Catapults and Come-alongs

First a quick comment on the title. The previous post was "Tower of Power"...and as this post is about removing the inline 6 Mariner, I thought of laying seige on a tower of a castle. Thus the catapult reference. Yes, my brain really does work that strangly.

Anyway, from the remainder of the title, you can guess how the motor was removed. And not just a come-along, but in in true redneck fashion, it was attached to a chain on a tree limb. Details after the pics...

From Project Fisher	From Project Fisher

Unfortunately, I didn't really get any work in progress pictures. I was too busy trying to work somewhat safely while making sure 3 kids didn't kill themselves or each other while they were playing in the driveway... But as you can see, in the end I did manage to remove the motor from it's host.

Yesterday, I took the time to remove all the wiring and cables from the motor. Labeling them nicely in case someone plans to hook them back up again. Today everything went fairly uneventfully until it came time to remove the steering cable/bar. I knew the bar was bent since I couldn't turn the steering wheel fully left, and it did not want to come out. I "tapped" it about 3 inches with the chunch of 4x4 you see on the back of the boat and then couldn't budge it anymore. So out came the hammer, I figured it wasn't come out any other way... Tapped it flush with the motor mount with the hammer and then used a socket extension to tap it about 5 inches in. Still had a ways to go...and it still wasn't budging by hand. Searched all about for something else to use to get it the rest of the way and finally found a 12" piece of threaded rod, which got it the rest of the way.

So, now that's it was free, I layed it gently in a trailer and covered it with a tarp...to be dealt with later. I think my steering is going to need to be replaced though. Although I think that would have been the case anyway as it wasn't working freely to begin with. I may be able to use the steering from my old Bayliner, but I'm not terribly hopeful. It's a couple of feet longer and I don't know if I'll be able to route it in a non-binding manner. We'll have to see on that one...

One a side note, I've ordered my impeller for the 85 and also got some muffs and ran it for a bit with those. Still having with it not wanting to crank without a splash of gas down the carbs. I tried to draw up some Seafoam into the bowls, but am not sure on how effective that was. I think I'll probably go ahead and pull the carbs, so can clean them properly. Better to be safe than sorry...