Heart Surgery for Sea Quill

[dkirsop]

It lurks deep within the hull, a rhythmic thumping that steadily propels Sea Quill, the AD-21.

I recently acquired a non-working AD-21 which I am in the process of reconditioning. The plan is to swap the engines over this spring. It has occurred to me that there might be other owners of an Albin 25 who would be interested in how this project proceeds. I have not posted before on this blog so bear with me if I make some errors in posting pictures, etc. Here goes.

I bought the engine as-is/where-is for $200 sitting amongst a collection of mechanical detritus. Non-working, it could be turned by hand but had no compression. The transmission appeared to work properly when I turned the crank. This transmission is now in my boat (another story for another time) and works wonderfully so my initial investment has already paid off.

Work to date has consisted of reconditioning the water pump, cooling pump and heat exchanger. Nothing serious but no pictures to show. I have also removed the cylinder head in preparation for sending out to the shop. Engine was badly carboned up, likely due to two issues. One, a failed head gasket allowing the exchange of oil and gases through the sump. Two, timing gear for the fuel pump misaligned resulting in late injection timing.

No show stoppers found so far. My intent to to post a status update each month until complete.

Here are some pictures showing the current status of work.

Portside.jpg

Bowend.jpg

pieces.jpg

[stxray]

Awesome! By all means keep us posted. You've got my attention

[JT48348]

I love garage bargains. This is going to be great

[WillieC]

Cheers! I understand that parts are still available for these old beasts from Albinmotor in Sweden. I am sure there are also plenty lying around for parts up in BC if they haven't already been turned into mooring ball anchors. Check in with the BC Albineers. (Oh, you already know all about them. Thought I better check where you hail from before I pass on my wealth of ignorance.)
And don't wait for monthly reports. We love the little details and lots of pictures. Good work if you can get it!

PS. That shop looks a little too clean and organized, you clearly need two or three more engine carcasses in various stages of dismantle strewn about. And I like your cart. Very similar to what I built for refreshing my MD17C. It hasn't collapsed yet and I have even been able to test run the engine right on it, with a little modification to keep it from skating around the floor of the shop. They have a certain harmonic tendency to waltz right out the door if you let them.

[DesertAlbin736]

Quite a find! Pender Island you say? Which one, North or South? Your boat's an Albin 25?

Not this one we saw in Maple Bay in 2014 is it?

DSCN1554 (1280x960).jpg

Anyway, WillieC is the been-there-done-that guy to talk to about rebuilding Volvo/AD engines.


Does this picture look familiar? It's looking Southeast from Browning Harbour Marina on N. Pender Island. We were there on July 28th last year, our final stop in the Gulf Islands before returning to Friday Harbor to clear US Customs.

Did you ever happen to meet that bearded old mechanic guy who keeps an antique wooden boat in Browning Harbour? I wish I had taken a picture of him and his boat, it's an old 1930s style Downeast style tug/fishing boat. Actually if you click on this photo of the harbour below to make it full screen and look closely you can see his boat out on a mooring, just to the left of the sailboat that's closest to shore & in line with the tallest peak in the background to left of the center of the photo. When we talked to him he was saving up to repower it. If you're familiar with Browning Harbour you'll know who I'm talking about.

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We even ran the Pender Canal on the way over to Poet's Cove.

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Did you ever happen to meet that bearded old mechanic guy who keeps an antique wooden boat in Browning Harbour? I wish I had taken a picture of him and his boat, it's an old Downeast style tug/fishing boat.

This shot is from when we were there for the first time in July 2014 on a rainy day...

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This is us...

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Loved Pender Island, in fact all the Gulf Islands, especially taking the bus ride to Hummingbird Inn Pub from Montague on Galiano Island.

[dkirsop]

Not sure you would want to be on Pender Island just now.

P1040800.jpg

It's wet and cold.

[JT48348]

Man your stations! This is not a drill!

PIRATES off the stern quarter and gaining fast.
Prepare to be hijacked.

All crew to their anti-hijacking stations!
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9793&p=62718#p62718

[DesertAlbin736]

Gee, thanks for the warning JT. I wasn't talking to you. Maybe you should visit the Gulf Islands sometime & prepare to be amazed. Oh, I forgot, A27s are too big to trailer long distance.

Dkirsop, if you want to escape the snow come on down here to AZ, we're expecting a high of 82*F today (28*C). We'll be out on the lake tomorrow.

[JT48348]

Gee, thanks for the warning JT. I wasn't talking to you. Maybe you should visit the Gulf Islands sometime & prepare to be amazed. Oh, I forgot, A27s are too big to trailer long distance.

Dkirsop, if you want to escape the snow come on down here to AZ, we're expecting a high of 82*F today (28*C). We'll be out on the lake tomorrow.

Francis: I appreciate your comments. I just wish you'd stop hijacking threads. When you hijack someone's thread with commentary and photos that have little to nothing to do with the chosen topic--you ruin it for some of us. You ruin the search function of the board. You clutter threads and make finding info difficult. Not to mention it's kinda rude. If everyone did what you did, imagine how bad that would be.

You can make your own thread, you know. You've got great pictures and you sound really interesting. There you can post to your hearts delight. But to hijack a members thread on an engine rebuild with your yammery is disrespectful.

Come on Marine. Square yourself away.

Surely you can cooperate?

[dkirsop]

When I opened this thread I mentioned swapping the transmission from this engine with the one from my boat. This resulted from a sudden failure while transiting a narrow passage in Vancouver Harbour. So first on the agenda was to locate the problem and fix the transmission. Based on sounds coming from within I first checked the reduction gear and immediately found the problem.

Damaged Pinion Gear.jpg

The stud bolt which holds the pinion gear on had backed out of the shaft and destroyed the pinion gear along with jamming the transmission. The mating ring gear had minor damage and possibly could be reused but I did not want to chance it on the open water. So, $500 Can. later the transmission is fixed and fully operable.

The AD21 is a heavy engine for its size, over 550lbs. So to handle this weight I rigged up a lifting scaffold to save my back. The engine sits on a wheeled dolly so I can access all sides.

Lift Frame.jpg

Then proceeded to remove the fuel pump and gear cover.

Gear Cover.jpg

Hopefully, this will be the beneficiary of my work.

Gear Cover.jpg

[WillieC]

That is a sweet little rack you made there! I stuck a 4X8 (US) beam up in the trusses and bolted it so it would not flop over then added a doubled up 2X4 leg closer to the midspan and am using a block and tackle to lift my 650 pound engine. The block and tackle has seen a lot of use and is not to be trusted. It is all about comfort, or some semblance thereof. Today I discovered that the alternator has been out of line since I replaced it. Nice to have the engine at a working height and is easily accessible from all sides, easy to see what needs doing.
Great pics, too.

[dkirsop]

I am getting near the end here but want to save the best for last. I first tried to write this blog in November but couldn't figure out how to post my pictures, so in frustration I decided to keep working at what I new how to do - fix the engine! So here is the status of work to date.

Front of Engine.jpg

As you can see the engine cleaned up well and is looking like new. All fluids in and nothing leaks. Free beer to anyone who can start this sucker using the crank handle - it is a near impossible task!

New Cable Bracket.jpg

The engine came without the brackets needed to secure the throttle cable and the shift cable. I used cardboard to make patterns and then fabricated new brackets using 0.125" aluminum plate. This bracket is for the throttle cable. The green wire is my temporary throttle control for testing purposes.

mystery.jpg

To the left, under the flame arrestor, is the bracket for the shift cable. If anyone reading has an AD21 engine I expect to get some queries from this photo. Can you spot the mystery addition?

New Exhaust.jpg

The last thing I needed to do was fabricate an exhaust discharge. I made this using 1.5" diameter 316 stainless steel pipe and got a machine shop to make a hose coupler by machining a pipe coupling.

Just waiting now for the weather to break so I can give her a test run.

[WillieC]

Yikes! I have a lot of questions, but since I know nothing about the AD21, I'll wait. But I do love the amazingly simple exhaust elbow. That is almost like cheating! That is likely not the original alternator, looks like one of the big boys, Balmor et. al. Are there glow plugs on this engine?
What a fine piece of work and you did it in a couple weeks. Took me that long to get my engine out of the boat.
So how hard was it to get parts?

[dkirsop]

Thanks Willie C. It took me more than a couple of weeks, I started in November so more like 12 weeks but it wasn't until January that I figured out how to post the pictures. It doesn't appear that there is anyone with and AD21 monitoring this post so I will credit you with spotting the glow plugs! This is version 1.1, version 1.0 is in my boat. I have found that adding a glow plug in the air intake to pre-warm the air greatly improves a cold start. With the glow plug I no longer need to carry a can of starter fluid with the potential for catastrophic damage to the engine. The latest improvement involves moving the plugs closer to the air intake ports on the cylinder head. Activation of the plugs for 15 seconds followed by waiting an additional 15 seconds to allow the heat to spread does the trick.

Here is a video of my engine test https://youtu.be/ZtNh4A2Q__A

Now I am just waiting for better weather to remove the boat cover and install the engine. Most likely in April.

[WillieC]

Oh man, I need those glow plugs! Tell me more and i'll help you put the engine in.
I couldn't get the youtubes to work.