Update: The boat was supposed to be launched today. The entire punch list, save the depth sounder, has been accomplished. This has been good since I can't stay on the PC long since I had eye-lid surgery. Friday, I was going through the final tune up. I adjusted the float level in the carb, checked the duty cycle of the points (34%) and checked timing. It all looked great and the engine idled just fine, but I was getting a high speed miss and I started to hear a pervasive rattling sound. No, it wasn't rythmic or deep like a bearing noise. My guess it would be a water pump but it looked like a pain to get to through the front engine mount.
Checking the carb again, it had very little fuel. Checking the electric fuel pump, I found my culprit. It was barely putting out any gas. Fine for idle, but not adequate for higher speeds. I was getting a lean miss. I got another fuel pump and mounted it in the same place on the back of the engine block. I had already taken care to re-route the fuel line and the ground strap away from the intake water pump pulley. It was at this time that I checked the water pump pulley and saw that the alternator belt was inverted and running on top of the second belt that ran the intake pump. When I got a flashlight down to the harmonic balancer, I could see that it had started to separate and was the obvious reason why the belts were now way misaligned. Double crap!
Separated Harmonic Balancer
Starboard view of the engine.
The front engine mount had to come off, so I fashioned a hoist beam out of 2X6X10', a 2X4x60", an anchor chain and a come along.
This morning I spent about a half an hour to assemble the rest of the engine support, remove the front engine mount, remove the water pump (which was essentially frozen) and the harmonic balancer. I then put the front support back on with only two of the four bolts and removed the beam so I can use the engine cover to protect it from the elements. All this was during a light sprinkle. I am sure that the water pump was not only the noise I heard, but also the reason why the harmonic balancer bit the dust. The alternator and the other pump move freely and it was obvious that the one I took off was NOT a marine grade pump. Steel impeller instead of bronze like I am replacing it with. Here are some pics of the job:
Front Engine Mount/Support removed
You can see the bearing race coming apart
Harmonic Balancer Puller (Snap On)
The offending Harmonic Balancer and Water Pump
I got the water pump today but they are going to have to find the balancer. If anyone has a CLUE where to get one, I would be very happy! FWIW, everyone is saying that this has to be a 3.0 L because of the harmonic balancer. Its got to be the same pulley either way.
