Engine again

On Sunday I stripped the heat exchanger and cleaned the sea water side which was not too bad the oil cooler comes first in the sea water system and acts as a bit of a strainer for anything that gets past the sea water strainer. There was quite an accumulation of loose scale in the fresh water side which was brushed and blown out.

Heat exchanger cleaned ready for reassembly

The heat exchanger was then reassembled with new rubber seals and new bolts for the end covers.

Heat exchanger seals 

Reassembled ready for painting

The rest of the week was spent painting various parts for the engine and then reassembling the various bits and pieces with new rubber hose connections. There were a number of nuts, bolts and spring washers that were missing so after making up a shopping list I obtained the missing items so that I could tie up all the loose ends.

Engine reassembled

I have reconnected the engine wiring harness and repaired a broken wire on the starter solenoid panel, the sump and gearbox have been filled with fresh oil just needs the new oil and fuel filters fitting  and an exhaust and fuel system before I can try and start it.

One of the more pressing projects is to make good the large hole in the forward cockpit bulkhead where various navigational instruments and I assume the engine panel have been removed.

I have had several ideas originally I was going to square up the hole and then mould a grp recessed panel that would take all the instruments plan B was to use a piece of flat pre moulded grp to cover the hole and then build up from behind with glass and resin I am now working on plan C I have opened up the round hole to take the echo sounder and the plan is to square up the large hole and then cover with a laminate panel with a flush mounted chart plotter secured with a stainless steel frame with nuts and screws the engine panel will be mounted inside probably above the chart table. 

The original installation was I believe sealed with silicone sealant which would make it difficult or impossible to do anything much with grp so screws are probably the best solution also should the plotter need to be replaced with something different it will only need a comparatively small piece of laminate to be replaced. The frame is already under way in the workshop although the next few days will be taken up with a garden project for er indoors.