Essex / middle river mechanic

Pirate Lady

Pirate Lady

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2020
7,540
Chesapeake Bay, Middle River
Boat Info
Sundancer 250 ‘91
Engines
7.4 Bravo 1
Had mechanic diagnose my overheating problem today. Intake manifold gaskets leaking. Its a basic GM / Merc 7.4 / 454. 1991. Boat mechanics so busy they cant get to it until early July. However, this a basic 454. Carb, distributor, intake manifold comes off, replace gaskets, install reverse. Don’t take a boat special mechanic. Anybody know a car mechanic can do this? No EFI, MPI, Computer, throttle body, etc. old school engine.
 
If they had that engine on an engine stand in their shop, it would be easy-peasy. But to most car mechanics, it would be like a doctor doing a house call. They have to bring all their tools, the gaskets etc to where you are.
 
Carb doesn't even have to come off. Just disconnect it. Hour job including having a beer or two if it isn't FWC. Even then it isn't hard. Tough part about finding a mobile mechanic is finding one you'd trust to do the work and one you can find later if there's a problem.
You'd need a 5/8" for intake bolts, 9/16" dist wrench, 9/16" wrench for thermostat bolts, 5/16" for the throttle cable and I think an 11/16" and/or 3/4" for the fuel line. Gasket set and black Permatex and that's about it. If you do it right you wouldn't even need to re-time it.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Hawk, my buddy and I could do it (talked him this morn) but its the distributor thing that trips us up. Neither of us know how to do that part. Conceptually i know, make an alignment mark etc. never did it though.
 
Just had thought, we have outboard mechanic shop at marina. I will check with him monday, if he can pull and install the distributor, we can do the rest. I’ll bet he knows how. Outboards used to have distributors i think.
 
Pirate Lady said:
Thanks Hawk, my buddy and I could do it (talked him this morn) but its the distributor thing that trips us up. Neither of us know how to do that part. Conceptually i know, make an alignment mark etc. never did it though.
Click to expand...

You can do it! Just like the old 5.0 days !!!

I'm sure there are videos on Youtube about #1 cylinder and TDC for aligning the distributor. Go for it!
 
And being that our weather is supposed to suck balls for next two weeks, i aint missing any boat time. Gotta say, this boat is first i ever had camper canvas and i love it. Torrential rain yesterday, the mechanic and me were bone dry comfortable working on the engine.
 
Pirate Lady said:
And being that our weather is supposed to suck balls for next two weeks, i aint missing any boat time. Gotta say, this boat is first i ever had camper canvas and i love it. Torrential rain yesterday, the mechanic and me were bone dry comfortable working on the engine.
Click to expand...

Good deal! The camper canvas is great for a bunch of reasons. I've never tried but is it possible to even use the boat with the camper canvas in place? Or is it a nightmare with the wind?
 
We use it up. A lot. Remove side and transom panels. We have taken boat out on drizzly day and just removed the transom panel. Top makes real nice full boat cover sun shade. Wife loves it up on hot brutal sun days. Only down side is it’s a lot more noisy because it traps the engine noise compared to canvas off. like “look at me when you talk cause i cant hear you” loud.
 
Here a pic last summer, rainy day, top up, front eisenglass up, went down river to tiki bar. It really extends use in not so nice weather.
 

Attachments

  • E1966C75-4C42-49B2-80F3-6EB302621F65.jpeg
    E1966C75-4C42-49B2-80F3-6EB302621F65.jpeg
    99 KB · Views: 175
Hawk and Phil. My buddy and slip neighbor said he can fix this. I asked when? He said in morning. He off this week, will knock out tomorrow. I asked if i need be there, he said i just be in the way. This may work out. Trust him, he done other boat work for me, lots.
 
Pirate Lady said:
Hawk and Phil. My buddy and slip neighbor said he can fix this. I asked when? He said in morning. He off this week, will knock out tomorrow. I asked if i need be there, he said i just be in the way. This may work out. Trust him, he done other boat work for me, lots.
Click to expand...
It's always nice to have someone that will hand you a tool/beer here and there.
 
Well. Buddy orders new intake gaskets. Gives serial numbers off valve cover stickers and engine block stamped numbers. They show up today, wrong. Had to return and reorder. Tomorrow, hope these will be correct. Only Tuesday, no biggie.
 
Pirate Lady said:
Well. Buddy orders new intake gaskets. Gives serial numbers off valve cover stickers and engine block stamped numbers. They show up today, wrong. Had to return and reorder. Tomorrow, hope these will be correct. Only Tuesday, no biggie.
Click to expand...
I needed intake manifold gaskets a few weeks ago. Not one supplier in the area had them in stock for a BBC. I had to order them. I was disgusted... What has this world come to where auto parts stores aren't stocking BBC parts? Bah...
 
I swear to god i am cursed. So the yacht is down waiting on parts till Monday. So yesterday i off work, i take the zodiac down the river, didn’t hit a GD thing, the port tube decides to deflate. Barely made it back to marina it was going down, soaking wet by time i got back. So now i got 2 busted boats. Disgusted. I am getting too old for this aggravation.
I got half a mind in this market and height of summer putting them both up for sale ask twice what i paid and see what happens.
 
Last edited:
Parts came in today, buddy/mechanic picking up in morn. God willing, they shipped the right parts, will have new thermo, housing, sensors, etc. and boat will be fixed tomorrow. Weather has sucked so i dont feel i missed much time, new inflation valves coming for zodiac tomorrow so hope that solves that problem.
Chipping away at it little at a time, soon everything but the hull and the block will be new. But the outdrive, love those Bravo Ones. Built like a brick sh!thouse. Better than a Timex or a Concubine. Takes a beating and still keeps ticking.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,171
Messages
1,427,778
Members
61,080
Latest member
Jfeg
Back
Top