questions about my boat

[davekate]

gday guys my name is dave. i'm not sure how this whole thing works but i want to ask advice about my boat. i own a haines hunter v19c with a stern drive 165 mecruiser leg. the previous owner replaced the original 165 engine with an old bedford truck engine, this engine has given me alot of trouble since i owned the boat. i have now spat the dummy and decided to look for an alternative. money is very tight at the moment so i cant up grade to an outboard even if i wanted to. i have been told that a holden red motor will fit but before i rebuild one i would like to be sure. i'm not sure about the wet manifold or if it is required and the mounts and couplings which you cant see at the back. hope you guys can help.

thanks dave and kate

[HarryO]

G'day Dave & Kate.

Welcome to the site...

Hmmmm, V19C, nice...

Some things can't be done on a tight budget,
especially sterndrive engine swaps.

Whats exactly wrong with the bedford unit?

Harry..

[davekate]

g'day harry
there seem to be alot of problems with the motor. one that keeps happening is like vapour lock with the fuel. after a while running it starts to surge badly untill it stops and comes good when cooled down. over time i have replaced the fuel pump with an electric and rerouted the lines to the coolest part of the engine bay ,new holley carby and filters with no success. my thought was possibly the wet manifold or lack of air circulation but running the exhaust fans makes no difference.it also runs a very high temp. the thermistat and sea water pump have been replaced and heat exchanger serviced. i just dont think the engine is suited. the size of its stroke limits the rpm to about 3000 rpm at a fairly wide throttle and will start to come off the plane at about 2700 rpm when loaded. the final straw was just after christmas when it broke down again feeling almost like a blown head gasket. ithink i just keep chasing my tail with this one and need some new ideas
thanks mate
dave and kate

[Hoges]

A great little motor is the Leyland P76 V8 or the Terrier low compression version. 4.4ltrs alloy and well worth the weight saving. I have ran one for years as an an inboard and highly recommend. Well worth the the trouble of finding one and rebuilding. I believe the cyclinders are the same as Holden and most parts are still available. I know the alloy water cooled manifolds still are and you should be able to use your existing heat exchanger.

[ahoj]

Hi,, some years ago i had a hains hunter 18 ft 1/2 cab cruises with a leg the motor was original chev Impala after worn out I replaced it with Holden 202 and a radiator no exchanger used double fan and years later it went still well after 100's of hours if not thousands that was 7 years later with the holden motor still as original as i placed it in.. Must admit it was underpowered but it kept the boat moving.. and about 1/2 the fuel bil.
Why are exchangers ever used in boats? use pure water and no hastles

If a car was running on salt water cooling do you honestly think it will last 3 years?
cheers Ahoj------ just a thought

[finga64]

I'm with Ahoj, why do they go through the hassles of heat exchangers etc instead of a radiator. Is it just a room thing??
Why not have a jacket around a smaller 'radiator' (bit like an old heat exchange, or water jacket, for heating water in fuel stoves a few years back) and keep coolant in the motor and have another water pump (ie gear pump) on the motor to bring in cool salty ikky water and to take hot water from just the outer jacket if it's a room thing?
Will that work??
Just thought. That system would be something like a radiator in a live bait tank with a larger pump.
The thermostat would still work with the coolant system and keep the motor running at the right temperature and the radiator and outer tank could be made out of aluminium or stainless.

[craig308]

dave your bedford motor mite be a holden motor as holden were fiting there motors
to bedfords from the mid seventy. if you can find the engine number take it down
to your local gmh dealer and find out. if so and update should not be so hard
or expensive as alot of parts will interchange
cheers craig

[Hoges]

I'm with Ahoj, why do they go through the hassles of heat exchangers etc instead of a radiator. Is it just a room thing??
Why not have a jacket around a smaller 'radiator' (bit like an old heat exchange, or water jacket, for heating water in fuel stoves a few years back) and keep coolant in the motor and have another water pump (ie gear pump) on the motor to bring in cool salty ikky water and to take hot water from just the outer jacket if it's a room thing?
Will that work??
Just thought. That system would be something like a radiator in a live bait tank with a larger pump.
The thermostat would still work with the coolant system and keep the motor running at the right temperature and the radiator and outer tank could be made out of aluminium or stainless.

Remember unlike a car you cannot get out and push a boat! LOL
If you are going to marinise an engine for a boat do it properly.
Bloody hell radiators in a boat and you are talking about taking up space. A heat exchanger can be 6 inches diameter, 20 inches long and sit on brackets above the rocker cover. As far as water cooled manifolds are concerned you will need a manifold/s anyway and these are simply the same but water jacketed.
All up done correctly the proper marinising gear should take up less space and you should not have to worry about air flow as one would with a radiator.
Raw water cooling is the other option but with alloy blocks or for that matter cast iron I would much rather prefer a closed system with an additive added.
The heat exchanger on my old boat was built by my late father and is still running on the same engine 20 plus years later in the boat pictured below. The only difference with this installation being that a water pump was not needed as the jet unit supplied the raw water for the cooling.
Anyway to end this rant I believe there should not be shortcuts when marinising a boat engine and done correctly it can give you years of service as my old beast has.