Thanks for linking, a really interesting watch. I've made similar, but not quite so advanced, crafty repairs on both motorcycle and cars but not boats. I could absolutely understand the nervous way he approached the first full application of torque on the repaired fixing.
Cant help thinking the time & engineering he put into that repair would have been better invested in replacing the block. I did some work on the industrial versions of that engine & theres plenty of used core engines about for not a lot of money. The head stud upgrade is an off the shelf kit nothing new if your familiar with the engines. Probably cost him a good few quid & several trips back & forth, time he could have put into a proper repair. Imagine buying that boat 2 years down the line & finding that repair, youd be like wtf?
Interesting but still a bodge
I thought it was an interesting fix, given some of the logistics involved. Thought the head stud upgrade was nice touch. I'm sure that repair will last for years.
Good to see him using Granville ceramic anti-seize. I use the same stuff on brake rebuilds with red-grease on dust sleeves, etc.
Well there was some real engineering in getting to the solution even if the result wasn't OE. A real bodge would have been a tube of instant metal smeared around the part exposed bolt end.
I wonder what broke the edge of the block... if he said I missed it... hydraulic lock of that bolt when the head was off before I guess?
It would run for a time with the bolt missing altogether what I'm saying is it's not a permanent repair & given the difference in thermal expansion between cast & carbon steel it's highly likely to fail again. Hes obviously a clever bloke & has access to good facilities but a bodge like that wasnt worth the effort he put in when a proper repair could be done for not a great deal more time money & effort.
Those engines aren't rare they are easily found for fairly cheap & parts are readily available & far cheaper than older volvo penta or yanmar engines.
The boat is probably worth 25k+ & a handy guy like him could recondition his engine onto another block for less than 5k so well worth doing imho. Hes says hes 200 miles away from home but he has another engine to sail the boat to wherever is convenient to do the repair.
Like a lot of youtube videos I suspect this was done more for video views than the longevity of the repair.
Sula
