early workhorse 1200 advice needed...

[flatsfishinfool]

bought this early 2001 with no idea what i was doing, just knew i wanted a gas cart. bought it knowing the engine was shot, but the overall cart was solid, no rust, good package (i think). it has 910.1 hours on it, tires are shot and it's dirty. so...heres the first of my many questions....i bought a CT rebuilds 350 that carrie says will be here tomorrow (ya'lls advice sent me there).

so it seems a staight forward engine change out. but, i know better. being a jeep / polaris guy whose into boats, and need some advice

what are the pitfalls? what are you guys advice to keep me on the straight and narrow?

thanks in advance for your wisdom!

pete

[BrewCityMusic]

There shouldn't be too many surprises with the swap - The way I do them is to remove the carb, air cleaner, throttle and choke, etc then the exhaust, then the coil and wiring, starter (mark your wires for replacement in the same spots), then remove the belt and clutch from the motor - at that point You should have a lonely, stripped-down, easily accessible engine sitting there ready to be pulled. 2 bolts in the front, 2 in the rear, and 4 on the bottom of the motor and You can lift it out easily (only weighs 50lbs stripped) ...

Reinstallation is the same in reverse, make SURE you note the cable routing, etc (such as the brake cable that goes between the skid plate and engine on the bottom, etc) and You'll be fine. My first swap a few years ago took about 2 hours (almost all that time spent checking and re-checking, taking notes, marking stuff for replacement, etc) but now I can do one front to back in around an hour.

Do yourself a favor if You can though, and prior to pulling it apart, pressure-wash the heck out of it - there is generally a ton of gunk, etc especially at the lower and rear end of the engine that it's a lot easier to get rid of prior to the swap than trying to deal with during.

Good Luck - like I said, it's almost SCARY how easy it is to transplant one of these - take your time, mark everything, and You'll be fine.

[flatsfishinfool]

thanks for the advice....now if the pressure washer isn't frozen....

[BrewCityMusic]

it's a balmy 14 degrees here in the Badger State, but then again, WE are used to it - I'd be pissed if I lived that far south and had to deal with this, LOL ...

[flatsfishinfool]

man, i live 30 miles north of Tallahassee Florida and it's 28 degrees out right now. so i was not kidding! did'nt get to powerwash it, but it was not too oily. broken rod, block is fine. got the new engine in without any drama only to figure out the gas had water in it. got it drained and the pump cleaned out / inspected and fired it up with temp gas till tomorrow...when it's WARMER

so thanks for your input...it helped.

pete