Repowering '54 Shepherd

Long story short, Art Cozier went WAY above and beyond getting an engine together for me, and I now have a beautiful 351 with a Holley 4bbl carb and a Velvet Drive 1:1 transmission, waiting for me to shoehorn it into the Shepherd. 

Last week I finally got around to taking enough stuff OUT of the boat to fit the engine in, and see for certain if it really does fit. I mean, we measured many times and looked at diagrams, measured again, and again, but sometimes you just can't tell what's going to be in the way until you try it. 

So I have had the engine in and out of the boat twice already, and it does fit. The oil pan hangs between two ribs. The motor mounts will work one way or another. I think the exhaust is manageable, and Art even gave me a muffler - the kind that combines the two manifold outputs into a single outlet, so I don't have to drill a second giant hole in the transom of the boat. Also, clearance for hoses isn't great. So that's excellent. 

Still left to figure out: 

- steering (modifying the 11' long pipe that is the steering rod, to go around the engine a little - the starter is where the rod used to be

- throttle and shift cables - adapting the old mechanisms to work with modern cables

- fuel

- wiring 

- gauges

- motor mount final mounting points

- exhaust fittings and adapters

- cooling (this should be easy, existing thru-hull has 1" or 1-1/8" hose barb already 

I'm sure there's more, but I'm just excited it looks like it will fit. Oh that reminds me, we'll need to build a new motor box. 

Pics: 

Speaking of adding to the list, it'll need a new driveshaft, coupler, and prop, maybe just do the cutlass bearing while I'm there... 

I didn't think I'd have a lot of time today so I tried to just fit up the reducer to the muffler. Then my afternoon was canceled so I got a lot done, relative to my expectations. A rare occurrence indeed. 

The muffler "fits" but barely, and it dumps out basically right into the rib that the driveshaft goes through. The output is also 4" and will be reduced down to 3" anyway, so why not get that done right now and make a smaller hole in that rib? 

Step 1 was to cut back the 4" pipe a bit, along with the reducer (it's a 3.5" to 3" and was probably 10" long). Then dry fit. Grind, sand, try again. The idea is to put a 3" diameter fiberglass pipe right inline with the rib, with any hose connections just on the other (stern) side so we won't have to cut even the extra diameter of the hose or clamps. We'll see if that works out, but I did a lot of measuring before I got out the saw. 

It was a pretty nice dry fit by the time I was done grinding and sanding. I lathered it up with some epoxy mixed with a little filler and that's how it sits now (not pictured), until tomorrow. I'll grind back the drips and put a little fairing compound in with the next batch to smooth out the lip and then a couple layers of cloth on top of that. No messing around with this joint as it sits below waterline. 

I've started putting time in my work calendar for this project so I can chip away at it a little at a time, while the marina is getting busier and really, really wants it out of the shop. Every little thing is a project, but that's how these things go. I'm so excited to get this thing in the water, and that's looking more and more promising... 

In addition to cutting a hole in the rib we've got to get the transmission shift lever out of the way, it hits the muffler downpipe. If I get get it to be straight instead of a double-L-shape that would be ideal. I might be calling on a friend to make me one, rather than mangling the existing one. It almost looks like I could flip it over to get the L the other way but I haven't tried yet, I think it would hit the tranny case though. That's Friday, if I get enough time to do more than a coat of epoxy on the muffler. 

Some more pictures today of the exhaust going into place. I dry-fitted everything then took it back out, except the exterior piece which I caulked into place, it doesn't have to come back out. 

The engine has to come out one more time so we can tidy up underneath it, drill holes for the motor mounts, etc. 

Still left do to: 

- run fuel lines

- run new water hose to trans. cooler and RWP

- tidy up wire harness, possibly shorten it

- run shift cable, possibly modify shift arm on transmission

- install new throttle control and run cable

- install new bilge pump outlets (2)

- general reassembly including seeing if the motor box fits - I think it might!?

etc. 

The thing is, all that stuff is pretty easy compared to everything else we've done so far. I can see the light! This thing will be in the water ... "soon." 

Yeah, we were thinking of something like that. Or a bar across the top, from stringer to stringer, countersunk into each stringer a bit and fastened to the rib at several places. 

Good point, hadn't really thought about it that way. 

Still left: control cables, finish tidying up wires, run engine, test and check over everything, reassemble interior. 

Add to the list, "repair bow light" because I broke the red side of the lens yesterday taking the cover off. 

Pictures in no particular order: 

Thanks, it's really coming together and I am so excited to get it done. 

On the coupling, do you mean a two-piece coupler? This one has bolts that clamp it down some but it's one piece. There's also a set screw that goes into a detent on the shaft. It is different from those that I've used before, but I would imagine it will work the same. 

The only problem I had was the 4 bolts were too long, by about 1/16" and they hit the transmission case. They also wouldn't go in with the "clamp" bolts in place, so I had to take those out to put the 4 coupler bolts in. I put a thick stainless lock washer on the bolt head end to get the extra clearance, rather than modifying the bolts or trying to get shorter ones. I'd like to get the right bolts in there but it's unlikely I'll ever go back and swap them out. 

No doubt it will be fine, it's just different I suppose. I was just annoyed after spending 90 minutes on alignment, I figured it would be 5 minutes to put 4 bolts through the two flanges and it ended up being like 20 minutes of messing around and trial and error. 

I've made serious progress in the last week or so, the boat is in the water, running, floating on its own, and today I hooked up the throttle and shift cables, bracket modification required all around. I tidied up wiring, and got the fuel tank installed. Most importantly: I WENT FOR A BOAT RIDE 

Just a few things left, most notably, building a base for the motor box so it's raised up a little. Then reassembly of interior and a few details beyond that. Then DONE!! 

I guess you can tell your wife that you couldn't drive it away from your wedding 14 or so years ago, but you could take her for an anniversary ride in it this year.

Get the gas tank in it though, so she's not tripping over the outboard tank

And to go along with your split coupler, it wouldn't hurt to slap a split collar on the driveshaft as one of those "just in case" cheap insurance type things.

Here's a link to one

And...................don't worry, I won't ask if you put that oil drain hose on it 

The only thing is, the stern light seems not to have made the return trip with us. We pulled into the boathouse and as we covered it, I noticed it was gone. I can't imagine really how it bounced out, but there's really no other explanation. We actually took my Nautique out for a spin just in case we could find that needle in the haystack, re-tracing our route from earlier. Unsurprisingly, no luck. 

A quick google search tells me I can get one for $350 at ClassicBoating.com, but I'm open to other ideas or leads. Here it was: 

That's an option, although I don't have a lathe. I was just having myself a little victory lap on this project when I'm looking at another project like that. Finding a friend with a lathe, sourcing the parts, staining and varnishing, modifying the existing socket or replacing it... this might become a winter project unless I can find a complete unit or close to that.