Engine Work

Zee has almost completed reassembling the SABB diesel. Mark said that the head from the rear cylinder was in good condition and there was no case for replacing both heads with new ones. After a discussion we agreed to relocate the old but good head from the rear to the front cylinder, the weaker of the two, and the new head on the rear cylinder. The idea was to put the higher compression load on the rear cylinder which is in better shape.

Zee mounted the heads, adjusted the tapets, put the rocker covers, and part of the cooling system. He was not able to complete the work and test the engine because they are waiting on what I think is a replacement exhaust manifold.

Zee then turned his attention to the leaky muffler under the cockpit. He did a pretty heroic job if getting the two top batteries out of area and soon he was able to get to the muffler and remove it.

The muffler is a mess. We are pretty sure that the leak was coming from a partially collapsed collar on which one of the exhaust hoses was fitted. Water and steam were passing through a narrow channel where the collar had folded in. The interior of the muffler is a wreck, probably caused by the overheating and seizure of the engine when an inlet cooling water clamp failed somewhere between New Zealand and Tahiti. The muffler is a custom made one and it appears to Mark that the internals were not fabricated with heat resistant material. To him it looks like ordinary PVC. He and Zee will open it up and do a post mortem. The collapsed internals were causing a lot of back pressure which explains why I could not get more than 1300 rpm out of the engine after the seizure. With the replacement of the muffler there are prospects a better running engine with less compression load on the cylinders, and no water leaks!

They have ordered a custom-built muffler to be fabricated heat resistant material. Delivery will take about two days so we will be happy if the engine is ready on Friday.

The top photo gives a glimpse of the interior of the muffler. The second photo is of the muffler. The other photos are of Zee at work reassembling the engine. The head painted red is the new one.