Well, we seem to have a plethora of "little things" to deal with and every one of them decided, more or less, not to cooperate.
The picture above is our solution for matching the existing throttle cables to the new carburetor. It should have been easy to hook up the old cables but it wasn't, due to the fact the new Edlebrock carb is a different shape and has a different mounting arm than the old Quadrajets. Even with the old carbs, these cables were stiff and very sensitive. The throttle levers went from idle to wide open in just about 60 degrees. Our solution, after thinking about it for a while, was a 2-inch 14-20 stainless bolt and three locknuts. With this modification, the throttle cables now operate smoothly and the distance from idle to full throttle is now about 120 degrees. Much better. Glad we didn't rip out those four cables and replace them, thinking that was why they were so sticky.
Looking at the photo as we write this, it looks as though we should add some stainless flat washers and we'll do that as soon as we can.
Also on the list of little things was filling the heat exchangers. There is no water nearby in the shed so we lugged down two plastic gallon jugs of water so that we could mix the antifreeze in and fill the exchangers with a funnel and a length of plastic hose that we put together this week. Even that didn't cooperate. One of the plastic jugs collapsed in the cold and began to leak. We got one heat exchanger filled but not without slopping water all over the place.
We put the flame arrestor on the newly installed starboard carb and the hose that runs from it to the valve cover was too short. No problem, just buy a 3-ft. length of 5/8" hose, cut it in half and that was done.
Then there's the fuel line. The steel line from the fuel pump is 5/16" but the fuel inlet to the carb is 3/8". That's not going to work so we're off this week in search of a 5/16" fuel fitting for the inlet to the carb.
We mentioned in a previous post that we wanted to get a shorter belt for the alternator so that alternator pulley wouldn't be so close to the new exhaust hose. We went shopping for a belt 1/2" shorter than the old one but could only get one 1" shorter. We bought two at $15.00 each, hoping we could get them on.
Since it was on our list of little things, we attempted to install that belt on the starboard engine. It really didn't want to go on, even with the alternator all the way down on its bracket. But it did, finally go on. We used a small prybar under the alternator to get that belt nice and tight. That fan on the alternator is now several inches from the exhaust hose so we're happy. Not looking forward to putting a new belt on the port alternator since the mounting bracket is a lot harder to reach on that side.
Before we left the boat on Saturday, we mounted the new carb on the port engine.
Now that we know what issues we'll have to deal with, connecting the cables should go quickly. Yeah, right!
That funny color on the top of the flame arrestor isn't rust but some odd reflection. We'd never install a rusty flame arrestor.
On Sunday, we wired the electric chokes, electing to connect the +12 Volt side to the ignition connection on the distributor dropping resistor.
It was really time to figure out how we were going to connect the fuel inlets of the carbs. We re-read the Edelbrock installation instructions. Indeed, the marine carb fuel inlet is to be connected with 3/8" flexible fuel line but the steel line from our fuel pumps is 5/16." Turns out that Edelbrock supplies a neat little adapter with a ferrule that connects 5/16" metal fuel line to 3/8" fuel hose. You can't find fittings like this at West Marine or at your local auto parts place.
It's not really connected in this picture but this is what it looks like.
We installed one of these fittings on the port engine and will do the starboard side next weekend.
Tasting some hydraulic fluid
If you've been following our blog, you may remember that our upper steering helm failed some time after the boat was blocked up for winter storage. We only noticed that the upper helm had puked out hydraulic fluid on the floor of the fly bridge when we uncovered the bridge to check on something. While we did the work on the carbs and the exhaust system, we also searched the Internet for companies that repair Hynautic helms. Considering that literally thousands of Silvertons use the Hynautic steering system, it was odd that we could only find one company, www.boaterstore.com in Pinellas Park, Florida That did that work. Their website offers lots of information, drawings and instructions on Hynautic and Teleflex helms, steering cylinders and reservoirs.
We emailed them and got a call back within 10 minutes. The upshot of the very pleasant conversation was, "Take the helm off and send it to us." The cost would be something north of $185 and they normally rebuild and return parts within two weeks.
Since spring is right around the corner, today was a fine time to undercover the bridge and remove the helm. We brought lots of wrenches with us as we settled on our back under the upper steering station. There are three flexible lines connected to the helm and we labeled each one and then cracked the first one. Out it came. Perfect. Then we tried the second line and it came loose fairly easily. As we pulled the line out of the helm, a big drop of hydraulic steering fluid came out of the helm and hit us on the forehead. We said something like "Oh, shit!" and a second drop or two landed in our mouth. Not tasty. We slid a little to the left and opened the last line. It was good we had moved because lots of hydraulic fluid dripped out of that last line.
We brought the helm home and tapped the steering wheel off. Here it is, still drooling hydraulic fluid. We'll pack it up this week and send it to boaterstore.
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