GTX 4Tec 185 transplant into a 16ft aluminum V bottom

[dbechth]

Hi everyone, I have been meaning to start a thread for quite some time to track my progress on my 4Tec transplant project. My goal for this project is to end up with a boat that can be run on the Cedar River in Iowa without concern of ripping off a lower unit or damaging a prop in the many snags typically found there. I have rode my skis most places on this river and now with a growing family I hope this boat will be a more inclusive way to have fun on the water!

I am several months behind in my posts so I will start out with some pics of the boat and engine rebuild. Enjoy!

 

[dbechth]

Bringing her home, she needs work!

Interior

Sandblasting

Makeshift cherry picker....[emoji12]

Engine build

 

[Dr Honda]

kool....


Keep the pics coming.

 

[Nike12000]

Sweet can't wait to see how this goes!!

 

[dbechth]

Things have been a bit slow around here lately, but finally got a chance to work on the engine again last night. Assembly has been slow and calculated after my first blunder of installing the crank, pistons/rods, and lower crankcase before installing the timing chain tensioner. [emoji19] Booooo.

Last night I was able to clean up the suction oil pump and get it installed as well as the new ring gear (old one damaged in supercharger failure) and upgraded flywheel bolts.

Ill be ready to install the oil pressure pump and PTO housing tonight!

 

[dbechth]

I also moved the boat into working position. I still need to get all the sandblast sand and barn debris out of the bottom.

 

[dbechth]

I finally got the engine all put together last weekend. Its been quite a learning process as the most complicated engine I've ever rebuilt prior to this was a Rotax 717.

With the engine all back together I have been able to start working on some other parts of this project. When starting this endeavor I promised myself that I would leave my cad tools and cnc on the bench. The use of these tools tends to get me stuck in a project paralisis mode where I am continuously perfecting the design of some part. So with all that said.... I dusted off the cnc and spent this weekend designing and machining a bell crank to connect the 4tec's to a standard boat throttle cable. How productive was this? Its debatable, but I did at least get it done! Here are some pics of the finished product

 

[Dr Honda]

Looks good. BUT... the more you work with your CAD/CAM, the faster you get. I got to a point, where I would take a simple design, and have a prototype in a few hours.

 

[dbechth]

Looks good. BUT... the more you work with your CAD/CAM, the faster you get. I got to a point, where I would take a simple design, and have a prototype in a few hours.

Thanks! I put this CNC together back when I was in college. Its been handy to have but the project paralysis joke is that "a jigsaw would have been faster". In this case I think it was the prefect tool for the job.

 

[dbechth]

Well, I suppose its time for an update. Right about a month ago I ran into a road block with getting the boat re-registered. Long story short, I'm currently at the mercy of the Iowa DNR and hoping that we can get this ordeal worked out. But enough of the bad news...

The good news... In the meantime I decided to put everything back in the GTX to prove it out before it goes into a boat. The engine lit right up but was missing. After doing some troubleshooting I determined that I had a brand new spark plug that was DOA. After replacing the defective plug I now have about 2 hours on the engine and it seems to be running strong with the exception of a check engine light that came up but went away upon removal and re-insertion of the lanyard. I didn't think to press the set button 5 times to read the code when it was happening so hopefully the dealer can read the stored code for me. I'm pretty excited to have the engine running again and cant wait to slip it into a boat!

 

[snikwad003]

That thing will probably be scary fast. Just the way i like it.[emoji38]

 

[dbechth]

I was able to bring the GTX in to the dealer Friday, but i'm sad to report that the dealer cleared the codes before writing any down or letting me look at them because "there was too many".:facepalm: That was a waste of $25. Determined to find the issue before my next planned outing I went for a test and tune run with my dad and got the code to come up again. The code appeared to occur very consistently at around 6k rpm crusing down the river. After doing the set button dance I saw code p1202. I looked this code up and found that it was related to the blow by pressure sensor. As it turns out the issue was that this pressure sensor is a 2 pin connector with 1 pin populated and can be plugged in backwards. Moral of the story: don't trust anyone to mistake proof anything.

 

[dbechth]

Speaking of having the dealer read codes...
Does anyone know of a better solution for the DIY guy than taking your ski to the dealer or buying the $400 CanDoo box? Shared reader, lower cost option, etc?

 

[dbechth]

The 4tec is running great in the GTX! I am really pleased with how this rebuild turned out. I am able to consistently pull 60-62 on the dream-o-meter and I'm feeling more confident than ever that this drive train is the right choice for the boat transplant.

My one point of contention with this engine however is oil capacity and the procedure to check the oil. After following the procedure in the manual to check the oil I typically end up reading the level right at the bottom mark. I have read that it takes about 8oz of oil from bottom bend to top bend on the stick. I have added 4 oz 2 times now about 3hrs of run time apart but the oil never shows much above the bottom bend. I dont see or smell smoke from the exhaust, my coolant isn't milky and I don't think I see any oil in the bilge(hard to tell since the siphon tubes could be sucking it out). So what gives.... is this a fairly normal consumption rate for this engine? Has anyone had their PTO seal leak and cause this issue?

 

[dbechth]

I'm finally back on this project again after getting all my issues with hull registration handled. This weekend I made my first cuts on the hull. No turning back now!!



Got the ride plate and pump removed and sitting behind the transom.


Wood transom removed.



Hole cut for pump mount.

... more to come later!!

 

[hungoverracer]

Very interesting, needless to say that I will be paying close attention to this thread! [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

 

[Coastiejoe]

Very cool project... Hope it goes well and you have many years of use...

 

[dbechth]

Thanks guys. Its been tough to find time to keep on this project with the nice weather we have been having and the temptation to ride my SP . Lately I've been working on fitting the intake and motor mounts into the hull. With any luck I should be starting to seal things up by the end of next week!