Outdrive Choices? Decisons, decisions...

[oneti mofugus]

I shredded the gears on my outdrive yesterday. Not my fault!! well, sort of

here's the history: i bought my 87 four winns bowrider about a month ago, it had a new motor (5.7 merc), good hull, teak redone etc....for the man-tastic price of $2200. This is my first boat, but my family has had them, and I am a decent mechanic, and while i try to be knowledgeable, I have some gaps in that knowledge. anyway, after fighting the timing and carb issues, i discovered the quadrajet was toast, and for some reason the dist had a V-6 rotor in it....no wonder the timing was jumping around. I should have taken this as a sign, but no...I replaced the rotor and carb (edelbrock 1409) and took her out for a sea trial....and after about 45 seconds of planing, it stripped the gears in the drive. Back home, popped the cover and i no longer have gears, but nice smooth spinning discs. Turns out the boat came with a V6, and guy before me simply threw the 350 in without upgrading the drive.

Sooooo...I guess the main question is...if I upgrade to an Alpha Gen II, what kind of technical challenges will I encounter? Can I use the gimball mount from my "R" drive? Is the output shaft a weird length? Should I just cry myself to sleep?

Thanks in advance.

Eric

 

[fishinpa]

Re: Outdrive Choices? Decisons, decisions...

best to post some engine and drive numbers so someone can look it up and see what exactly you are running .

then you will get some help on finding what you need or what will work !


fish

 

[Don S]

Re: Outdrive Choices? Decisons, decisions...

Sooooo...I guess the main question is...if I upgrade to an Alpha Gen II, what kind of technical challenges will I encounter? Can I use the gimball mount from my "R" drive? Is the output shaft a weird length? Should I just cry myself to sleep?

To change to a Gen II, will require you to change everything from the flywheel back. Transome shield, exhaust Y, everything but the engine.
There is nothing wrong with sticking with your style drive, you can get a new SEI for aroun $1400 with a 3 year warranty.

Going to a V8 instead of a V6 isn't what killed the drive. You would have loost top end speed, and could over rev the engine, bit it didn't destroy the drive. The only "Upgrading" trhat needed to be done is a gear ratio change. The V8 takes a 1.50 and the V6 takes a 1.84 ratio.

 

[liquidlew]

Re: Outdrive Choices? Decisons, decisions...

If the upper gearcase is all you need, I just so happen to have a 1991 Merc Alpha one, Gen 1 upper gearcase with 1:50 ratio that has zero hours on a complete reseal sitting here that I plan to sell soon. I recently discovered strange things on my boat that you are finding out on your boat that PO's do. Anyway, I discovered that I had the wrong ratio, I have a 4.3 V6 and just got the correct upper with 1:84 ratio and installed it last weekend. Why the PO put a V8 ratio on a V6 is beyond me! Not good for my engine! The 1:50 gearcase is in excellent shape and like I said, completely resealed with no hours on it. The reseal alone cost me $436. For the ultimate peace of mind, and if you have the $, a brand new SEI would be my choice, way less expensive than Merc OEM, and can't beat the 3 year warranty either. But, if at all interested, send me a pm. Good luck!

Oh, and with the help of the guys here on iboats and the Merc manual, I did all the work, r&r the drive, swap uppers, new gimbal brg, etc. all by my lonesome, really not that difficult if you are mechanically inclined! And, it now runs great!

 

[oneti mofugus]

Re: Outdrive Choices? Decisons, decisions...

thanks for the info!! And thanks for the offer, liquidlew, but i think i am going to do it right the first time and go with the SEI drive...its hard to say no to a 3 year warranty, and since I got the boat cheap, I have some $ to put into it. Hopefully I will be up and running in a week or two.

 

[liquidlew]

Re: Outdrive Choices? Decisons, decisions...

Copy that! Good choice, and good luck!