Have you ever had a day when everything just came at you at once? Wham, everything went to crap for you in like the matter of an hour? Not all the stuff was bad, but a whole week’s worth of schtuff to deal with crammed up into like an hour?

Holy crap people. Give me a second to catch my breath. Please?

So on that note, I am going to go home and drink and have a steak. Check that, I am going to head home, stop and buy a steak and some broccoli, then go home, and BBQ me up some good old beef. Of course there will be mad amounts of JD consumed, why not, it has been a heck of a week, and I deserve it.

I’ve managed to piss off a good number of lefty blogs. I think all the 6th CD campaigns hate me now. I was lucky enough to have taken my boat out to filler with gas and let the newly washed floor of it dry out, but it poured rain like mad on me. So it is now back in the garage to dry out for the maiden voyage tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I have now freaking insurance on it, because freaking insurance companies suck! If I were god, they’d have to jump through hoops for my business, not the other way around. For jeepers’ sakes, they make you go through living hell to be allowed to pay them a butt load of money every month. I think it would be easier to catch Osama bin Laden then it is to get a boat insured in this country. What the frack is that about?

Oh, and the Legislature can’t help but expand state government and hand money out like it grows on trees. Thanks, I sure hope these bloated fat cats that are writing these gynourmous checks are there when they need to be paid for. I want these SOBs that have grown roots in St. Paul to wake up one morning with 5 million Minnesotans pounding on their door , asking them why the hell they decided it’d be a good thing to spend billions of dollars on crap?

[insert screaming sound here]

So there, I hope that cheers you all up. Have a great weekend. I’m sure I’ll have a couple drunk posts tonight, why not? I don’t think I’ve pissed off the Catholics yet today. Might as well.

Oh wait, I got it. I think I’ll do a post how the gutless cowardly left is going to get us all killed with their pacifist ways. That always gets under their skin.

Yeah baby. She’s purring like a kitten now.

Yeah baby!

She’ll be floating tomorrow night if the weather is good!

Yeah, the ice is out, the boat should be in. But I had a knock in it. So I got up early and came in to work on her. Pulled the engine, again, for the fourth time. Me and the guys here tore the pan off, and found the problem. The oil pickup tube was hitting the connector rods. Fixed that.

I’ll throw the pan back on at break. Run and grab a couple parts at lunch. And throw the engine in this afternoon.

With all luck, tomorrow evening may be the maiden voyage.

Anyone want a ride?

Dear God,

Is there any particular reason for me to wake up at 4:30 AM every day this week? I don’t normally get up until 5:30, so this kinda sucks. Oh, and how I can’t get back to sleep kinda sucks too.

So I don’t know if you are just playing around or what, but 4:30 AM is kinda too early unless it is an emergency.

I’m just saying.

Thanks,

Triple_a

PS - Thanks for all the lakes!

I know some people get annoyed with my boat posts, too bad. I had gotten the new engine installed, and had a knocking sound in it. My best guess was that the oil pump or oil pick up was hitting the crank. The easiest way for me to check was to rip the engine back out and pull the oil pan. So that is what I did today.

I got the engine out, pan off, and bingo, the pick up tube mount was barely being scraped by the crankshaft. No damage was done to either. I used the highly specialized tool known as a hammer, and made some modifications to the mounting bracket, and reinstalled the pick up.

I rotated the engine over by hand this time with the pan off, and nothing was hitting the crank anymore. I put the pan back on. Rotated the engine again, and I was still looking good. (Note: If you ever rebuild/assemble an engine, do this before you install it, I didn’t, and I had to start over.)

I then reinstalled the engine, got all the wires, and hoses hooked up, and crossed my fingers. I refilled her with oil, turned on the water, and turned the key. She fired up, and ran with out the knocking sound. Problem fixed. I have just some minor wiring and cleaning up to do. All I really need now is open water.

I had a chance today to turn the key on the boat. After some tinkering and such, she fired up. Big problem though. She’s knocking. Sounds like it may be on the lower end. Which is very not good! I turned off the power, and walked away. OK, I uttered a few profanities.
So I am drowning my sorrows tonight, at the fear of having to do it all over again. Should have gone with a V-8.

24 is on in 6. Gotta top off the glass.

For those that don’t remember I had the misfortune of cracking the block on my boat engine last summer. (Refresher) I ordered a replacement, and have been slowly, as free-time allows, getting the new one ready to go in. The swap was a bit tougher than I expected, the new, slightly larger, engine did require some modifications I was not aware of. I spare you the details.

Here’s the boat with no engine.

Here is the new engine ready to be installed. These photos are a bit late, as the engine is now installed. I have some more plumbing of lines to do, but I should be able to turn the key this afternoon on her if all goes well.

Stay tuned!

I love the sound of chainsaws in the morning.

I smell like I’ve bathed in gasoline. I’m covered in sawdust.

I love it!

RF 5 Trees 0

I ordered a new boat engine this morning. I’m upgrading to a 292 cubic inch. The old one was a 250 cubic inch one. It will get me about a 40 HP increase, plus lots of extra torque. And all that in the same size package. The 292 and the 250 are actually the same size externally. The 292 is to make it simple made bigger inside by boring out the cylinders and/or making the pistons move farther.

I found a company that remanufactures engines, and does not charge a core fee. Marine Engines, Inc. (That is a fee you pay until you send them the old engine you are replacing.) So, not only do I have to pay double shipping to Mass, but I also get to keep the old one. That is really going to help out my cylinder index. (That’s a thing from the other conservative station in town that bloggers snicker at from time to time.)

And if that wasn’t cool enough, no sales tax!! Very cool.

I should have the new engine in 2 weeks. In the mean time I will be gathering up what I think I’ll need. I’m going to shop for a new carb. If my research is correct, the external parts like the starter, manifold, oil pan, valve cover, flywheel, and such are interchangeble so I’m saving a ton of money by not going up to a V8 like I originally planned.

I’ve never removed or installed a sterndrive boat engine before, but they say it is easy. For those that don’t know, that means it has an egine that looks just like a car engine in it, not one of those ones that sticks up off the back. It will test my limited grease monkey skills, but much fun will be had. It is always a good day when you get grease under your fingernails while using hand tools.

A man without tools is just a man.

I was going to bolt it back together tonight in a fleeting attempt at it not having a cracked block. But before I did, I needed a gasket, so I ran home at lunch today to check something. While doing so, I wanted to see what the oil pan had in it. (I had drained all the contaminated oil/water sludge after it was last run and it had been sitting since.) To my dissappointment, straight water came out.

Meaning that between the time it had last run and now, nothing could have introduced water to the oil but a crack somewhere. My head is ok. Gaskets ok. Manifold OK.

Can you spell new engine?

I can. I’m ordering one up tomorrow.

I have to say that 31 years out of an engine is pretty darn un heard of with out major work. So I can’t complain much except for the fact that I’m 29. Only 2 years left till my replacement. S@#t!

developing…