78 Carver Santa Cruz OMC SternDrive Shifting Help

blackbyrd84

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Aug 27, 2014
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Hello all!

I recently purchased a 1978 Carver Santa Cruz 2566. I love the boat and the engine runs great, its the ford v8 in it. I have a few problems with shifting though. I have not put it in the water yet, but the guy I bought it from is good friends with my dad, and he has had lots of shifting problems with it. It has a "new" OMC 800 strendrive on it because they thought the drive was causing the issue. If you adjust the shift cable to give you 100% forward without coming out of gear under load, you have 0 reverse. If you adjust to get forward and reverse, it will kick out of forward under load. They have also changed it from points to electronic ignition, so no interrupter for shifting. So the 800 drive that is on it will end up getting torn up. My plan is to take the 800 off, and replace it with an electric shift drive that another friend of my dad has that will fit on it perfectly. Is this a huge undertaking? Will this solve my issue? I am planning on wiring the new drive on my own using snap switches on the shift rocker to activate forward or reverse. Given everything I've said, should this resolve my shifting issue? The owner before the person I bought it from couldn't figure out the issue with the original drive, and replaced it thinking it was the drive and apparently it isn't because it still does the same thing. Thoughts? (Also, where can I get the rubber caps for the exhaust manifold(s) drain?)

For some reason can't upload pics, but here is an imgur album.

http://imgur.com/a/EASUO
 
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Bondo

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Apr 17, 2002
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70,468
Hello all!

I recently purchased a 1978 Carver Santa Cruz 2566. I love the boat and the engine runs great, its the ford v8 in it. I have a few problems with shifting though. I have not put it in the water yet, but the guy I bought it from is good friends with my dad, and he has had lots of shifting problems with it. It has a "new" OMC 800 strendrive on it because they thought the drive was causing the issue. If you adjust the shift cable to give you 100% forward without coming out of gear under load, you have 0 reverse. If you adjust to get forward and reverse, it will kick out of forward under load. They have also changed it from points to electronic ignition, so no interrupter for shifting. So the 800 drive that is on it will end up getting torn up. My plan is to take the 800 off, and replace it with an electric shift drive that another friend of my dad has that will fit on it perfectly. Is this a huge undertaking? Will this solve my issue? I am planning on wiring the new drive on my own using snap switches on the shift rocker to activate forward or reverse. Given everything I've said, should this resolve my shifting issue? The owner before the person I bought it from couldn't figure out the issue with the original drive, and replaced it thinking it was the drive and apparently it isn't because it still does the same thing. Thoughts? (Also, where can I get the rubber caps for the exhaust manifold(s) drain?)

For some reason can't upload pics, but here is an imgur album.

http://imgur.com/a/EASUO

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... I donno much 'bout Stringers drives, But,....

I know goin' from a Mechanical drive to an Electric drive, is goin' Backwards,....
Fix the mechanical drive,...
My WAGuess is the shiftin' dog/ gear dogs are worn out, 'n need replacin',....
'n put the shift interrupter back on,...
 

southkogs

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I know goin' from a Mechanical drive to an Electric drive, is goin' Backwards,....
^^^ :D

I'm with Bondo ... figure this out if ya' can. I don't know the mechanical shift drives (never had one), but they're allegedly more reliable. '77 was the last year of the electric shift, so it's likely that the boat originally had hydro-mechanical shift (again, never had one - don't know much about it).

If the electric shift drive is the right gear ratio, then it would work. But If you can avoid going back to ES, I would do that.
 

blackbyrd84

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Thanks for the info from you both. Problem is, in order to put the shift interrupter back on, I have to switch back over to points from electronic ignition and I don't have any of the original parts to swap back to points. Also, they replaced the outdrive. The 800 that is on it now was bought from a shop and it does the exact same thing it did with the original 800 so I don't think it's the dog gears. And I keep hearing mixed reviews on the electric shifts. A few local reputable shops say they are bullet proof, a few places online agree, but also a few places online strongly disagree.
 

Bondo

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Thanks for the info from you both. Problem is, in order to put the shift interrupter back on, I have to switch back over to points from electronic ignition and I don't have any of the original parts to swap back to points. Also, they replaced the outdrive. The 800 that is on it now was bought from a shop and it does the exact same thing it did with the original 800 so I don't think it's the dog gears. And I keep hearing mixed reviews on the electric shifts. A few local reputable shops say they are bullet proof, a few places online agree, but also a few places online strongly disagree.

Ayuh,.... Even OMC shift interrupters can be wired to work with electronic ignition,....
'n I've never heard anything Good 'bout OMC electric shifts, outboards, or I/Os,...
That's why the electric shift died in the '70s,....

If one outdrive was removed, 'n another installed, yet the problem still exists, What makes ya think swappin' a 3rd outdrive on, is gonna change anything,....

Ya oughta try some Diagnostics, insteada just throwin' parts at it,....
 
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blackbyrd84

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Ayuh,.... Even OMC shift interrupters can be wired to work with electronic ignition,....
'n I've never heard anything Good 'bout OMC electric shifts, outboards, or I/Os,...
That's why the electric shift died in the '70s,....

If one outdrive was removed, 'n another installed, yet the problem still exists, What makes ya think swappin' a 3rd outdrive on, is gonna change anything,....

Ya oughta try some Diagnostics, insteada just throwin' parts at it,....


I was told wiring in an interrupter to electronic ignition on OMCs is hairy. Also, the reason it should be different with this third outdrive is because there will no longer be any shift linkage in the way, if that is what the problem is. I think what I will do (don't know why I didn't think of this earlier) is find a public ramp and put it in the water and find out exactly what the problem is with the existing outdrive and go from there. Thanks for the help!
 

Bondo

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I was told wiring in an interrupter to electronic ignition on OMCs is hairy. Also, the reason it should be different with this third outdrive is because there will no longer be any shift linkage in the way, if that is what the problem is. I think what I will do (don't know why I didn't think of this earlier) is find a public ramp and put it in the water and find out exactly what the problem is with the existing outdrive and go from there. Thanks for the help!

Ayuh,.... Tie the hull good, 'n tight to the wagon doin' that,.....

Ya don't wanta end up in the back of yer truck,..... ;)
 

Howard Sterndrive

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Nov 5, 2008
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1978 OMC's were hydromechanical - The "shift interrupter" as you're calling it (ESA) wasn't introduced until 1982 when the first fully mechanical OMC lower came out. I can however, see that your lower is not a 78, but an 82-85 full mechanical shift so yes, it needs an ESA system to work right. The shift cable is probably stretched from forcing it out of gear to neutral.
Also, if that steering in the pics is original, your boat originally had an electric stringer drive. OMC quit using that external steering completely when they quit making electric shift drives. Might be a 1977 boat or a 1978 boat that was originally equipped with a 1977 engine/drive. Although OMC introduces trucourse in 1973 and that steering you have was only an option in 73-77.
You sure have a mess of mismatched components on there.
 
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Howard Sterndrive

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Nov 5, 2008
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I was told wiring in an interrupter to electronic ignition on OMCs is hairy.

no.
no different than with points. You just have to buy the right ESA module- there's one from a company called CDI made specifically for electronic ignition. Same price as the points one and no different to wire up.
 
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