Paul, My first boat had a Palmer P-60, a flat-head 4 cylinder derived from an International Cub Cadet tractor engine, and similar to the Atomic 4. It was raw-water cooled, and the boat was in salt water. I had endless running problems with it over the years. The problems were both electrical (ignition) and carburetor-related. Conversion of the ignition system to electronic ignition (no more points in the distributor) made a tremendous improvement, but I still had carburetor issues. A real pain to remove it. I wondered when I bought the boat why the previous owner had left me a box-end wrench cut in half. I soon found out that there was no room to use a full-length wrench (or a socket) to remove the carburetor bolts. It was so tight on that side of the engine that a "half-wrench" was needed to remove the bolts. After several years of trying everything else, I finally decided to completely pump out the fuel tank. I found, at the bottom of the 35-gallon tank, at least 1" of water which had apparently accumulated over time. I have no idea why the water never showed up in the various fuel filters I had tried over the years. I completely cleaned the tank as best I could, and refilled it with fresh fuel. I never had another problem with the engine (other than head gaskets corroding and leaking, but that's another story) over the next 10 years that I owned the boat. Perhaps this "cure" will work for you. Bill MYSTY Landfall 39 In a message dated 8/5/2014 8:04:29 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Paul If the block is OK and you have good compression and this hasn't been done yet, I would get a price to upgrade to electric fuel pump, electronic ignition, rebuild the carb (professionally), Install a good fuel filter / separator and smaller in-line fuel filter downstream from the separator, empty the fuel tank and change ALL fuel lines then refill with fresh treated fuel. All that can be done with the motor in the boat. Take your time and find a good mechanic that has experience with this motor. Can't imagine that would be more than a couple $K. Certainly less than a refit to an outboard. Just about any engine can be made to run reliably. Since the advent of ethanol, fuel has become a persistent problem. Getting rid of the points will remove the potential for a few problems, too. Just a suggestion. Good luck! -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Pennie via CnC-List Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2014 7:46 AM To: Paul and Darlene Clarke; [email protected] Subject: Re: Stus-List follow-up on outboards Paul: I hear you and feel you pain. Been there. Just don't underestimate the cost of the outboard route. Even with a combination of yard/DIY/Ebay I can't see this being less than a 4k project and will easily top 6k yard alone. That includes removing the A4, removing all the associated systems and filling in some pretty big holes. Beef up the transom, buy an electric start outboard, a decent bracket and engine controls. None of this will add a dime of value to your boat. Electric is interesting but really doesn't like being away from dockside power for more than a night. That is likely an 8-10k project. as you still need to remove many of the components and upgrade both your charging system and batteries. Repowering with diesel is going to be in the same range. at least At the end of the day, I suspect the choice really comes down to a total rebuild vs. time to sell. Just an opinion. John _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album Email address: [email protected] To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album Email address: [email protected] To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
_______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album Email address: [email protected] To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
