Beta Engine Installation Photos

Below are photos of my Beta 38 engine installation.  Thanks to everyone for posting information to help me through this.

Beta 38

The high rise exhaust elbow and hose exiting straight back from engine.

I added a shelf above the shaft just under the aft cabin closet floor to hold the Vetus LSS50 water lock muffler.

Exhaust hose runs straight back under the aft cabin floor.

And continues under the aft cabin settee.

To the Vetus LT Gooseneck at the transom.

Engine Problem Solved

I finally found the cause of the dying engine.  I had an air leak on the fuel lift tube where the nylon tube connects to the aluminum fitting that screws onto the tank.  It was a newly replaced part.  It's crazy all the sub standard equipment being made.   I found it by unhooking the fuel line from the fuel tank (the other end goes into the Facet lift pump) and sticking that end in fresh clean fuel in a bucket and unhooked the fuel line going into the Racor fuel filter and sticking that in the same bucket of fuel (isolating the fuel pump).  I turned on my Facet fuel pump and watched for bubbles going up in the bucket of fuel.  No bubbles.  So then I  re attached the fuel hose to the fuel tank and turned on the Facet pump again isolating the tank fitting.  I got bubbles coming up in the bucket of fuel.  So, the leak has to be at the tank fitting because all of the fuel lines down stream of the Facet pump are pressurized meaning if I have a leak downstream of the Facet pump it will show up as fuel in the bilge, not air in the lines. I changed out the fuel lift tube assembly and the engine ran beautifully.  Boy has this little air leaked been frustrating.  This is my first engine installation and I knew I would make some mistakes.  Thankfully none of them have been catastrophic.  They have been very frustrating but I am learning a lot fast and that, in itself, will be worth it in the long haul.
Cheers
Pat

Help! Beta Marine Engine Keeps Dying

Ok, I have redone my exhaust system much like Dave's and Martin's systems.  I put the Vetus LSS 50 water lock muffler under the aft cabin closet on a shelf I made just above the prop shaft.  That gives me the required drop from the water injection point to the muffler.  Then ran the pipe straight back to the gooseneck mounted at the transom.  I left the anti siphon loop on the water injection hose high in the starboard locker.  That meets the Vetus's installation requirements.  So it seems to work fine sitting here in my yard.  We shall see when I get into some waves.  But, THE BETA ENGINE STILL DIES ON ME!!!!!!  It is still getting air in the line somewhere.  Its not the fuel level, I checked that.  I have at least half a tank of fuel.  My Racor fuel filler lid was not screwed on really tight, so I tightened that down really snug.  That seemed to help and I thought I had it fixed but after running it for several minutes, shutting it off, then restarting and running for just a few seconds, BAM, the engine dies again.  This is driving me CRAZY!!!  Any suggestions as to what the problem could be would be greatly appreciated.  I will get some pictures posted in a few days of the entire install.
Cheers

Thought I would chime in here Pat with my exhaust input. Above is the configuration of my exhaust. Originally had the vertical Vetus rubber muffler and 2 up/down galvanized piping. The inside had corroded and piled up in the muffler promoting back flow of water. I found that problem while rebuilding the engine and finding seized rings on #4 piston. Now I have a Vernalift in the aft cabin locker. Holds about 3 gallons and the long "new" exhaust run probably holds an other 2 gallons.
I have a Electric Walbro diesel lift pump to prime the system prior to starting. It does not stay on. I have it on a push button while I push the other button for the heaters. Now with the rebuilt engine (Westerbeke W46), it rarely cranks more than 2 seconds and fires.

Engine Exhaust Problem Located

After getting water in the engine from a back flow of wet exhaust, I found the problem.  My exhaust muffler inlet is two inches higher than the high rise exhaust elbow fitting on the engine.  I made a big mistake.  I relied upon a previous installation as being correct.  Since my exhaust elbow is in the starboard locker out of sight from the engine room, it wasn't so easy to spot.  That's my excuse anyway!  So, as long as the engine starts quickly you don't see a problem.  But as soon as a hard starting situation appears, the hose between the exhaust elbow and muffler quickly fills up with water, as the engine doesn't produce the exhaust pressure necessary to push the wet exhaust water up and over to the muffler.  The problem is I don't have the space to lower the muffler or enough space to raise the elbow to get the recommended 9 inches of drop from the exhaust elbow to the muffler.  Hmmm.  I can custom make an extension to my exhaust elbow to raise it above the muffler at a maximum height of maybe 4 inches above the muffler inlet.  That puts the top of the exhaust elbow at the very top of my engine room ceiling.  But it still doesn't meet the recommended 9 inch drop.  What to do.  Any suggestions are welcome.

Pat

Revision to my last post

Well I have figured out some things with the engine install.  And some lesson are learned the hard way.  It has been hard to start of late(last two days) and I have been having to re bleed the fuel lines.  I thought is was the added Facet fuel pump that blew a fuse that caused the hard starting problems.  Nope.  I found out what was causing the hard start.  I didn't put enough diesel in the tank and it was sucking air.  I also found out what can happen when you crank the engine several times without it starting.  I got water in the engine!!  Today I checked the oil level prior to starting and saw a milky coating on my oil dip stick.  I called Beta and they gave me a plan to flush the engine of the bad oil.  I pumped out the oil, replaced the bad oil with good, replaced the oil filter, and ran the engine for a couple of minutes.  Then repeated the above steps four times.  Ended up running 16 quarts of good oil thru it and using up 4 oil filters and it looked like it cleaned up well.  I will probably do it a few more times tomorrow just for good measure.  It is running great now that have the fuel tank filled up to an appropriate level and have nice clean oil in the engine.  And luckily it was fresh water, so no salt problems should occur.  Having hopefully dodged a bullet, I now have to figure out what went wrong.  I went to great lengths to get the install done correctly. Hmmm, apparently I missed something.   I have a long exhaust hose run and have a Vetus LP60 muffler installed that holds 2.77 gallons of wet exhaust, which I thought would take care this.  Maybe not.  I am ordering a LSL60 which holds 4.23 gallons of wet exhaust.  I have a high vacuum loop installed on the water injection hose and a high loop in the exhaust hose itself.  That is the way several Rasmus owners I have talked to have theirs set up.  The only thing I can think of is that the duration of cranking the engine without a start caused water to accumulate in the muffler to the point of backing up in the engine, not having enough pressure to blow out the wet exhaust.  Any thoughts out there would be appreciated.  I am thinking that the insufficient fuel level caused the hard start, which caused the back flow of water into the engine, and also saved my engine from destruction when it wouldn't start before I checked the oil level and found the water in the engine.  Whew!!  Question: What size exhaust muffler are you Rasmus owners installing in your boat?  Do you put a loop in the exhaust hose?  Also, I want to know how you experienced owners handle hard engine starting situations, specifically, after cranking the engine over an unusually long period of time without a successful start, do you empty out the wet exhaust muffler at some point to keep water from backing up in the engine?  Any ideas are appreciated.
Thanks
Pat

Beta 38 engine is up and running

Well I received my new custom engine mounts and they worked great.  I have roughly aligned the engine and hooked up the exhaust and electrical.  I also hooked up a facet pump (part number 40104) in front of the Racor fuel filter to help lift fuel out of the deep fuel tank.  After running it a bit, I blew the 1 amp fuse to the facet pump.  I continued to run without the fuel pump.  The next day I tried to start the engine (Beta 38) and it would not start.  I then realized the facet fuel pump is really needed on this boat/engine combination.  I replaced the 1 amp fuse to the pump with a 5 amp fuse and ran the fuel pump a bit before trying to start the engine.  No good.  I had to re bleed the fuel lines before the engine would start.  This was a good lesson to what is needed to get this combination to work well.  That facet pump is much needed.

New engine in 'Michaela, Rasmus # 330

I just tore out the old Volvo MD2003 from my Rasmus # 330, Michaela.  Here's the new engine - a Volvo/Perkins D1-30.  It's a vast improvement!  The new prop is a Campbell Sailor 3-blade.