Rebuilding a Westerbeke

[HawkX66]

I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm a little bummed. One of the valves stuck today and broke a rocker. I decided to strip it down and go through it before I get any more surprises. I could tell it had been used in salt water so going through it will take the mystery out of the equation for me.
And away I go... I ended up taking the head off so I could see the pistons and cylinders. They look good. The insides were pretty grungy, but really not bad at all.
Here's a few before and through disassembly pics. I didn't realize it had a catalytic converter.

 

[dtfeld]

That sucks.

You might want to price/source the necessary components before you go too far. The major components from Westerbeke are very expensive. If you can identify the engine and buy direct, a lot more cost effective, but sometime difficult to tell who made everything.

 

[HawkX66]

That sucks.

You might want to price/source the necessary components before you go too far. The major components from Westerbeke are very expensive. If you can identify the engine and buy direct, a lot more cost effective, but sometime difficult to tell who made everything.

That's exactly what I'm doing now. I'm not too bummed about it to be honest. It's a like doing puzzles for me. I like working on things like this as long as the dollars and cents make sense. At $600 for the geni I can't loose. I see pitiful looking used ones going for $4k-$6k. If I keep this whole project below $2k I'll be very happy.
This will be an awesome learning experience too. It'll be nice knowing exactly what is going on with the geni when it's back together and what it will take to repair if something should ever go wrong again.
At least all the parts are corrosion free! Except for the cat which didn't play well with salt water. Good to know!

 

[dtfeld]

That's exactly what I'm doing now. I'm not too bummed about it to be honest. It's a like doing puzzles for me. I like working on things like this as long as the dollars and cents make sense. At $600 for the geni I can't loose. I see pitiful looking used ones going for $4k-$6k. If I keep this whole project below $2k I'll be very happy.
This will be an awesome learning experience too. It'll be nice knowing exactly what is going on with the geni when it's back together and what it will take to repair if something should ever go wrong again.
At least all the parts are corrosion free! Except for the cat which didn't play well with salt water. Good to know!

I love boat projects too! And I’m pretty sure none of them make $ense!

 

[HawkX66]

I love boat projects too! And I’m pretty sure none of them make $ense!

This is true!
$1,100 for everything needed. That's including a lot of "maybe necessary" parts without shopping around yet. Things like all new valves, valve springs, new valve seals, all new hoses regular maint items etc. She'll be like new for less than $1,700 and some labor all in. Hopefully...

 

[scoflaw]

Like someone else mentioned the rotor and stator are the big dollar parts.

 

[spikedaddy99]

Keep us posted. I had a Westerbeke in our 300 weekender that had to be rebuilt. I lucked out having a friend with experience rebuilding gennies and we did it in a weekend. I still owe him many beers...

 

[Stray Current]

Like someone else mentioned the rotor and stator are the big dollar parts.

correct.

I’d Meg em out before I went crazy

 

[HawkX66]

Keep us posted. I had a Westerbeke in our 300 weekender that had to be rebuilt. I lucked out having a friend with experience rebuilding gennies and we did it in a weekend. I still owe him many beers...

Yes you do! Having someone to walk you through the first one is priceless.

correct.

I’d Meg em out before I went crazy

Crazy? Whuchoo mean with this crazy thing?

 

[dtfeld]

Even if you need a new back end, you way head of a new one.

 

[HawkX66]

Even if you need a new back end, you way head of a new one.

That's my thought too. Now that I have it completely disassembled, I'll test all the individual components to see where I am. It'll be much easier that way. There is one module that I'll have to replace. I believe they call it the battery charger. It looks to have a broken spade.