Engine Rebuild and Installation

When we bought the boat she had a Volvo Penta 2003 that was in bad condition and stripped apart. Parts for the Volvo are expensive and hard to come by and in Matt's experience, not very reliable. Being a diesel mechanic, Matt worked many hours on other people's engines so he knew exactly what kind of an engine he wanted to install. The Beta Marine, basically a marinized Kubota, is very simple, durable, easy to work on, and parts are relatively cheap and found almost anywhere. Matt traded some hours of labor for a 28hp 3 cyl Beta Marine (BD1005) in need of a full rebuild. We replaced the crank, all bearings, all gaskets, and fitted it with a new transmission (PRM 120), basically giving us a brand new engine. Woo woo!

Day 1 of the rebuild. I have no idea what I'm doing, thankfully Matt has done this many times before.

Crank installed, adding the crank pin bearings.

Day 2. Lots of stuff that I don't understand already completed. Matt setting the valve clearances and timing. 

Later that day, adding the finishing touches.

Matt added a few nice extra features: 100A alternator, high torque starter, oil pressure and temperature senders, and a high rise mixing elbow (that ended up not fitting in our boat, hits the diesel tank so we had to put the original back on).

Day 3. The fun part! Starting it up for the first time. Making sure all is running good!

A quick wash and paint...

And day 4. Installation into the boat. A great time to cross your fingers that it fits in the engine bay.

Don't chip the paint! Priorities people!

And there it is in it's new home! The heart of Varuna, built and installed in a mind numbing (for me) 4 days. Matt is very excited and proud of himself - rightfully so! What a HUGE step for us!