Anyone ever pulled the engine from a V-drive boat?

[thedude]

Well, I know its not a Nautique but I'm sure the same concepts apply here:

My buddy's 2003 Supra V-drive has the GM Indmar 350 in it, similar to the PCM GM 350 found in nautiques I assume. He spun a rod bearing with about 950 hours on the boat and we need to pull the engine out for a rebuild. Has anyone ever pulled the engine from a V-drive boat before? Any tips to make the process easier?

Also, in a boat, how does the engine transfer energy to the transmission? I know in a vehicle its a torque converter or a clutch, but what about in these boats? Can we just pull the engine, or does the engine and transmission have to come out together?

Thanks guys.

[Rick]

Pull them Both

I've never pulled a V drive but in a DD you take the 4 bolts out of the shaft coupling( I'm sure it would be the same with the shaft to the V-drive) undo the mounts, and pull both engine and tranny straight up. There si a dampener plate between the engine and yranny so you have to separate the two by about 4 inches to get just the engine out. As I remember the rear engine mounts are on the tranny anyway. When you remount the engine you have to realign the shaft anyway so it just makes it easier to pull both.

[thedude]

Thanks! So I'm assuming on the we'll unbolt the V-drive and tranny, and pull them both out as you mentioned. I'm assuming the output shaft of the transmission goes into the V-drive unit an inch or two, so we'd have to have that clear before we can pull the engine upwards and out.

[jjgag60]

Pulling a v-drive

I pulled mine twice last year out of a SANTE. The hardest part is having a fork lift available to pull it out. I would not recommend pulling the transmission and the motor as one. I split mine between the motor and the transmission leaving the mounts on the transmission alone. You do not want to have to do a realign.
Start on either side of the motor and work around it clockwise. Remove any hoses or wires that come from the boat to the engine. You can leave the computer ect still attached to the motor. Take photos and document where the wires go. Have plastic baggie ready to put bolt and screws in to. You dont want to mix match different bolt ect on the reinstall. We used a fork lift with a six steel extension on one of the forks. You attach the fork lift like pulling a motor from a car, with the help of a small rachet clamp to help get the right angle to pull it away from the transmission.
Take your time and you will be okay.

[JUST-IN-TIME]

i have pulled a few

most of the time i have taken the whole back seats and compartments apart

you want pics

[thedude]

got the motor out!

Well guys, we got the motor out, took about 7 hours this past Saturday to remove it and fully disassemble it before taking it to the machine shop. I was pretty pleased with our progress. We used an engine hoist that can lift 103" high. It worked like a charm! Will be installing it back in next weekend. Thanks for all the tips. One thing to note: the engine to tranny studs were about 6" long, this meant the motor had to come back towards the rear of the boat about 6" to fully disengage the studs. Removing the muffler helped a ton to give us space.