Water Pump Woes

I spent a little time cleaning and sanding the chamber of the pump today and sanding down the ridges in the cover. The cover gasket dried out overnight and shrunk big time so was unusable. Car Quest had the right thickness of gasket material (.009) and for $2 I have enough to make cover gaskets for every A4 in existence. I decided against sanding the pump face at this time and put the pump back together.

Now how to turn it for a test. Hmmm... I new I was going to use the drill/driver for motion but not sure how to interface the drill with a 3/16" slot in a 1/2" shaft of the pump. After a few minutos I discovered  a standard #2 cross point (Phillips or maybe it was a Reed & Prince) fit perfectly in the slot so chucked it up. I put some water in the pump for prime and lubrication and stuck the intake into a bucket of water. Hit the trigger and alas no water coming from the outlet hose. "Damn !"

I changed to the higher speed and still nothing and then after about 10 seconds water came flying out and got my shoe wet. I have no idea how fast the drill is turning but the label says 1500 max RPM. I don't think it's turning that fast. Anyway with the help of Admiral Lee we timed a gallon of water and it took about 30 seconds. I was hoping for more but with the small worn cam shoe that is in the pump I guess that's about it. I'll reinstall on the engine and see how much flow we get. Anyone want to hold the bucket at the exhaust for me?

Who knows the difference between a Phillips and a Reed & Prince ( Frearson) ?

"How I Feel When It Won't Pump"

Water Pump

The water pump on this A4 has not pumped water very well. I replaced the impeller with one I found in the boat that was the same size as the old one before the first start attempt. The old one had taken a set (bent vanes) so I knew it would not work. After pulling the cover on the pump about 6 times I decided it was time to remove the pump for diagnosis on the work bench. Anyone who has seen my work bench understands how big a deal this is for me, but I just shoved all the other shit to the side.

I have all kinds of ideas on how to proceed from the Moyer Marine (Specialize in Atomic 4) and their forum. Some suggest soaking the impeller in Marvel Mystery Oil so it will swell a bit. It does measure .002 inch too narrow. I'll buy some MMO tomorrow. Don't ask what's in it because it's a mystery. Another suggestion is to take a few thousands off the face of the pump with a belt sander to bring the worn chamber back to tolerance when you put the cover on. This has got to be more difficult than one might think, just sanding the pump evenly, haha. If it works it saves about $250 for a new pump. If I can get the pump to pump about 5 GPM I won't mind spending a few $ for new seals and cam shoe.

I did run the engine today (with low pressure flow from garden hose) and it runs great after the carb cleaning. Today I remembered to check the transmission. Forward and reverse both worked but with a little vibration so I'll be posting about truing the prop shaft to engine soon.

Aunt Betty Jean

Not much going on with TOPOSS this week 👎 as my Aunt Betty Jean 👽 is here for a visit and I'm afraid to leave her and Lee alone for long. 😱 She is 85 and talks nonstop. She can't hear very well so when we watch a movie the volume has to be really loud 🙉. This irritated me at first 😒 until I realized she continued to talk through the entire movie and with the volume loud 👂 we could still hear the movie and not her.😣      Oban is, well 🙀.

Aunt Betty Jean

I did get a chance to fill the water jacket on the exhaust to check for leaks and so far we have none. I also found an impeller for the water pump that fits. Maybe we will fire it up and check the transmission tomorrow.

Life gets back to normal Saturday night.

IT RUNS

It was too windy to lay blocks today so I screwed around with the boat engine. I wanted to flush the water jacket so rigged up a temporary water system. I removed the raw water pump impeller so water from the garden hose could flow freely. This worked so well I decided to add fuel to the carburetor float bowl  (with a syringe) and see if it would start. Since the engine controls are not connected and I wanted to make sure nothing bad was happening, Lee came aboard to turn the key. I held the choke closed and she twisted the key to start and "START" it did. Purred like Oban on steroids. Idled it for about a minute and a half until I heard it leaning out from low fuel and shut it down. Success, our project boat is now worth at least what we payed for it.

I had disconnected the fuel pump discharge to check for flow and not add anymore fuel to the carburetor. Well there was no flow. I had the intake fuel line in about a cup of racing fuel and the pump didn't move a drop. I removed the pump and disassembled it about 4 times cleaning and soaking bowls, diaphragm, check valves and things. After about 4 hours of messing around it started pumping. I reinstalled the little bastard and manually pumped it (has a primer lever) and it would not pick up the fuel. DAMN! It had to be a check valve so I put a finger over the outlet on the suction stroke and the SOB started sucking fuel. I did this for a few minutes and got the sediment bowl full of fuel and it started working just "like it says in the fine print" (for you, Tony).

Now for the longer test run. I held the choke closed and Lee turned the key. The A-4 started instantly so I released the choke and opened the throttle a little and it bogged and quit. Don't get your blood pressure up I told myself. Held the choke closed again, Lee twisted the key and the beast started again. I let it warm a minute or so and opened the throttle a little. VOILÁ ! We ran it until the exhaust pipe got to about 150° F (handheld infrared thermometer) and shut it down. We don't have water going into the exhaust yet so didn't want to melt anything. Test Complete. Feeling better about this project boat every day. Lets eat.

I had fire extinguishers at the ready.

Housecleaning

Well, a whole pile of shit got cleaned out of the piece of shit....off to the dump today with it.

Things are looking (marginally) better in the cabin.  Check out the original gold shag carpet....should we re-do the interior to match it?  

The pink cushions MUST GO!!

Atomic 4

This boat has the venerable Atomic 4 gas engine with 4 cylinders and old school stuff you can actually work on. It supposedly has been rebuilt but is not fully connected to the raw water cooling system. I'm not sure if it was ever run after the rebuild (?) or if it would even turn over. There is new paint and new gaskets everywhere. Well today I had the need to know if it would spin, so I turned the battery on and twisted the key. YES it turned over. Sounded like my old Pinto. Maybe I'll add fuel tomorrow.

THE BEAST

1975 - Remember When?

1975 - what an exciting year!  

In January, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell & Mardian were convicted of Watergate crimes.

Barry Manilow's single, "Mandy" went gold.

Olivia Newton-John and John Denver won the 2nd American Music Awards.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show opened in NYC.

Muhammad Ali was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the world

Microsoft was founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen

The Coast Guard Academy first allowed women to enroll.

The movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher was released

Squeeky Fromme attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in Sacramento.

Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for President.

Saigon fell, heralding the end of the Vietnam Era.

And our S2 Sailboat was built!  See the original brochure at https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_cqpdnU5RBPYjhmNzRhNTMtNjRlNy00MDk1LWJiM2QtMDM5OWM1N2YxNTZj/edit

• 
  

Holy Crap!

We have abandoned all remnants of sensibility and purchased a "Project Boat", a 1975 S2 8.0 -- a 26' center cockpit sailing vessel.  

Yes, "Holy Crap" was my reaction to stepping down inside the cabin of This Old Piece of Shit Sailboat (TOPOSS).  Rick found her on Craigslist and was interested because of the uniqueness of her cabin layout.  She is also touted to be a pretty fast-sailing boat for her size.

There she was...sitting at a used auto yard amongst various abandoned, rusty cars and trucks in various states of disrepair, towering over them all due to her high freeboard.  From the outside she looked promising...not too many cracks in the gelcoat and seemingly well-built and sturdy.  Definitely needing a new bottom coat, but hey, Rick's good at that.


Rick had already been on the boat for about a half hour when I climbed up the rickety ladder.  Nice decking....looks like narrow wood planks but not wood and in pretty good shape.  Rick says "This is a real project boat".  Oh.  I don't like project boats.  But it doesn't look that bad on top to me, so I descend into THE CABIN.

Now let me first describe the cabin layout, which is the best feature of this boat as far as I'm concerned.  You go down a companion-way of 5 steps to a massive forward cabin with standing head room, even for Rick.  Nice!  To the port side is your galley - large ice box, sink, and 2 burner stove.  To the starboard toward the stern is the head -- with a real door, vanity and sink, storage cabinet and porta-potty.  Across from the galley is a nice-sized settee.  The v-berth is set up with a dining table that can be removed if you need to convert it to sleeping quarters.  To the port aft is a "pass thru", a hallway that leads to the aft cabin.  So you don't have to go outside to get to your separate "bedroom".  In this hallway is another settee on the outer side and the 30-hp Atomic gasoline engine is across from that, encased in a cabinet that has easy access for addressing the engine.  Keep in mind this is all in a 26-foot boat!

So....THE CABIN....whoa.  Holy Crap.  Every other cuss-word I can possibly think of.  Where is the gangplank???  I should make Rick walk it.  Words cannot fully describe what's down there....so pictures will have to suffice.  It will tax my upholstery skills to the max and I will have to hone any interior decorating capabilities I might have to do something with this.  We'll have to get good at sanding and oiling teak trim.  It needs new....everything just about.   Rick says it needs all need standing and running rigging, sails also unless we discover something "down below".

Restoring TOPOSS will be an adventure in itself!

 Here's what you descend into -- a pile of crap straight ahead in the v-berth.  Are those pink (mauve) cushions?  Green and white chaise-lounge cushions?  What's all those boards and framing????

Head-liner surprising looks real good!

The Atomic "Beast" - hope it works!!

The  "Pepto-Bismal Galley"

Galley countertop....obviously previous owner not into cooking.

Love the porthole mirror on the head door.  How about that yellow-pink abstract paint job?

The Head -- I'm NOT touching that porta-potty!!!

Aft-cabin.  Possibly a homeless person had been living back here.