Cooling Concerns

I am new to these forums, so please forgive me if I am posting in the wrong section.

I have a 1964 Spico Fiberglass boat with a Chevy 327 Engine w/ 350 Heads. Don't laugh, its quite a fun boat.. and when you fire up the engine, it sure does sound fast

My concern is the cooling. Normally the water is sucked in from the bottom of the boat... runs through the gear box, then back to the water pump where it circulates through the engine and then back out to the lake. My father in law who owned the boat before me believes the gear box does not need the water to run through it so he has completely eliminated the water lines to the gear box. I dont know what his reasoning is for it... since it didn't seem to affect the cooling of the engine. So now the lines run from the bottom of the boat pickup straight to the water pump/engine/and back out. No flowing water goes to the gear box. My concern is how critical is the cooling of the gear box?

Re: Cooling Concerns

I'm going to apologize in advance for responding, since I have NO direct knowledge of this set up. But, I have to ask from an engineering standpoint - what does it hurt to cool the gearbox? Other than the labor to reroute hoses, (and, like Maynard G. Krebs, I HATE work) there does not appear to be any reason not to return it to original condition.

I hope somebody else can give you a definitive answer here, but if it were me, I'd put the flow back into the gearbox and have peace of mind that the lubricant and mechanicals are staying nice and cool. Ahhhhh!

Re: Cooling Concerns

I assume that this is an I/O ??? If so, the lines from the outdrive water pump need to be there. There is not enough circulation from the Chevy's water pump to pull the water up from the lake. Put it back as it was designed and make sure the water pump in the outdrive is working properly. Usually when those get tired, it's enough to cause overheating. I can't imagine what will happen running it as you have it now !!! If it's not an I/O but an inboard, I would imagine that the gear case needs cooling since I/O s need cooling to keep the gearbox coo. They even have auxiliary coolers for performance applications. By the way, you should be posting in the I/O section. You might also get more replies there.

Re: Cooling Concerns

its a V-Drive...