Clyde Mehaffey, of Seattle, has told me
he has done this conversion.

The utlimate Seattle source for Perkins is Larry Stewart, of Stewart's Marine.
206-789-4600. I've done business with Larry for a long time, and bought my new
135 from him. Larry originally predicted that my boat might be faster with the
135- and he turned out to be right. Larry is known as the Perkins guru up this
way. You might ask Larry his opinion about pulling the turbo off a 165. Even
though Clyde has done it, I'd run the concept by Larry before going ahead with
it.

Sort of like getting the opinion of more than a single physician.

I don't have a phone number for Clyde, (I frequently run into him around
various docks in the area, he's a busy and respected diesel technician).... but
Larry will.

(I haven't regretted replacing my old 165 rather than attempting a rebuild. The
new engine is a thing of beauty. But the price of a new engine is into five
figures, you've got two, and still have relatively low hours. My 165 would have
gone 6000 hours, I'll bet, if the air charge cooler hadn't gone way weird on
me.)