A4 Removal

"I am going to pull the A4 out of the boat and see if it's worth rebuilding. I was able to disconnect everything, but was unable to remove the mounting bolts.  The bolt heads and the nuts are square (at least in the front) and there is very little clearance for tools. Does anyone know how this is done?"

NOTE
Procedures may differ between East & West Coast built boats

Check out Tim Lackey, #381, Glissando, WEB site for A4 removal plus total restoration

A. J.  Matthews #605, Ay Mon
(East Coast Built)

     As far as getting to the mounting bolts is concerned, go to your local auto parts store and purchase an inexpensive box wrench (it should be 9/16). Put the wrench in a vise and cut it in two. Now you have two wrenches that you can keep in your tool box that will fit in the extremely small space under the starter.
     Also, presoak all of your mounting bolts with PB Blaster. You should find it at any good hardware store. My mounting bolts are bronze and were only mildly difficult to remove until I made "the wrench". The "Blaster" just loosens up the gunk in and around the bolts and engine. Hell, you shouldn't leave port
without a can anyway.

Al, #26, Esprit
(East Coast Built)

     I believe it is a 9/16 square head if your boat uses bronze lags into wood bedding.  The tough one is aft to starboard, very little room to turn the wrench.  Pull the cabinets so you can reach behind the engine from the port side and get on the starboard bolt.  You get about 1/8 turn per try but it should come on out.  When your arm gets tired, you can get at it through the bronze reversing gear plate in the cockpit.
     The forward starboard bolt is not a bolt (or at least not on Esprit) it is a pin lagged into the bedding that keys to a hole in the motor bedding flange.  You must lift the engine off of this before you can slide it forward.

Richard Loerky, #573, KAI VAI
(East Coast Built)

     As I remember, the front ones were no great problem. My rear bolts had NO head to grip so ground them flush with one of those dental-like cable drill extensions hoping to tap them out, lift engine off. No such luck. The bolt had become one with the engine. Then had to grind nut end off and lift engine. Each bolt took about 2 hrs to grind. Good luck. Use stainless when re-mounting!

Bill Bell, #41, Kialoa
(East Coast Built)

     It appears to me that some of your advisors are not aware of some fundamental differences between Sausalito boats and Bristol boats.  When you cite that you have access to both the bolt heads and the nuts on your engine mounting hardware, I understand that your engine is mounted on a flange. Some of the advisors mention removing lag bolts from wooden engine beds.  I think that this construction is Sausalito;  all Bristol boats had fiberglass flanges to support the engines.  I agree that the matter of undoing the engine bed bolts is a horror.   It will be much easier if you can remove the flanking furniture as suggested by another reader.  Having at it with "Blaster" and a variety of wrenches will help.
     I did not notice mention of 12 point box end wrenches.  They can be a real help sometimes.  And be sure to use stainless steel bolts when you put it all back together, with lock washers.  The A4 is almost guaranteed to be worth rebuilding. You probably won't have to do as much as you have been expecting to do. As Editor of the past several NTA Improvement Bulletins, I have had enough experience to be able to reassure you on this.  Few A4s are replaced  because the engine was really kaput.
     The best single source of dispassionate info on the A4 is Don Moyer of Moyer Marine  at 3000 Derry Street, Harrisburg PA 17111, (717) 564 5748.  Don is a retired USAF engineer who has made a business of A4 service.  He wrote a series of letters on the A4 which I think can be purchased as a set. He will talk with you and he sells the parts you need. He can cometently discuss what to look for and what to do without emotional involvement or ignorance.   Call him and he can tell you how to proceed and what his services will cost you.  Back when he published the newsletter, you paid  an annual fee which also allowed you to call him now and then with questions.  I don't know his charge for talking with people now but you will find him most accommodating.
     An A4 can look horrible and be thoroughly salvageable.  If you have the original jacketed copper exhaust, fear not.  Mine is 40 years old and still perfect.  By the way, I have never yet heard of a fuel fed fire on a Triton.  Of course, you must pay attention to everything  in the system.  A common bad spot is in the piece of steel pipe which comes just after the deck fill fitting - usually bronze - onto  which the rubber fill pipe to the tank is secured.  It is very hard to get hold of - but it can be badly corroded or eaten away.  Check it carefully, I have seen some that were almost porous.

   About the spars; have a competent expert look at them. My 40 year old spars (Kialoa is hull #41) are fine.  Watch the  method of attaching accessories to the spar, some metals do not agree with each other. The most common problem I know of is the heel or bottom of the mast corroding badly. So you cut off a inch ot two the next time you replace the standing rigging, no big deal.

Richard Zryd, #119, follow me

 
     I have been following your chats about engines and thought I would join in.  My boat had an Atomic, but it was a ball of rust when I got it.  I attached an outboard off the transom as a temporary while I searched for an engine, I found out ,in the middle of lake Erie, that large swells would put the engine 12" under water.  Surprisingly the little motor kept running with just the air under the shroud. After 3 days of storms, the igniion,began to break down, so I had to crawl home.  I bought a 4 cylinder kermath sea cadet to replace the outboard it was almost an exact replacement for the A-4.  It has a little less horsepower, but it extended my cruising range, and I only paid $250.00 back in 1987.

David H Butler

     PB Balster is the BEST for getting anything off  that has been on for a long time,  We use it on our Trolleys all the time.