Engine reconditioning
- Thread starter Tinto
- Start date
rogerthebodger
Well-known member
Engine hours meter perhaps ?
Tranona
Well-known member
Poole - based on £50 an hour. Doubt there is any material difference in costs of this type of work. between Poole and the Clyde.
My reason for questioning reconditioning is that I have been involved with this type of thing from the time when you had to recondition engines after 25000 miles - and labour was cheap. That world has changed and "reconditioning" is no longer the norm for either cars or boats for all the reasons I mentioned earlier. There seems to me to be a mismatch between your expectations (reliable, safe, suitable for heavy use and going further afield and refurbishing a 30 year old 8000 hour obsolete engine.
Of course you can do it for less money than a new engine particularly DIY, but you are not getting the same thing and I fear that you will end up spending more money than you expect and you will regret it in a few years' time.
BTW what is it about the Beta that makes it unsuitable?
Daydream believer
Well-known member
Lift out, yard craneage for engine in & out, yard put boat back in. Volspec to commission engine & take out in river to test after I had installed myself.
Took out knackered Volvo MD 2020 & put in a new 30 HP Volvo complete with new saildrive & electrics
. Sold old Volvo ( as a knackered unit). Had an issue with installation that cost me an extra £300.
Total net cost all in was £9350 inc VAT. I did not take up the extra £ 500 for 5 year parts & labour warranty anywhere in the world option.
So that gives one an idea of what a new engine cost was May 2023
Whole operation complete in 5 weeks inc 100 hours running in for Volspec to do oil change under warranty ( inc in the above.
Took out knackered Volvo MD 2020 & put in a new 30 HP Volvo complete with new saildrive & electrics
. Sold old Volvo ( as a knackered unit). Had an issue with installation that cost me an extra £300.
Total net cost all in was £9350 inc VAT. I did not take up the extra £ 500 for 5 year parts & labour warranty anywhere in the world option.
So that gives one an idea of what a new engine cost was May 2023
Whole operation complete in 5 weeks inc 100 hours running in for Volspec to do oil change under warranty ( inc in the above.
pandos
Well-known member
I am doing similar with my MD21B.
Really recommend it if you are physically capable of taking the engine out and putting it back in place.
I used a chain block and some planks and slings to get it into the saloon after taking off the ancillaries and the head in the engine bay...
After I stripped it I realized it needed major work so I took the block home using the boom and mainsheet to lower it onto the ground.
It's a very good way to learn about the engine. Even if you want to have it reassembled by an engine place, no harm in stripping it your self.
If it is knackered you will not have gone to the expense of being told this by an expert.
Even things like torque wrenches and good socket sets will be bought for a fraction of the cost of a professional rebuild. Even special tools are cheap as chips on Amazon. (Honing tools, ring spanners, spring compressor etc)
Refueler
Well-known member
8000 hrs ... 2yrs .... ??? .... that's 11hrs each day .... every day ..
mrming
Well-known member
As far as I understand it, the OP has had the boat for 2 years, and the engine hours mostly predate his ownership.
B27
Well-known member
Bear in mind that no amount spent on 'reconditioning' an engine will make much difference to the value of the boat.
People will prefer a boat with a modern engine.
Is it possible to find a low mileage base engine and swap the marinising parts?
Or maybe a better secondhand marine engine which will go in easily?
The best way forwards may depend on how long you expect to keep the boat, how many hours you expect to do etc.
There have been a lot of 'reconditioned' engines which have just had any obvious faults fixed and a fresh coat of paint. They may give several or even many years' good service, but they are a long way from being a new engine.
It's very difficult to make an engine as good as new, and very expensive.
People will prefer a boat with a modern engine.
Is it possible to find a low mileage base engine and swap the marinising parts?
Or maybe a better secondhand marine engine which will go in easily?
The best way forwards may depend on how long you expect to keep the boat, how many hours you expect to do etc.
There have been a lot of 'reconditioned' engines which have just had any obvious faults fixed and a fresh coat of paint. They may give several or even many years' good service, but they are a long way from being a new engine.
It's very difficult to make an engine as good as new, and very expensive.
Tranona
Well-known member
Always best to actually read what is written. It was quite clear that the engine is 33 years old so 8000 hours is not unusual for a heavily used boat. Just over 250 a year. My charter boat managed 3500 hours with 7 years chartering and 5 years light use.
Roughly the same life as 200000 miles in mixed use in a car or van (my running average over 20000 miles with my current car is just over 25mph)
Points heavily towards a new engine if the objective is a long and trouble free life, although of course a refurbishment will extend the life of the current engine somewaht.
Refueler
Well-known member
Shooosh .... I knew that .... just poking the 'pig' ......
Tinto
Active member
L
I think you need to get a life because the one you have seems somewhat empty if acting the goat on this forum is the best use of your time
No you didn’t
I think you need to get a life because the one you have seems somewhat empty if acting the goat on this forum is the best use of your time
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Tinto
Active member
Tinto
Active member
Done that. Looking for recommendations for firms that people have actually used
Tinto
Active member
Routing of the anti syphon loop needs to be different and it means making a mess of the woodwork. I have seen it on another boat if the same model and it’s not good and it’s not happening under any circumstances.
Tinto
Active member
Most of my hand tools are Wera.
Refueler
Well-known member
Maybe you need to lighten up ..... you've had good advice on this matter ... and as usual threads once the useful side is done - often go off on a tangent.
My life is fine thank you ...
B27
Well-known member
Price it all up.
It adds up, gaskets, big end bolts, seals,
Then there's the slippery slope.
You're spending £500 and a lot of your time, so you should start thinking about all the parts which can be worn.
Oil pump, cam followers, timing chain....
Then look at the head.
New valves and guides? Injectors?
Easy to spend a lot of money and you've still got an old engine with some parts having done 150,000 miles.
No warranty and little value when it's time to sell.
And any one part or bit of work done can turn into a lot of aggro.
And the time.
If you wanted to get this done for this season, you need to start 3 months ago.
There's a bloke in our river who missed two seasons messing about with an old engine.
I think he eventually sold up.
Refueler
Well-known member
Have to agree wholeheartedly with that ....
I applaud those who can genuinely recon an engine ... I'm not useless when it comes to engines - having raced and own maintained cars ... but TBH - when it came to my boats engine ... lot of people said - it can be fixed (boat had filled with rainwater ashore and it got into engine ... oil was changed - water drained .. dispersant injected etc etc ... ran fine and then second weekender out - it seized). Yes I could have recon'd - but decided in the end to buy a later second hand version .. it dropped straight in ...
Engineer offered to refurb the replacement - but we started it on the pallet and agreed - its old - it runs.
20yrs later - its still running as sweet ...
Problem is as we discussed - you pull one part and then another .. then another needs .. and so - you end up chasing the problems and costs mounting up. All looks cheap to buy yourself etc. - but there's always the risk that one part missed fails ruining all that good work.
Just my honest opinion.
Daydream believer
Well-known member
From my post#24 My engine blew up 24 miles from home on 25 may. I sailed back to Bradwell & on the 26 May the wife ordered me a new engine. She said life was too short for me to miss a season sailing. on 25 June the boat was back in the water & a week later Volspec had done the commision trip. I did all the work myself, apart from 2 half days from my son & a friend to do some heavy lifting & saildrive alignment. Plus, of course, the yard launching & craning the engines in & out.
Poncing about trying to refurbish old engines just is not worth the effort if you want to go sailing. I have been there & had the T shirt. When I was younger I worked on our dumpers hoists & mixers, so I know from experience how things can spiral. More so when they are water cooled, such as a marine engine .
It is not always the hours they have done but the years that they have sat in the bilges of the yacht corroding. Volspec's engineer told me that they have had engines returned scrapped with 1500 hours, but years old, due to corrosion & inadequate care.
You have to realise that sailing DOES cost money & one has to sometimes bite the bullet & just get on with it.
Tinto
Active member
Maybe you could stop wasting peoples time with posting nonsense and answering questions which were not asked?
