I would do 3, or 4.

Look at this option for a rebuilt (and improved!) motor :

Moyer Marine Atomic 4 Engine Rebuilding and Parts

 

I would opt for the diesel. What a world of a difference it will be.

 

I think a diesel Atomic 4 replacement from Beta Marine will cost about $9000. So it's $5000, or $9000.....

 

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. The diesel option is definitely more expensive, but can I expect to receive a greater return from that as opposed to just rebuilding/replacing the patro Atomic 4?

If I buy a used/rebuilt Atomic 4 online and have the yard install it the costs will be similar to just rebuilding the Atomic 4 I currently have...

Thoughts?

 

A fiend of mine T37Chef just replaced his engine, similar size with a beta. His total costs were greater than $9000 and he did a fair amount of the work himself

 

It is not just the cost of the engine alone you need to think about. If you went with a diesel you would have to overhaul your fuel system too.

For the price you have been quoted I'd call Moyer and get their price on a trade in for a rebuilt engine. I'm pretty sure it is about the same $6K.

You can find used A4 engines available that may be in better shape than your old one. You should not have to spend more than $2.5K for a used A4 in working order. With used engines though it is difficult to see how far gone the internals are unless you tear it down.

How handy are you with a wrench? You can cut the costs a lot if you can do much of the work yourself.

 

This is from the Moyer site explaining some of the options. Moyer Marine Atomic 4 Engine Rebuilding and Parts I rebuilt my A-4 a few years ago and used parts from MMI. They are very helpful and knowledgeable. I did the work myself and I am not a mechanic. Shop work and parts came to less than 3K. Dan S/V Marian Claire

 

If I needed to replace my A4, and wanted to sell the boat sometime soon, I would find a used replacement. Just do a good bench test on the prospective used A4. Not worth dumping that much cabbage into a boat you are going to sell. Maybe put the lump back in yourself, and save a little more.

 

Rebuild it yourself, They are very simple engines and if you do your own boat maintenance you can do the engine. It's an extremely satisfying experience to light off an engine you rebuilt yourself as well.

With the assistance of Moyer, anyone with wrenches should be able to do it.

As to your original questions, connecting rods can't be "repaired". They can be rebuilt if they are only worn & not damaged - sleeved wrist pin bushings, resized big ends, new bearings etc. It sounds like your engine needs a full rebuild - you might ask around at regular engine rebuilding shops - don't forget the yard is quoting the price to rebuild a BOAT engine. Regular engine shops rebuild zillions of 4 cylinder engines that are a whole lot more complex than an A4 and they don't charge $6K or anything near it.

Swapping to a new diesel, while the ultimate choice, also has the ultimate price. It will likely cost 50% more than the cost of the engine by the time you're done, even if you install it yourself. Rebuilding the A4 is an easier job than doing an engine swap, particularly in the usual C&C engine compartment.

A recent diesel will definitely make your boat more marketable in a couple or three years but you won't get a whole lot of the cost back - MAYBE 1/2 of what you spent at best. My experience is that boats in the 30' range with A4's generally bring in the range of $5-$7K less than diesels but are quite a bit slower to sell.

There's lots of stuff on the web about rebuilding A4's - check it out and see if you think you could undertake it. There was a lot of stuff in Good Old Boat mag a while back about Rob Mazza (the ex-C&C designer) doing his own at home.

 

I did a quick look in soldboats.com. It looks like your boat with a gas engine sells for about $20k here in Ontario while with a diesel gets close to $25k. So it looks like you'd get about half your money back (in todays market).

 

Have the A4 professionally rebuilt and professionally installed. Replace all the extras: alternator, starter, cooling stuff while you are at it. $6,600 is on the plane of chump change for re-powering a34 foot boat. Going to a new diesel would be three times that amount. I do not think you would get back even half of a diesel repower, but would get back most of the A4 repower (its just not much money...).

 

How about this one on fleabay? should drop in using your existing mounts etc.

 

I gotta admit that I find the market rate for atomic 4 rebuilds stunning.
It's a tractor engine. pushrods, single carb, side valve, flathead, mechanical distributor.
if it was any simpler it wouldn't run.
i think a competent mechanic would be hard pressed to put more than 10 hours into a teardown and rebuild, while an amateur fumbling through his first one might invest twice that in total manhours on the tools.

From a parts standpoint, using moyer pricing, 4 con rods, $300, new crankshaft $400, new pistons (overbored) $300, new bearings (big and little) $400, new valves etc. $400, flywheel is $75, now you have a whole brand spankig new rotating assembly and valve train. Add a $100 gasket kit and $50 worth of hardware and you've just rebuilt the engine. add a few hundred bucks to machine 4 cylinders and clean up the block and head and you're still well under $3K. add a new carb for $200.
You now have damn near a fully rebuilt engine. In other words much more work than in your quote.
For $3K.
at $100/hr for labour, (a stunning figure, considering that a high school shop class would be hard pressed to screw up an atomic 4 rebuild- this does't require a master tech with a 24 drawer roller cabinet full of tools.) there's 35 hours of labour to get to your quote.

There's no way a 4 cylinder sidevalve engine needs that much labour for a professional to strip and rebuild.

And there's no reason why an average person who can turn a wrench or a screwdriver can't do it himself.
think about how many hours it takes to earn the money to pay the guy fixing your engine. why not put those hours toward doing it yourself?

 

Chris, 10 years ago our A4 died. Went to a local shop. They happen to have a rebuilt A4 on hand (they supported a charter business). Removal of our old A4, and install of this "new" one cost us about $2,000.

This was a decade ago, and the engine has already been rebuilt, so not directly comparable to your situation, but still ... $6,600 sound like a lot to me.

 

Yeah! $6600 for just the rebuild, plus re-install yet; sounds like he's tryin' ta sell ya a new motor (or a bill of goods !). $4600-4900 for the MMI and IIRC, ya get a core chg back? I had a large Onan 4 cyl genset rebuilt a coupe years ago to near the same extent and it was only $1100 ! And Onan charges near Harley prices for parts!
Conversely; find a solid used A-4 ..I've seen some in the 1200-1700 dollar range...and have a pro go over it. Tweak as needed and yer into less than $2500. Pop it back in yerself and it's all good
While I'd opt for a diesel; the change over costs would be prohibitive, so stick w/gas and go, go...go !

 

I'm not sure where you are located but here is a used A4 for sale that would do the trick for you: Atomic 4 engine
Saw this on another thread in the A4 section.

 

Atomic 4 engine for sale. $2500 Atomic 4 engine

 

I am not sure where you are located but I would look for a place that does agricultural or industrial tractor motor repairs, away from the boat yards.

 

Sounds like a "marine premium" to me as well. Have them break out just the engine work from the quote and get your own engine, I have to assume that the $66oo quote includes turn key re-install.

 

Chris,

Get thee to the Moyer Marine forum. Read, learn, save some money.

 

In my normal polite manner i have to say

I find it hard to believe some of you have pulled a motor out of a sailboat

Cleaned up the 40 year mess

You could not possibly have bought many parts form Moyer as i was into over a 1000 dollars for a much more minor rebuild

And doing a complete tear-down is a ***** with the integrated transmission

And then left the boat in a reasonably professional manner

 

Two thumbs up - didn't that feel great when you lit that thing for the first time in that spotless engine compartment?

I'll bet it cost a whole lot less than the 5 figures a diesel swap would have cost as well.

 

Tom, the pricing I quoted is right from MM's site. The OP mentions nothing about replacing the shaft, stuffing box shaft log, repainting the engine bay etc. if so, I could see the cost reflected in more parts and more , a lot more labour.

But let's not overestimate the complexity of an atomic 4.

It's a whole lot simpler than this:

an engine which can be torn down and rebuilt in less than 10 hours. fewer bearings, simpler valve train, half as many heads, no separate cylinders or a split case to align and torque down, etc.

 

Moyer gets between 3000 and 6000 + dollars for a rebuild

Now I know your spoiled because you live in a freshwater area BUT I own TWO saltwater A4s and even with the unit in Seafever having been converted to FWC 30 years ago

I can assure you unless you can drill out bolts much faster than me you will not have one apart in 10 days let alone 10 hours because I had to use supreme caution to break as few things as possible to return it to its current state and that was still over about 2000 in parts as I forgot about all the stuff I used from my second motor and did not have to buy

Stuff like rust wiping out the seal area on the output coupling Is a 65 dollar part and it just keeps going up till you hit a pretty big number

If seafevers block had needed a bore job you would have had to drill out ALL 18 studs and a whole bunch of other stuff to get it to the point it could even be put in a boring machine

mucho rust

The donar motor saved me mucho money

The motor mounts that now move ,water pump that pumps and valves SO you can service the impeller without dumping the antifreeze was over 600 dollars alone

 

Do you replace the valves or grind the angle on them at a machine shop? I do not know. I assume some intake valves might be good as they have less heat to deal with. Lead has been removed from the gas that acted as a lube for the valves. Is this engine from the 1970s when gas still had lead? Todays valves are made better? Cost of the part vs labor ? Next the head a trip to the machine shop clean, check it for cracks, machine new valve seats and guides so the valve will not wobble and beat out the new seat. This is how I think it might go if it is kind of hard to pull an engine in and out and enjoy a lot of time between major engine work. That is just some points I might think about on the top end. I have not made it to the block and the bottom end. Would they lap the valves and call it good. Price and quality and expectations? Reply asap I would enjoy learning more about inboards. Kind regards ,Lou

 

Tom, I get your point.

My point is, unless we get more info from the OP- the condition of the engine currently, is it FWC, what is included in the quote, etc. the numbers don't add up.

Further, it is such a dead simple engine, it shouldn't intimidate the novice. get on the tools, get your hands dirty, become intimate with the beast that bears you, (okay, that didn't come out right) and get it done.

I understand the unique joy of removing oxidized studs from oxidized blocks thanks to salt exposure- welcome to old cars and ontario winters. The A4 does have an advantage- no aluminum or magnesium blocks or heads to really make things frustrating.