Re-powering the F/V Virginia Bae

[jwalka51]

Ok, so I am getting ready to haul my webber cove 26' out for the winter and get started with the re-power/ re-fit that I have been anticipating all season long. As some of you may have read in some of my previous threads, I have purchased a used, 1998 John deere TFM 4045 rated at 150 horses. I also have a twin disc 5050 1.5:1 that will be getting bolted up to her.
I bought the engine used with 15,000 hours on it as a RTO, my friend and I completely disassembled it and sent her to the machine shop. The block was line honed, the crank was re polished and re-sized, connecting rods were re-sized. I bought a new cam shaft and two new balance shafts. The machine shop also installed all new bearings, including all six mains, all the balance shaft bearings and the cam bearings, and they installed the new wet liners.
As far as the head goes, it was decked 0.002", got new valves, seats,springs, basically 100% re-build on the head.
Just got it all back from the shop and started the re-assembly. New pistons, rings, main bolts, lifting rods, lifters, new oil pump, all new bearings and seals on the timing/auxiliary drive gear cluster. All seals and gaskets will be replaced as well as any other incidentals that will be needed to make this a 100% remanufactured engine.
We are hoping to have the long block completely re-assembled by next weekend. Then it will be getting a bomb proof POR-15 paint job and I will bolt all of the accessories on. Then comes the real job of re-configuring my boat with the new engine and gear.
My current power is a 350 gas jobber with 1.9:1 borg warner velvet drive, heat exchanger cooled, wet exhaust. It is positioned forward of the steering bulkhead. The new power will be aft of the steering bulkhead with an engine box over it about 40" long and 32" wide. Of course, this will require some deck modification, so I figure that I may as well just tear the whole deck out. The current deck has soft spots anyways.While it is up, I will be building two below deck lobster/crab tanks Also I think that I will be putting the fuel tank below as well. I currently have a 100 gallon tank under the transom that takes up a lot of space, and I would love to get rid of it and gain some deck space. So you guys will be seeing it for sale soon enough. I should be able to fit a 75 gallon single tank below with no problem. This will also help to center the weight and lower the center of gravity.
I will get some pictures up soon and I am sure that I will be looking around here for some ideas/advice as I encounter little set backs here and there. It will be such a relief to finally get an economical and highly reliable drive train in this boat, and I look forward to the challenge ahead of me. Thanks in advance guys. Over and out.

 

[CEShawn]

Well I hope you have a sense of humor... becuase I'm going to tell you I hope this is the last time you post on this thread without pictures! I expected some ENGINE PORN as I scrolled down and I am sure it will follow...Good luck with the job and make sure to do pictures for us... Good luck with it...

 

[jwalka51]

LOLOL ,The engine porn is coming soon. It is still mostly disassembled and sitting on the bench right now. So far, all it is is a block with liners, pistons,rods and crank in with all the main caps. But I will get some good pics of the whole engine assembly as it comes together. I stop by my friends shop every day to drool all over the nice clean shiny metal, it truly is a thing of beauty. BTW, after seeing one of these John Deere's completely taken apart, I now understand why the are able to last 20,000+ hours. And I now understand why a new one costs $20,000. It is one seriously over built little engine, Yet incredibly simple in its design and function.

 

[Keelboater]

Doesn't engine porn begin with a good strip job? We might have missed the best part!

 

[BillD]

I'll follow your posts !!!

I'm in the "same boat" with a rehab/repower job !

 

[F/V First Team]

What's the weight of your 350 vs the 4045?

 

[jwalka51]

The 4045 weighs just under 1300 LBS. The twin disc 5050 weighs 180 LBS . As for the marine 350, I believe that it is around 950 LBS fully dressed and the velvet drive is probably around 125 LBS. But I cannot be sure of that. I will be weighing the old set up once I get it out via my truck and the scale at the local materials yard. As for the 4045. That is an accurate # according to the spec sheet that I found for that engine.

 

[F/V First Team]

So you're adding about 500 lbs to the front and taking all of the weight out of the back (that 100 gallon fuel tank) then you're putting in a smaller fuel tank forward. You might be getting yourself into a bow-down attitude which is going to be hard to get up onto plane when running.

 

[jwalka51]

Thanks bill!! I have been keeping an eye on your posts as well. It looks like you are moving right along with a very thorough refit. Keep up the good work. It looks like you are doing a great job thus far. Do it once and do it right. You will be happy that you did a little farther down the road.

Anyways, I will keep an eye on what you have going seeing as I will be doing pretty much exactly the same thing.

 

[jwalka51]

I am moving the the power train back by five feet travis. You may have missed the part where I said that the current power is completely in front of the steering bulkhead. My new power will be aft of the steering bulkhead. The center of the engine weight will be moving back by 4-5 feet. Dont you agree that by doing this I will more than make up for the extra weight of the new engine and gear.???? As for the fuel tank, I will be centering it in the boat beam wise, but it will all still be in the rear quarter of the boat, so I am confident that the weight distribution will be very good once I am done. The guy who used to tie up next to me had the same boat with a very similar configuration and she sat very nicely.

As far as the current set up goes, she is currently always bow down unless the fuel tank is completely full. When she is at rest with half a tank, the water will not clear from the deck. This is the main reason why I am moving the engine back so much. At first I thought of splitting the engine between the bulkhead, but just to be safe I will be putting it completely behind the bulkhead. I also will be very happy to finally have some room to fabricate a decent size V-Birth down below and some dry storage compartments. The only thing that will be protruding forward of the bulkhead will be maybe the pulleys and certainly my hydraulic pump and clutch and jack shaft.

Trust me travis, if you saw the way that she sits in the water right now, you would see that this is going to be a vast improvement over my current situation.

 

[F/V First Team]

Yup, totally missed that

 

[jwalka51]

Its all good travis.I read so many posts on here that it gets difficult to take all the information in on the first read. All of them kinda need a second time over just to make sure that I am getting it. Now that you are up to date, what is your opinion??? Do you think that she will be all good???

 

[hatterasser]

I've used por-15 on a hydraulic valve and it's done well but I thought it supposedly "welded" pieces together if so how do you do this on your engine? Not being a wiseguy just not that familiar with it.

 

[jwalka51]

I have already painted some of the engine parts with it and it has done very very well. They actually have an engine painting system. It consists of cleaners/prepers, the POR-15 coating and a high gloss high pigment high temperature engine enamel. Let me tell you guys, after working with this stuff and seeing how durable it is, I will be using it for all of my engine painting needs from now on. I know a guy who painted an engine with it 10+ years ago and it still looks brand new to this day. It will not rust, peel chip or crack ever as long as you follow the instructions and apply it correctly. Also, the high pigment engine enamel top coat that they provide is absolutly beautiful. It looks better than the original paint that comes on john deere marine engines.

Check it out here Stop Rust with POR-15® - We Know What Permanent Means!

 

[CaptJ]

I also have a Webber's Cove 26. It has a John Deere 220 with a 1.5 to 1 ZF gear. It sits very nice in the water as far as trim with the engine just aft of the main bulkhead and I have the standard molded top. It does have an 80 gallon stern tank like your boat. I should been getting a new propellor from H and H next week that will be a 22"D x 22"P 4 blade with a #3 cup. My boat does have a modified skeg that gives it a 27" propellor aperture so it can swing the bigger wheel. It also has lifting rails in addition to the molded chine. I have only owned the boat 2 weeks but I like it so far.

 

[jwalka51]

What type of #s do you get with that power in her???

 

[CaptJ]

Tops out at 25 knots. I think I will gain some when I cut the rudder down because it is way too big and sticks beyond the transom. It is ss and has two support fins on the blade. The old owner said he lost two knots with it from the original.

 

[jwalka51]

Here are some pics of the progress. Got her hauled out the other day. Started tearing the old power out today. Decided to disasemble it and carry out piece by piece rather than cut a hole in the cabin to remove the whole thing.

 

[Toolate]

Love a full blown tear down. Been there. Sadly only about $90 in scrap.

Much faster taking them apart unfortunately too.... GREAT pics. Keep em coming.

 

[BillD]

Jwalk,

You stated the motor is being moved back 4-5 ft. (48-60 inches). That is a long distance in a 26 ft hull. Are you going to a vdrive?
I'm sure you measured ALL up from the shaft log forward but will you have enough depth in the hull to set the motor back that much distance?
You'll be losing depth in the hull for the bottom of the engine to clear as you move the engine back.

Will you be using a drop down gear? 8 degree maybe ?
Will you have to change the shaft angle to gain some height in the hull ?

I've never seen the inside depth of the hull where the shaft comes through forward on a 26 Webbers Cove.

Any pics??

Regards, Bill D