This week was all about getting ready to remove the engines and dissembling one. To start the week, we drained the oil out of the port engine. In the process of getting a 55 gallon barrel for the coolant to be collected in, we stopped at the machine shop to clean up some space to work and put parts for when the engines arrive. To finish the day, we removed the air intake manifold on the port engine.
Tuesday was a relatively slow day, as it took some time to drain the coolant out of both engines. The drain was in a low spot were only a 1.5 gallon bucket could fit so there was a bunch of stop and start with the flow of the coolant from the engine. We removed the air intake manifold from the starboard engine, then removed the coolant reservoir for the port engine. To finish off the day we cleaned and organized the deck. Although not much was completed, all the jobs were tedious in their own way.
The rest of the week we spent disassembling various parts of the engine to lighten the weight for the crane: oil pan, turbo, aftercooler, exhaust manifold, raw water pump, and alternator. Once we set up the A-frame and were able to lift the engine a bit, we shifted it forward to disconnect the flywheel from the torque converter. By Friday afternoon, the engine was unseated, raised, and placed on blocks directly below the soft patch, ready to be removed the following week.
Later Friday evening, the new engines showed up! Fire engine red and ready to be used. I cannot wait to see them running!
New diesel Cummins engines, fire engine red for more speed.
The process of hoisting the engine on the A-frame with 2 diesel experts.