Engines Rebuilt (again)

So far - so good.

What went wrong with the first pair;

11-1 compression Keith Black Hypereutectic Pistons, a side-oiler "converted" to a top oiler, shabby rebuilt Holley carburetors, shabby rebuilt distributors, wrong sized valve springs. What am I forgetting?

The pistons were shipped as part of a "Deluxe Rebuild Kit" from Performance Suspension Technology. They sent pistons that would be right for a hot-rod racing machine, but totally wrong for a marine installation. It wasn't picked up by the machinist.

The carbs and distributors went out to local shops for rebuilds. The carbs looked like they hadn't be touched. The distributors couldn't have been.

For round two, the pistons were changed to forged KB dished with a compression rating of 9.1-1, a thicker gasket was used for the heads reducing compression further. The carbs went to a shop in Southern California and came back looking like they were new out of the box. The distributors have been sent to another So-Cal outfit and a spare pair are being used in the short term.

The proper bearings and cam were flown in for the side-oiler. Which was purchased for parts and rebuilt first as the machine shop waited for the engines out of the boat. The engines in Paramount were top-oilers and this was also missed until the spare engine was rebuilt. When they started on the other engine they realized there were two different engine builds.



Jimmy Richmond, Richmond Engines and his right-hand Aaron were responsible for the dyno testing this round. There help was invaluable. They found the springs to be incorrect on the valves. They picked up condensation "like H2O" said Aaron in the oil filter after running the engine they cut the filter in half to check it. Thorough to say the least!

By the time they signed off one engine had to be dyno tested three times, whilst the other was run twice. Their diligent efforts saved us from another catastrophe.


Here is some film looking over the transom at the wake and exhaust of Paramount.