Impeller on V-drive

[spokanesx]

I'm new to the forum and a new Epic owner.  My 2001 SX has not had the impeller changed since new.  I bought it from the original owner who has really used the boat for 7 years with only 155 hours.  I thought I would change the impeller so I bought one just like the instructions on this site explain.  I was ready to get it done today when I realized that the available space on the V-drive is a little different than the direct drive models in the tutorial.  Does anyone have any tips on how to gain access to the front of the motor?

Thanks in advance.

[DENNIS]

Take the sides off next to the motor, it has thump screws.  Then take the back off, between the ski locker and the engine compartment, it also has thumb screws.  You may have to use a little foot power to unwedge that back part. All you have to do is push out the back panel maybe a foot to get access to the water pump and impeller. 

Look up toyotafreaks post on this subject.  He has an S22 as do I and I used his directions.  Very easy to follow once you get access.

Dennis

[spokanesx]

Great.  Thanks for the tip.  Hopefully they left some slack in the shower lines so the back panel can be moved without unhooking it as well.

[DENNIS]

I have the shower on mine as well.  It has enough slack to push the panel out far enough.

Dennis

[spokanesx]

Well, I can check off the impeller project.  It took 3 hours.  1 hour to change the impeller and 2 hours to mess around with the back panels that had never been removed.  I ended up just unhooking the shower unit which was pretty easy so I could remove the panel completely.  After fighting the back panels for an hour to put them back decided to walk away from the final tweaks as I was getting very frustrated.  I think the panel is not lined up at the top so it did want to fit was also 1/2 inch too low to put the thumb screw back!!  Here is a photo of the crooked panel.  Any tips?

The third image is a bolt that was laying under the floor panel in the ski locker.  I just bought the boat so I have no idea where it could have come from.  Does it look familiar to anyone?

Thanks for the replies Dennis.

[brad]

The key to the back panel from my experience is to make sure the top is seated correctly in the fiberglass slot.

As for the bolt, it looks like a manifold plug (usually taken out to winterize the exhaust manifold).  You may have an extra if someone replaced it.  They are positioned on the bottom of the exhaust manifold elbow (one on each side).

Good luck.  It usually takes me three or four times at trying different things to get them right.  Once you done that much tweaking, things go better in the future for the same task.