-bar and with some help from my next-door neighbor on the controls of the cherry picker I was able to put the engine back on the mounts. I said, "#@#%!" and, "*&^%^$" and some other stuff not suitable for children's ears.

I now figured that I'm going to have to separate the transmission from the engine and leave the transmission in the boat for now. That's not too hard - six bolts and it's free - from the transmission that is. Now I was able to move the engine forward clearing the transmission's input shaft, but low and behold, I still couldn't get enough clearance to get the engine to come far enough to turn sideways or anything for that matter! This time it was hitting thermostat housing under the lip in front of where the engine hatch closes not allowing enough room for the oil pan to clear the engine mounting brackets attached to the stringers. So at this point, off goes the thermostat housing. It was still in a tight position, but with some serious maneuvering, I was finally able to rotate the big-block engine sideways and lift it out of there. After I removed the thermostat housing, I figured that if I could still not get it out, I was going to have to reduce the engine to a short block to get it out, which by the way, would not have made me very happy. As much trouble as it is to remove the engine from this boat, I can see why the factory installs engines prior to fitting the deck to the hull.

The big block that I just pulled ran well in that boat, but I'm just not really sure what is there and I don't need it to unload anytime soon. I will be pulling the heads and oil pan and inspecting everything. At a minimum, it will be getting a big Mercrusier cast aluminum oil pan, new oil pump, a set of roller rockers, and pushrods. On this engine in the past, I've installed a Crane H-286-2 cam kit, a Holley dual-plane intake, and Hardin P-1000 exhaust. It already has big-oval port (not peanut port) heads. Now, I can't wait to put it all back in! http://www.donzi.net/ubb/biggrin.gif


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Forrest

[This message has been edited by Forrest (edited 05-24-2001).]

[Scott Pearson]

Forrest,
If I ever had to pull the motor back out of my 18 I would with out a doubt remove the deck. Its just to tight in there to wrench on anything. And when you move the motor around to get it out you scrach the hell out of everything.

Glad it worked out!

(NJ)Scott

[BigGrizzly]

On the Criterion I have a 14 qt oil pane, there is about 1&1/2 inch clearence between the stringers and the sides of the pan. The words I used should not be used in f4ront of grown men either. Just when I was ready to set it on fire the engine slipped on to the trans and the main shaft fit right in. I couldn't beleave it, the hardest part was easy. I bolted the engine mounts up and went to bed,

Randy

[Forrest]

Dag gone! Bend me over how 'bout it! Live and learn! I just did.

Last night, I started to take a look the big-block engine that I pulled out of my Hornet II the other day. Some of you may recall that I picked up this Hornet II a few years back from a guy up here in North Florida though a contact on the old Classic Donzi Registry board. The Hornet II was ugly as sin, painted gold Imron with a white deck and teal stripes and with the name Smokin' Gold in teal on the sides. This guy was really proud of what he had done to it, and at the time, I bought it for what I thought was a good deal. I figured that I would refinish it, put in new upholstery, and detail it out a little. I figured that I would use it a bit and then down the road, maybe think about selling it. The Hornet II is really nice riding and an extremely dry boat - something that works well in the waters around the North Florida Gulf. As I bought it from this guy, it ran 57 MPH (gps) turning a 21" cleaver at 4100 RPM. It had a Barr iron exhaust, a lo-rise iron intake, quadrajet carb, a mild factory cam, and a pair of the good large oval-port heads. The seller also went on to say, "the 454 was recently rebuilt." A couple of months later, I got a deal ($350) on a Hardin exhaust system that was like new, so I figured it was time do a cam, intake, and a carburetor. After all that, the boat was clocked in the 64-65 MPH (gps) range turning a 21" pitch Mirage at about 4600 RPM. Not too bad, but with this set-up, this engine should have no trouble turning over 5000 RPM. Anyway, enough of that.

While looking the engine over last night, I did a cold leak-down test while it was on the engine stand. Leakage in the cylinders ranged from 12% to as much a 27%, and all of it through the rings. With that, I pulled the oil pan to look inside. Very clean, two-bolt mains, forged dome pistons, and a forged crank - yes! Boars look good, too. Maybe it just needs to be freshened up with a new set of rings and bearings. For the heck of it, I decide to take a rough measurement the bores. Hmmm . . . just under 4.100" . . . WHAT! This ain't no 454!!! It's a (are you ready?) 396!!! A 396??? F!!! A further check of the block casting number confirmed that this block was in fact a 396, cast back in the mid 1960s. All that I can guess is this joker that I bought the boat from must have trashed his original 454 block, came up short on money and someone worked him a deal on an old 396. You know, a 396 can be bored to 4.250" to make it a 427, but that wasn't done, nor do I dare chance doing that modification since there is some noticeable core shift.

A word of advice to all when looking at a boat with a big block, or any engine for that matter, offered by a stranger. Take your Chevy casting numbers book with you and use it. Also, believe about half of what the seller tells you. I now know that recently rebuilt means rebuilt sometime in the last ten years. "It's got a 454" means absolutly nothing until you can verify it. I guess that I got smoked by someone blowing smoke up my ass on this engine. The name of the boat should have told me something. Oh well, it sure runs damn good for only 396 cubic inches!


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Forrest

[This message has been edited by Forrest (edited 05-26-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Forrest (edited 06-08-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Forrest (edited 06-12-2001).]