Carver Owners Forum

How do I get the engines out of my 1991 38' Carver Aft Cabin. The companionway door appears to be too narrow.

May have remove the manifolds and or other accessories to get to the block only to minimize the size and then unscrew the door frame and remove to maximize that area. I have a 405 carver and same salon doors I haven't had to do a engine swap but I felt that would be the way. Maybe someone else on here has actually had to do it.

Cant say how to get them out of there but the 454 engine is 27" from the outside of the valve covers , so as has been said each thing you remove from there ,it gets lighter and narrower....hope it works for you.

Removing the exhaust manifolds and sometimes the heads is usually enough to do the trick. If it's a 3807 model, removing the doors should give you an additional 2-3".

I take it you have 7.4L/454 gas engines? Or are they diesels? Why do you have to remove the engines, what's wrong with them?

I am pressurizing the oil pan and pumping salt water and oil out of the vents on the valve covers and dipstick so there is probably a major malfunction

What diagnostics have been done to determine where this is an upper or lower end problem? Before you go through the trouble and expense of removing engines, be sure that it's not just an upper end problem.

How many hours on the engines?

Are these raw water or fresh water cooled (coolant) engines? What about the manifolds; raw water or fresh water cooled? How old are they?

Both the engine and manifolds are raw water cooled. 1100 hours on the engine. It is a 1991 (16 years old) engine. My mechanic tried to restart it and he said lower end issue because of the fact that I had to keep giving it more gas to keep the same RPM as the other engine coupled with the oil pressure dropping to zero and the frothy oil/salt water mix coming out the dipstick and also coming out the hoses connecting the valve covers to the carb.

if IT IS A 1991 IT IS 26 YEARS OLD! mY 1994 cpmy HAD AN ENGINE REPLACED. they REMOVED THE ENGINE FROM THE BILGE, REMOVED THE MANIFOLDS AND HEADS AND CRANK AND TOOK OUT PRETTY MUCH THE BARE BLOCK. Sorry about the CAPS!

tonyiiiafl wrote:Source of the post if IT IS A 1991 IT IS 26 YEARS OLD!

What's wrong with that? I have two 1983 454's still running fine!

km1125 wrote:Source of the post

tonyiiiafl wrote:Source of the post if IT IS A 1991 IT IS 26 YEARS OLD!

What's wrong with that? I have two 1983 454's still running fine!

+1
Ya, no problem with my '89s either but I don't have a chocolate shake going on. If I did though, I'd still try to get more years out of them by checking to make sure the issue wasn't just an upper end problem before I went through the time and expense of complete replacements.