Windy night

[Greyfisherman]

Nick,

I remember years ago (probably 30 odd) working on old Mk2 Jaguars with a pal and getting at the bolts which hold the gearbox bell housing onto the engine was nigh on impossible.

Until we hit on the wheeze of bending a ring spanner almost 180 degrees into almost a U bend to get at the bolts - still a bit of a game but it got the job done. Still got the spanner in my tool box and use it to this day to hold the nuts behind the alternator whilst I use a socket to undo the bottom bolt to loosen the alternator to get the belt off.

You'd may need a bit of heat to bend the spanner to the right angle - but like me you might in many moons gaze upon this bit of personal bit of bent metal with much affection and take pleasure in the fact that when someone inherits your toolbox they'll wonder what on earth you used it for.

Bending something seems easier than dismantling ?

[cpedw]

Think I read you were worried about alignment but it ought not to be a problem as long as the other 3 engine mounts are good - should it?

That seems to be the general consensus

If you do move the mount and need to re-align, I have a simple spreadsheet that does the sums to help speed up re-alignment. I've also got a set of feelers you can borrow, but not the skill to use them well.

Derek

[sahona]

Have you done it yet!
Gotto be pump off now that you've found how tight the hex bolts are.(TOP)
Shouldn't be a problem doing that as we all carry a spare, and are prepared to change it at sea, isn't this so?
Having done that you will need the tool you made in the shed earlier - it looks like the handle off a blakes seacock, but is made of stronger stuff and has a tube to extend the torque capability.
I wonder if it's just peeps with Vegas that have these mounts, or is Beta havin' a larff in general?

[aquaplane]

Someone already said take a hose off instead of struggling, even if it doesn't let all the water out it'll let you flush the jacket with fresh.

I know it would be better to get the drain plug out but if it won't move there is another way.

[Nick]

.
Well, I just phoned Beta and they said take the hose off, drain it from there, refill then do that each year and it should remove most of the as accumulated gunge in time . . . so that is looking favourite for now.

They said they thought the plug was probably aluminium and there was a danger of snapping it if too much force was applied.

[aquaplane]

I can drain my engine by taking the front off the water pump, raw water cooled though.

Fairly early in my ownership of Chiron I broke the drain cock off the aft cylinder when draining the engine down for the winter. The easyout I tried to get the threaded bit of the cock out with got stuck in the hole and it's been there ever since!



Why it doesn't leak when the engine is running I don't know, it looks like it has in the past judging by the rust round it.

I have subsequently had water out of the drain cock on the other cylinder block, it was sludgy to start with though.

[Rowana]

Nick,
That plug looks like it hasn't been modified by Beta from the original Kubota one.

On Rowana, and in the Beta manual, that plug has been removed and replaced by an elbow, then the plug screwed into that.

I had mine out at the weekend, and replaced the coolant no bother.

I presume you have the manual? Fig 2l on page 9 (Page 10 in Adobe) will show you what I mean.

I would remove the engine mount, get the plug out and replace it with the elbow/plug. Will make life so much easier in future.