I'm considering DIY overhauling both 8v71Ti's in our 58' YF!!

[scottinsydney]

Try this company’s products first. In particular their Oil Flush and also FTC fuel additive.

www.costeffective.com.au

They have an American distributor. I’ve always used these two products on my four DDs over the past 16 years.

Plenty of other testimonials on the website. There is actually a testimonial from a DD boat owner with engine symptoms similar to yours.

Definitely not snake oil. For a couple of hundred dollars you may save thousands.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

For a frame of reference, my neighbor is needing the top ends of his 1271ti’s done. After paying $20k to the Detroit dealer here for new injectors, the dealer bid $57k for the job. I’m not able to say what else that might include. They did include a 4 hour charge in the estimate to determine what parts would be required which didn’t sit well. Dealer claims both in-frame builds could be completed in four days. They must have a 24 hour machine shop to make that claim.

 

[Pascal]

Mario, if you pull them out this is what you ll be looking at...

These guys were pretty good ... Luis can work out of various yards. He s great with shafts alignments thru hulls etc

https://youtu.be/nvjsv4KzCb8

 

[rsmith]

First thing I would do is pull the air box covers and check the ring tension. I would bet that most of these MY engines are not worn out or tired but have stuck or broken rings from sitting and lack of use. I rebuilt both my 12’s myself after 10,000 hours of hard canyon and charter use and found the main bearings and crank journals measured almost to new specs. People on this fourm go way overboard and do knee jerk stuff when it’s unneeded. Unless the engines were overheated or run out of oil I wouldn’t even mess with long blocks.
Fix what’s wrong and run it!

 

[dottieshusband]

First thing I would do is pull the air box covers and check the ring tension. I would bet that most of these MY engines are not worn out or tired but have stuck or broken rings from sitting and lack of use. I rebuilt both my 12’s myself after 10,000 hours of hard canyon and charter use and found the main bearings and crank journals measured almost to new specs. People on this fourm go way overboard and do knee jerk stuff when it’s unneeded. Unless the engines were overheated or run out of oil I wouldn’t even mess with long blocks.
Fix what’s wrong and run it!

+1 for what he said. My main and rod bearings were as new. Cross hatching still visable on the liners, but the valves were a different story. You can get a remanufactured head or get yours reworked with new valves for 4k or so, another 1.5k for remanufactured injectors, labor, poor man's rebuild.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Mario, I apologize if someone's already said this, but perhaps you should get an engine survey first, and find out what they need? Perhaps they only need cylinder kits and heads Maybe the main bearings and bottom ends are okay?

 

[Avenger]

Ditto all of the above. You owe it to yourself to go through the diagnostics before you pull the pin.

It would sure stink to pull the kits and find out the problem was something less.

 

[madhatter1]

First thing I would do is pull the air box covers and check the ring tension. I would bet that most of these MY engines are not worn out or tired but have stuck or broken rings from sitting and lack of use. I rebuilt both my 12’s myself after 10,000 hours of hard canyon and charter use and found the main bearings and crank journals measured almost to new specs. People on this fourm go way overboard and do knee jerk stuff when it’s unneeded. Unless the engines were overheated or run out of oil I wouldn’t even mess with long blocks.
Fix what’s wrong and run it!

When I bought my first DD boat, a 73 46 Bertram MY in 2002 with 8-71TI's I knew nothing about them. Asked around and I had many point me in the direction of some old time DD pro's still in the field.

One thing I got over and over was how stout these are and how well they will still perform even if hurting. Take Rsmiths advice and look further into them before assuming they are done.

I have nearly new 8-92's now and even then still nervous about how long will they last. Bet I am pushing up Daisey's long before they give up the ghost as long as no overheats occur.

Nothing to lose by checking.

 

[MarioG]

I agree, it is a good idea to look deeper. It would be a nice to find a simpler problem that would be easier to fix. But all of this discussion is also very good to formulate a plan of action as well as options.

 

[johnjen50]

Mario, these guys are probably right. In my case the intercooler sprung a leak, sprayed the inside of the engine with salt water, and seized over the winter layup. I have a ton of pics that I will try and upload soon. Everything from what it looked like when I took off the blower and air box covers, to the fork lift with VERY LONG forks that plucked it off the back deck after we rolled the engine through the salon out to the back deck. I pulled just the engine, and stripped it of exhaust and blower turbos etc.....the heavy stuff so I didn’t need to support the floor from the underneath. It’s a big job, but I had “loose” quotes of $15-$25 for a rebuild in frame. I decided I would spend the money on the essentially new block and heads and go forward with a new engine that I would maintain from day one. Mario if you pm me I can email you a bulk load. I took pics of everything as I took it off the old engine so I would remember orientation when reassembling. In 5 or 6 years I can retire, and figured I wanted fresh power so I could be confident taking the boat south to the keys and Bahamas. These engines really are well designed and with a little time and study you could probably fix most problems yourself. No sensors or electronics to worry about. And I think if you could run them fairly regularly they probably would run forever. So if I were you and it wasn’t seized I would check the air box covers and rings first. But, depending on cost, the long block is exactly the same block on the same footprint with essentially new cranks and vitals. They actually need your engine serial number to make sure they set up exactly the same engine on the new block.

 

[chris45]

Hi Mario,
I did an in frame on my Chris Craft with 8v71ti's back in 1999. The most important thing to consider is access to the connecting rods under the engine. Also, it is VERY important to have a Detroit Diesel Engine Book to give you all the torque settings. The book will also give you detailed instructions and what parts to take off and in what order for an in frame. On my engine, the oil pan could not be removed. I just removed it and left in under the engine. Back then, I had the physical ability to work in contorted positions and the strenght to torque down those large bolts. I couldn't do it today. I bought only factory Detroit Diesel parts and didn't have any problems. I had a Detroit Dealer build the pistons with rings and install them in the liners and ordered Relaibuilt heads. All I did was take off the old parts and installed the new ones. I remember I had trouble removing one of the liners. It was cracked in half around intake ports. I rented a tool that looked like a dent puller and got it out. Once it was all together, I had the same Detroit Mechanic install the injectors and fire it up. I think I have about 800 plus hours on it now and it still has 55 PSI Oil pressure and starts on a half rotation with NO SMOKE bone cold.
Best of luck to you,
John

 

[jnuttall]

I have a 1978 53MY with 8v71Ti's and completed an in-frame last year with the help of an experienced DD mechanic. Or should I say, I helped mechanic which I was completely fine with. I need the experience. All in I was around $15k, but I was able to get the kit and some other parts at cost (blowers and turbos were fine). We lifted the engine using aluminum I-beams spanning the width of the salon and two chain falls. We lifted once we removed everything we could in order to reduce weight.
The trick was access under the block once lifted. Fortunately the mechanic had a small framed son that was limber enough to slide under the block to perform some work.(don't worry we had the engine sitting on secured to blocks!)
Overall it was a great experience, however I hope I never have to do it again. Good luck!
Jeff

 

[SEVEN]

That seems like a fabulous p4ice for two motors.

 

[Canuck Dennis]

A great place for DD parts is Interstate McBee, highly recommended by many DD mechs. I had both my V12's done with their parts and the mechanic really was impressed with the apparent quality.

 

[Texastailboard]

When it comes to the Marine industry it blows my mind the rates that vendors charge to a customer. Which of course so to diesel truck shops. these older diesel engines are a breeze to rebuild, get a service manual, youtube and determination and you will be fine. I have been quoted engine swap and rebuild numbers before and the vendor doesn't know we have a fleet of trucks and equipment which we do all our own work. Yes tearing down a motor in a shop is way better and cleaner, but I have done it in the middle of a job site. These older engines don't have ecm and sensors that cause troubles. So you would be capable of attempting the rebuild yourself. I would recommend getting parts from non marine dealers, prices would be way better. That what we have done. Many special tools can be made or found on ebay. The newer engines are the same , we just swapped an engine out of a 2009 Mack, the labor was about 3-4 days lots of specific part swapping, but it took 2 days of computer work to get all of sensors to be happy. We have a laptop and software that ran us about 8k. Something to also consider if your wanting to swap are the reman cummins options. Again gather your info then shop around away from the water. Do the math and shop around when you are doing this project. Marine vendors sometimes put the screws to an owner because they have money. That concept frustrates me because it eats up you boat budget and takes away from other projects.

 

[Boatsb]

When it comes to the Marine industry it blows my mind the rates that vendors charge to a customer. Which of course so to diesel truck shops. these older diesel engines are a breeze to rebuild, get a service manual, youtube and determination and you will be fine. I have been quoted engine swap and rebuild numbers before and the vendor doesn't know we have a fleet of trucks and equipment which we do all our own work. Yes tearing down a motor in a shop is way better and cleaner, but I have done it in the middle of a job site. These older engines don't have ecm and sensors that cause troubles. So you would be capable of attempting the rebuild yourself. I would recommend getting parts from non marine dealers, prices would be way better. That what we have done. Many special tools can be made or found on ebay. The newer engines are the same , we just swapped an engine out of a 2009 Mack, the labor was about 3-4 days lots of specific part swapping, but it took 2 days of computer work to get all of sensors to be happy. We have a laptop and software that ran us about 8k. Something to also consider if your wanting to swap are the reman cummins options. Again gather your info then shop around away from the water. Do the math and shop around when you are doing this project. Marine vendors sometimes put the screws to an owner because they have money. That concept frustrates me because it eats up you boat budget and takes away from other projects.

So your saying you dont charge for time on the software when you use that $8k computer?

Not that some vendors cant be trusted but keep in mind the $2,000,000.00 minimum liability insurance, the comp and healthcare costs, rents and vehicle costs for working on boats. If you work on trucks ask your carrier how much adding marine insurance will add.

Its mind blowing. When you need to pay those costs you cant do work for $50 an hour.

 

[jim rosenthal]

The engines themselves may be similar- often are- but the work environment is different. Taking an engine out of a truck, with unlimited room around you, is not the same as having to crane it out of the engine room of a boat, and trolley it out through the aft doors, or lift it through a hole in the roof. Overhauling the engine itself seems to be the least of the work- getting it out and then back in is quite a bit more demanding.

 

[johnjen50]

There’s a lot of truth to that. It took about about 3/4 day to get the engine out of my yachtfish, and we had a pretty good plan and all the right equipment there. It’s one of those things where you gotta be careful, cause if you drop that sucker.............

 

[Top Hatt Craig]

A great place for DD parts is Interstate McBee, highly recommended by many DD mechs. I had both my V12's done with their parts and the mechanic really was impressed with the apparent quality.[/QUOTEThanks for this info, there are many disadvantages to living in California and now this one, fortunately other outfits aren’t showing the same policy.. http://interstate-mcbee.com/calirestrictions.aspx does anyone know what’s up with this? Regards, Craig

 

[Boatsb]

A great place for DD parts is Interstate McBee, highly recommended by many DD mechs. I had both my V12's done with their parts and the mechanic really was impressed with the apparent quality.[/QUOTEThanks for this info, there are many disadvantages to living in California and now this one, fortunately other outfits aren’t showing the same policy.. http://interstate-mcbee.com/calirestrictions.aspx does anyone know what’s up with this? Regards, Craig

Really? You have to ask?

Doing business in California sucks. If it's legal to sell it's a delivery issue. If it works it's a environmentally sensitive issue.