Engine beds

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 10:34 am

I'm thinking ahead into this coming winter, when I'll most likely be pulling the engine for a rebuild.

It occurs to me that this is the opportunity to remove those steel engine beds and install some wooden beds that would allow vibration-damping mounts. Plus I could get closer to the old "mass of engine beds should be 1/3 of engine mass" rule of thumb.

Has anyone done or seen anything similar to this when not necessitated by swapping in a different engine? Really this is a request for devil's advocacy.

-MH

Post by **Tim** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 10:53 am

You have steel engine foundations? Yet another Triton anomaly in a sea of anomalies!

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 11:11 am

well, now that you mention it.... maybe it's not steel. I haven't done a magnet test or anything. I just assumed steel because it's so thin.

from what I can tell it's pretty similar to what you had on #381

What was that engine bed made of?

What was #100's engine bed made of?

Post by **Tim** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 4:46 pm

Both #381 and #100 had the "standard" molded fiberglass engine beds as shown in the photo above--solid mat and woven roving with an integral flange on top, all heavily tabbed to the hull with ridiculous thicknesses of resin-rich mat and cloth. Cutting through this mess has been some of the more difficult removal processes on both projects, actually.

Sounds like that's probably what you have. Assuming it's well-tabbed to the hull, it's a good setup for your A4 and will probably need no further attention.

I have the engine bed from #100 laying around, and will grab a photo for you for comparison.

Post by **Tim** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 7:20 am

Check out this link for some more photos of a set of typical Triton fiberglass engine beds.

Engine Beds from Triton #100