Restoring Perkins 4.108 after years of disuse

[Mickeyrouse]

Those Perkins engines will outlast all of us if they receive just reasonable care. Our boat and its Perkins sank with about 8,000 hrs on it. Had it not been for the time spent attending to the overall re-build of our boat our engine could have been saved with no more work than a routine gaskets- rings-bearings installation. My complaint aside from the noise and vibration was its habit of leaking oil. The original rear seal is flax, which has since been upgraded to a more effective teflon.
That engine was designed for small delivery vehicles and was adapted as a general purpose utility engine for construction equipment and stationary applications like pumps, compressors, generators etc. I’d be willing to bet it is the single most-installed auxiliary engine for sailboats ever used. Parts are still widely available all over the world.