Paragon Removal

[don huffman]

hi all, i just pulled twin283s from a sunken cc constilation 37 ft. 1963. these are flywheel fwd engines. proceeding with dissasembly i am stuck aat removing the model no. hf7b25-L. i have removed all obvious bolts and nuts around the tranny, 3 studs are sticking through the flange where the paragon bolts to the engine. sprayed pb blaster,heated,pounded ,and tried driving an old knife in to seperate. no luck, what am i missing? can someone advise please? regards don huffman , cold in wva.

[Chief Engineer]

The spline is probably rusted into the flywheel.

You have two pieces of scrap.......it will cost you way too much in aggravation and busted knuckles to try to save them.....unless you want to restore them for antique boat sake

[don huffman]

good morning chief, i posted last night about removing the paragon from that 283. thanks for your reply. i am a car guy with a couple boats. one mfg w inline 4cyl chev and a starcraft w inline chevy6. both mercs. well i cannot see old parts go to scrap if possible , help me again if you can. you said the splines are probably rusted to the flywheel-well, my engines are flywheel fwd with the tranny on what is the harmonic balancer end if it were a car eng,the other end , is another flywheel in that housing too or is it just splined to the crank somehow? after removing the shift top off the paragon it lookes suprisinglly clean inside. still hoping someone can use it if only for parts. the heads look rebuildable no rust on the cam or lifters and the crank and rods look ok through the hole in the oil pan. i will admit that two cylinders look pretty bad but the eng will turn, if i can get it apart i plan to take the block to my friend at his machine and have him see what it will take to clean up the block. thanks for your reply and any advice. regards, don huffman getting colder in wva.brrr

[don huffman]

hey chief, i figured it out. pound in the right place. the paragon tranny looks like it has a spacer or ring between the tranny and the aluminum timing gear housing, about 1/2 or5/8 inch thick, but it might just be cast on the tranny. anyway, i have been trying to seperate the two between the ring and the tranny w/no luck. as soon as i tried on the other side i/e the engine side of the ring it started seperating from the timing gear housing. now i have the paragon off, pulled the little round thing that looks like the center of a clutch disc and the piece that would be the harmonic balencer on a car engine, no rust here, just milky looking oil. sooo next i removed the oil pan, pump,and three rods and pistons,had to quit on it so i could go fix the grandsons broken dinasoar,tomorow i'lltake out the other 5 rods and pistons,so far the crank looks perfect. i think this engine is rebuildable. another project for the long winter ahead. regards don huffman

[Chief Engineer]

Don't you just get a "warm fuzzy" of satisfaction when something comes apart?

I do. Especially if I have no cut, bruises, or knots on my bald head.

Poca WV....is that on the river?

[don huffman]

yes chief, on the mighty kanawha river lies poca wv, the site of the john e. amos power plant. well now i have all the pistons out of the 283,washed the block used a ridge reamer on it and honed it to a good cross hatched pattern. boy this is fun. wishing you a merry christmas. don huffman