Caterpillar 3116 Replacement on a 42

We recently had to replace one of the Cat 3116 motors in our 42 classic. When researching how to do this I did not find much information so I thought I would post a couple of photos of how we did it. I'm not an expert but the job got done and we are cruising now. We decided to take everything off the motor so it would fit out the port door. 17.5 inches!

Cant see the whole lifting set up but thats basically it. Great job and that engine room looks pretty sweet.

Looks like you pulled the transmission first, then the engine. Was that for clearance reasons, or did the transmission need work too? It seems more common to leave the transmission in place, but I’m sure each boat is it’s own puzzle.

And curious, what happened to the engine?

I did a similar operation a few years ago. Congratulations.

Did you use the mobile crane through the ceiling for the lift?

Jeff F said:

I did a similar operation a few years ago. Congratulations.

Did you use the mobile crane through the ceiling for the lift?

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I dont understand the point of cutting a hole in the bridge on inline 4 and 6cyl engines. The engine, stripped to the block and head only fits through the salon door.

Yes its a tight fit but it goes. why destroy the bridge only to replace it. And then still, if they dont fix it right (like the last boat i looked at) the bridge was so flimsy.

Yes, we pulled the trans first so we could move the motor back before going up. It probably wasn’t necessary to do so. We put the new motor and trans together before we lowered them back in.

Oh, the cylinders were scored causing toooo much crank case pressure. We had oil leaks everywhere. The motors had 4700 hours on them.

The crane boom came through the side windows to move and pull the motor out the door. Here are a couple of pictures. We didn’t get a lot of pics of the crane since when it was there the yard was charging by the hour $$$$$

Patrick, did you replace with another 3116? If so, how were you able to source it? Curious as I have a 1994 GB 42 with 3116 engines too. Hope I don’t have to replace them (they have 3200 hours) but if I do, glad to see it’s possible — your pics could prove invaluable.

Eli27 said:

I dont understand the point of cutting a hole in the bridge on inline 4 and 6cyl engines. The engine, stripped to the block and head only fits through the salon door.

Yes its a tight fit but it goes. why destroy the bridge only to replace it. And then still, if they dont fix it right (like the last boat i looked at) the bridge was so flimsy.

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My 1973 GB36 has a hatch in the bridge from the factory. It was covered by the teak decking which kind of defeats the purpose. That is being addressed during the refit.

Yes, I purchased a remanufactured 3116 to replace the old one. I tried to keep everything the same as the original. If you want more details let me now

PatrickF said:

Yes, I purchased a remanufactured 3116 to replace the old one. I tried to keep everything the same as the original. If you want more details let me now

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Where did you source the reman?