Carver Owners Forum

Hi, hello.

I need to get at my Velvet Drive transmission and take it out to be rebuilt.

My 350 Crusaders are FWC, coolant and a heat exchanger each, instead of raw water in the engine block.
There are so many hoses in the way!

What's worse, the exhaust elbow, that does a 90 to to meet the other exhaust hose, is fiberglass.
I have the hose clamps off. The hose does not want to move. It's been baked and pressed on there for years.
Usually, I pry the hell out of the hose end to get it off the lip.
In this case, I dont want to crush or pierce the fiberglass elbow and buy another one.
I might have to cut along this foot longish piece of exhaust hose, destroy it and buy another one.
That would be better than wrecking the 90 elbow, I figure?

The 4" exhaust hose that's in there now says "1993" on it, in the blue stripe with the hose info.
The boat is a 1994 production year, does this mean the exhaust hose could really be that old?
It would be a coincidence if not, that this unrelated number would randomly match the year this boat was constructed.
If the hose is that old, I don't feel too bad about wrecking a piece of it. Maybe it should all be replaced if it's that old?
Seller said he redid the exhaust hoses, and they look much newer than 1993 though.

Any tricks to removing old 4" exhaust hose? I'm trying to warm it up with a space heater and boiling water, but it won't budge. I've tried putting a piece of 2x4 in the inner crook of the elbow where the other hose clamp protects the lip from impact, and hammering the other end of the 2x4, to push the elbow out of the hose. No luck so far.

Soon the angle grinder and exhaust hose will have an encounter, unless something brilliant happens.

I have and will have a lot of questions as I try to repair this old beast. Thanks for reading these and for your help.
I will mail beer to all of you I guess?

I start my removals using a hose pick, this will free up the first couple of inches at the start of the hose and may just be enough to help break the bond on the rest. I have a stiff flat metal bar that I use if the rest is still stubborn or you can use a thin screw driver to work your way into the rest. Just be careful not to damage the elbow, you can crack it if you pry too hard.

Once you remove the hose, take a look inside it, if it looks cracked or burnt you should replace it. If the outside is cracked, don't even try getting it off in one piece as it should be replaced so cutting will make removal easier. Given the vintage though and considering you'll already have it off, it's probably best to replace it with new hose anyway.

FYI, you should remove the tranny oil lines and oil cooler and clean the out thoroughly or replace with new. If the failure contaminated the oil, you don't want any of that in the rebuilt tranny. Most mechanics will replace these items with new ones for liability reasons to be sure there is no contamination in the system which can still be present after cleaning the old hardware.

As viper mentioned, this is a task of patience. Use a hose pic or an ice pick and take your time. Yes, they are most likely the original hoses from 1993. There is also a good chance Carver put some sort of sealant on them when installed. When you start to get it a little loose, you could also try to work in a hacksaw blade and slowly work it around.

Thank you both.

I particularly like the hacksaw blade idea.

A strap wrench comes in handy for adding force to the twisting......if the hoses are that old then they are most likely long past their usefullness, once you see the inside of the hoses that will tell as they wear out from the inside to out , just cut em off in my opinion.....good luck man...

I used a heat gun on mine when I replaced my elbows......after I tore the first one with a screw driver.