98 Boating New Zealand
With everything
bolted up again,
Leydon started her
up and nervously
shifted the gear
lever forward –
sweeeeeeeeeeet!Installing the new 55hp engine was a reversal
of the extraction procedure. “It required one small
modification to the boat,” says Leydon. “I had to
remove a small sliver of an engine-room casing to
accommodate the new engine’s bigger sump.”EXHAUST
The bigger engine also required beefier plumbing- raw water intake and exhaust – and Leydon says
two companies were particularly helpful with free
advice: Auckland’s HCD Flow Technology (fitting
the right quality exhaust hosing) and PowerFlow
2000 (the exhaust system).
“John at PowerFlow was remarkably patient
with me – I’d never heard of ‘back-pressure’, much
less knew what it was or why it was important. He
explained it all in easy-to-understand language.
Even better, he offered helpful and cost-effective
solutions to my problems.
“I took the old fibreglass water-trap to him and
asked if he could make another, but with bigger
flanges for the new hoses.
“He said he could indeed make a new box, but
it would be far cheaper if he simply cut out the
old flanges and glassed in bigger ones. I’m not
naturally a cynical person, but someone turning
down an opportunity to make a better profit was a
pleasant surprise.”
SPLINE ADAPTOR
Any engine transplant, of course, wouldn’t be
worthy of the name if it didn’t run into at least
one snag and, inevitably, one materialised in a
sneaky fashion.TOP The old engine was
in perfect condition – but
underpowered for the yacht.
RIGHT A small secton of the
engine casing was removed and
re-glassed – to accommodate
the new engine’s bigger sump.
FAR RIGHT The re-engineered
exhaust box.