Engine Missing ?

[silverghost]

A "friend" called me at 7:30 AM on Sunday to ask if I could check-out a problem he was with his boat engine~
(What kind of a "Friend" calls you at 7"30 AM on a Sunday?)
We took a test drive and here's what happened.
Engine Merc. Chevy 330 Mark IV 454 .
The engine started and idled fine. I let the thermostat open then we went for a ride.
Engine was nice and quiet (only 400 hours on the hour meter) and ran fine up to 2000 RPM then the engine bogged down and started a steady miss-fire on one cylinder. Slowed it down to just under 2000RPM miss-Fire stopped & all seemed normal.
This always happened at 2000 RPM.
After careful inspections
Fuel system (carb & mechanical pump) checked out.
Ignition system also checked out. (Mallory Marine Dist. with POINTS & Cond.)
Did a fast compression test with 150 +/- 1 psi.
All seemed OK.
I was about to pull my hair out when I as a last resort I had the owner drive and I babysat in the engine hatch area.
At 2000 RPM the missing started and I heard a faint valve rocker tap.
We came back to the boatslip & I pulled the rocker covers. No easy job as the small nuts on studs were hard to get to between rocker cover and those monster iron 4" exhaust manifolds. I used two 1/4" socket universals & extensions But I finally got the covers off. No way did I want to spend My Sunday afternoon pulling those manifolds & risers off !
I spotted the problem in a second.
This engine has double valve spings & rotaters.
On one exhaust valve the outer spring had broken in half in the middle.
The two outer spring halves had screwed themselves together leaving only the flat inner damper/rotater spring to hold the valve closed!
This worked fine up to 2000 RPM when I suspect the valve started to "float" and open thus causing the heavy steady miss-fire.
I was surprized that the exhaust valve did not drop down & hit the piston top~
Or Worse !
Drop into the engine cylinder!
I rotated the engine so the cylinder was at Top Dead Center and just by chance I had an old KD on-engine jaw & Clamp valve spring compressor in my vcation house garage.
It was easy to remove both keepers, roto-cap and springs.
Now in Ocean City NJ on Sunday you might as well be on the moon as far as finding a Merc. 454 outer valve spring; or any parts for that matter ! ~
After driving around for 2 1/2 hours we finally located the proper valve spring in the Wildwood NJ area at a Mercruiser dealer that was open!
A MerCruiser dealer open on a Sunday In November ~
WOW !
Drove back to the boat~
Replaced spring~
No more Hard Miss at 2000 RPM.
It was now 5:30 PM and getting dark~
An entire "Rest Day" wasted !
By the way~
There was a small iternal bubble in the spring at the fracture area!
Factory Defect !
How it lasted this long I do not know !?

[Ghost]

Amazing--on many levels. Nice work. (The years of experience and know-how that could lead to that outcome in that amount of time are hard to fathom.)

Mike

[Conquistador_del_mar]

A "friend" called me at 7:30 AM on Sunday to ask if I could check-out a problem he was with his boat engine~
(What kind of a "Friend" calls you at 7"30 AM on a Sunday?)

That friend sure owes you one. Not many guys could get that problem diagnosed and solved on a Sunday - :wink:
Years ago, I bought a really nice boat cheap that had a similar problem in terms of the symptoms. The owner did not want to spend any more money on it, so he sold it. I got lucky - in this case it was two bent pushrods. He could have benefitted from having someone like yourself to help him. Bill

[axelkloehn]

A "friend" called me at 7:30 AM on Sunday to ask if I could check-out a problem he was with his boat engine~
(What kind of a "Friend" calls you at 7"30 AM on a Sunday?)
quote]



I don't mind if this "friend" is Pam Anderson... She could call me anytime :smile:

[Ghost]

A "friend" called me at 7:30 AM on Sunday to ask if I could check-out a problem he was with his boat engine~
(What kind of a "Friend" calls you at 7"30 AM on a Sunday?)
quote]



I don't mind if this "friend" is Pam Anderson... She could call me anytime :smile:

LOL, "Can you help me get this started?"

http://www.cartuningcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/sexy-mustang-babe.JPG

[MOP]

My bet would be either a plug or more likely a spark plug wire, as load increases it is harder on the ignition. If his wires are near or over three years old a very good chance, very good quality after market will last longer.

[gcarter]

Love the title of this thread!
I expected it to be about raising the hatch
and the engine bay being empty!:hyper::smash:

[Just Say N20]

Love the title of this thread!
I expected it to be about raising the hatch
and the engine bay being empty!:hyper::smash:
Me too.
Classic thread. The ever helpful MOP is offering suggestions, even after the problem was discovered and fixed. :biggrin:

[silverghost]

Bill~ I have seen the bent pushrod issue myself.
This usually happens after long term storage of an older engine.
Usually happens like this~
You de-winterize the engine and try to fire-it-up ~
A valve is stuck in it's valve guide (most are just drilled cast-iron) .
The starter turns cam pushes up on the lifter & the valve doesn't move~
The result a bent pushrod!
I had one about ten years ago that really had a suck valve.
Removed the rocker arm and tapped heavily on the valve stem top with a brass punch~ No luck.
Before I pulled the cylinder head I removed the valve spring & keepers etc after bringing piston up to the top-dead-center.
Then removed the hat style valve stem seal and put a piece af rubber hose that fit tightly over valve stem & guide.
Filled the hose stub up with liquid wrench.
The next morning the valve was loose !
Replaced seal, spring, retainer & keepers and NEW pushrod and was good to go!
This happens quite often on older engines that were designed for leaded gas.
Straight Inboard engines installed on a 12-15 * angle seem more prone to this because oil in rocker area really never gets to the higher front valve stems.
You need a little oil~
Sometimes you can get a spray can straw to go inside a valve spring & up under the stem seal to spray the top of the valve stem with lube or penetrating oil itself !
I have also seen stuck valves break the large camshaft gear. The OEM GM & Ford cam gears use nylon teeth and soft metal drive centers.
These gears are easy to make & much quieter in a new automobie. After all chain runs on nylon gear teeth.
These cheap things break easily and are known to fail often all by themselves!
Plastic does not age well in a hot engine !

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Brad,
You nailed it. The boat I referred to was a 1963 Century Coronado (Honduras mahoghany) with a Chrysler 413 solid lift cam. The owner had spent a lot of money having the boat restored, and he was thinking the engine rebuilder did not do the job right. For the $4500 he was asking, I knew I couldn't go wrong in buying it. I actually wish I still had that boat - it was sweet!
Good tips on stuck valves in the older engines. Bill

[Dr. David Fleming]

Wonder if you do house calls?

[silverghost]

BILL: One of my uncles had two Century Coronados in the 60s.
The first early 60s Coronado had the very same engne you had.
It had a white vinyl covered hardtop that slid back about four feet on tracks.
The later 60s Corondo was one of Century's last Mahogany wood boats. This boat had a Hemi ! It had a T-Top hardtop with two gullwing removableT_Top panels.
Both had a big white sripe painted on the mahogany sides.
Metalic green vinyl auto style interior.
The gauges & steering wheel looked like it was straight out a 60s era car with the throttle being a lever that looked like a car transmission gear selector !
The motorbox was also padded metalic green vinyl.
These Mahogany Century boats had a single batten-seam plankd bottom.
Not double planked like Chris~Craft or Garwood Hacker etc.
Eventually becuse of his single bottom system they leaked very badly and he sold each boat.
This batten-seam single planked system was Century's weak point!
He and his buddy fiberglassed the bottom of the first boat to the waterline~ Big Mistake !. He only used one layer of glass and polyester resin and it soon started to get loose and peal. Water soon got between the fiberglass and the planking and the bottom started to rot badly near the center garboard seam! There was always water under the fibrglass bottom.
I remember when he first bought the Hemi powered boat Century advertised it as the "World's Fastest Production Speedboat!"
A bit of a stretch~But it was fast!
No trim tabs in those days so he was always telling us kids to go up foreward to bring the bow down so it would plane properly. I believe both were 21-22 feet long!
Beautyfull boats~
Just thinking back about it I can almost smell the fresh spar varnish that you could always smell from eight feet away!
Don't ask how many coats of spar varnish I put on that boat each season~ I still have my fancy badger-hair varnish brush.
I can also hear my Dad saying~ "Flow the varnish on~Don't whip air into it!
The boat had about eight coats of spar varnish on her. It also had the name on the transom in real engine turned gold leaf !
One day I was given the job of putting on the last coat of spar varnish.
I wanted to go to the beach~ so I waited until 6:00 PM to finally do the brightwork job.
When finished it looked spectactular !
The next day Dad & I arrived to see the boat was totally a hazey white! The nighttime dew had ruined the still wet spar varnish~
What a mess !

[MOP]

My bet would be either a plug or more likely a spark plug wire, as load increases it is harder on the ignition. If his wires are near or over three years old a very good chance, very good quality after market will last longer.

Always better late then never!!!!!

Dang pays to read the whole post!!!!!!!!!!! With the broken springs the valves would not close properly as RPM rises, do a compression check if it comes out Ok you can easily change the springs with air pressure.

Phil

[silverghost]

In fact during the Summer school breaks in the mid-70s I used to do housecalls right at your own dock.
While going to Drexel University (BS ME 76) I ran ads in the local Ocean City, Atlantic City, longport, Margate, Wildood papers for Marine Mechanic jobs.
My 68 Ford trunk was filled with tools & parts.
I had a large one car garage with a bench and vice also!
While my friends were making minimum wage at boardwalk jobs I was making up to $ 600. per week working on boats with no overhead! No Taxes also !
Cash Only !
I was known far and wide! The marina & yard owners hated me!
They would tell a customer your boat will be fixed in three weeks when we get around to it!.
I would have it fixed in two days!
Tom Cooper of OSCO motors would bring manifolds & riser elbows to his house near my Dad's and Dad would bring them to Ocean City on Thursday as he took four day vacation weekends in thse days!
I had more repair business than I really wanted in those days!
I still wanted to go to the beach & go fishing with Dad & chase my Girlfriend around !
I spent 7 years doing this!
Spent the entire summer at my Aunt & Uncles 14 & Asbury Ave Ocean City NJ tri-plex.
I had the entire three bedroom apartment to myself until my folks came down on thursday eve!
I still have the Hunter Motors busines cards around here somewhere!
I knew all the Boatyard guys around South Jersey.
I used the 10 ton travel lift at Patcong Harbor Marina (now Waterfront Marina) on the Patcong creek. near Great Egg Harbor Bay & across from the BL England AC Electric Powerplant !
I had my own keys to the ACME Travel Lift!
I repaired that too!
Seems like another lifetime ago!
Those were the really fun days!

[Conquistador_del_mar]

BILL: One of my uncles had two Century Coronados in the 60s.
The first early 60s Coronado had the very same engne you had.
It had a white vinyl covered hardtop that slid back about four feet on tracks.
The later 60s Corondo was one of Century's last Mahogany wood boats. This boat had a Hemi ! It had a T-Top hardtop with two gullwing removableT_Top panels.
Both had a big white sripe painted on the mahogany sides.
Metalic green vinyl auto style interior.
The gauges & steering wheel looked like it was straight out a 60s era car with the throttle being a lever that looked like a car transmission gear selector !
The motorbox was also padded metalic green vinyl.
These Mahogany Century boats had a single batten-seam plankd bottom.
Not double planked like Chris~Craft or Garwood Hacker etc.
Eventually becuse of his single bottom system they leaked very badly and he sold each boat.
This batten-seam single planked system was Century's weak point!
He and his buddy fiberglassed the bottom of the first boat to the waterline~ Big Mistake !. He only used one layer of glass and polyester resin and it soon started to get loose and peal. Water soon got between the fiberglass and the planking and the bottom started to rot badly near the center garboard seam! There was always water under the fibrglass bottom.
I remember when he first bought the Hemi powered boat Century advertised it as the "World's Fastest Production Speedboat!"
A bit of a stretch~But it was fast!
No trim tabs in those days so he was always telling us kids to go up foreward to bring the bow down so it would plane properly. I believe both were 21-22 feet long!
Beautyfull boats~
Just thinking back about it I can almost smell the fresh spar varnish that you could always smell from eight feet away!
Don't ask how many coats of spar varnish I put on that boat each season~ I still have my fancy badger-hair varnish brush.
I can also hear my Dad saying~ "Flow the varnish on~Don't whip air into it!
The boat had about eight coats of spar varnish on her. It also had the name on the transom in real engine turned gold leaf !
One day I was given the job of putting on the last coat of spar varnish.
I wanted to go to the beach~ so I waited until 6:00 PM to finally do the brightwork job.
When finished it looked spectactular !
The next day Dad & I arrived to see the boat was totally a hazey white! The nighttime dew had ruined the still wet spar varnish~
What a mess !

Yep, Brad. Those Coronados were cool boats with lots of passenger room. I had my bottom glassed by some professionals in Hot Springs one winter before I did glass work. They did a spectacular job and straightened out the hull also. Lots of brass screws were used as I remember. I remember they told me they bid almost half what it should have been. Mine had the aircraft throttle which had the push botton to pull the throttle open and fine tune the speed by turning the knurled knob.
Your varnish story reminds me of the time I painted the blue bow stripe on a 22' Donzi for a customer with Imron. It was absolutely perfect when I left the shop that night. The next morning I expected to simply pull the masking and compound it out to feather the edges. A large moth had flown into the wet paint and flopped his wings and ran for about 12" before dying in it. I had to totally redo the job - argh. Bill