Hull and Engine

starsnstripers · Mar 9, 2010

OK, I'm trying to identify the year of this Formula 233 I purchased. The Engine #s may help. It has twin 165 L-6 Mercruisers but no Merc tags. The stamped #s on the flat behind the Dist. Port eng. F 8317957 Stbd. eng. F 831790. The boat was sold to me as a 1978, but i have my doubts. The hull # is F2312188 and it's (NOT) an 88 for sure. I asked the tech. guy from Formula and he hasn't a clue. I'll downsize some pics and get them on here for any Formula people to see if they may know by the pics. Thanks

starsnstripers · Mar 9, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

This Boat also has MC-1 drives here's some pics. I'm hoping someone can tell me the year of the engines with those #s thanks

starsnstripers · Mar 9, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

2 more pics

Bondo · Mar 10, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

Ayuh,.... Danm nice lookin' hull...

I told you what I thought about your questions yesterday,...
Let's see what the Pro's say today...

Good Luck with her...

achris · Mar 10, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

Hi Scotty,

As Bond-o said... Nice looking hull... Jealous? Who, me.... Not... Much

Ok, from the only photo from the back I think I can see that the gimbal ring has no trim senders.... That makes it 1973 or earlier.... Do you have Ammeters or voltmeters in the instrument panel? Are there any reverse hooks at the front of the drive?... If not, then it's 1970 or later... They look like this...

On the drive shaft housing, under one of the side decals should be a serial number.... If you find one of those it MAY help... assuming the drive hasn't been swapped out at some stage in the past....

Chris........

ziggy · Mar 10, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

On the drive shaft housing, under one of the side decals should be a serial number.... If you find one of those it MAY help

like this..

look close under the paint. mines was so lightly stamped, ya couldn't see the number under the paint. that's a 72 drive.

I think I can see that the gimbal ring has no trim senders.... That makes it 1973 or earlier

????
my 75 has no trim sender on the gimbal ring. has the switch activated by the bellhousing + the sender inside the boat...

agree with everyone else, real sweet looking boat man. 2 165 L6's, ya've gone to heaven.... love that blue too.. sweet...

achris · Mar 10, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

ziggy said:
...my 75 has no trim sender on the gimbal ring. has the switch activated by the bellhousing + the sender inside the boat......

Yeah, it's late and I've had a hard day.... Internal senders finished in '75... Gimbal ring senders from '76...

Chris......

haulnazz15 · Mar 10, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

My 76 has the sender on the transom bracket, not on the gimbal ring.

kilowatts · Mar 10, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

Hi Scott:

Nice talking to you yesterday. I looked on the Formula website earlier today and found that they have a brochure archive going back till the late 1960's. Take a look there until you find the right boat. It looks like a 1976 to me but you be the judge. There are lots of online sites which can determine your engine age by the serial numbers too. As you know, Pursuit was started by Leon Slickers after he sold Slickcraft to AMF and after his non competition clause expired. Great boat with great engines.

kilowatts

starsnstripers · Mar 10, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

Yeah Kilo i've narrowed mine down to either a 71 or 72 Still working out some details and doing some hull# comparisons of those years. A guy from Hull Truth found a craigs ad with a boat that looks just like mine and it's a 72 but his hull# is Ff231276 as for mine F2312188 I'm wondering if the 3rd from the last # is the 70s year? His is 2 and mine is a 1. I've asked a couple people on some forums for their hull#s to compare. Atleast i know it's not a 78 as it was sold to me as. It doesn't matter to much because i like the boat but wanted to know what year it was made, ya know?

kilowatts · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

Hi Scott:

I found this website online earlier today, perhaps it'll help. Please follow this link:

http://formula233registry.ning.com/

kilowatts

kilowatts · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

Hi again Scott:

After doing some research it looks like my earlier comment about the Slikkers family involvement in the Formula brand was totally wrong. I guess you already figured that out though, eh? Sorry.

kilowatts

basstracker219 · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

its either a 75' or a 76'

starsnstripers · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

No not 75 or 76, have narrowed it to a 71 0r 72. If it were 75 0r 6 the hull id would have the year and manufacture initials. 75-76 had rounded tops on the side windows and not sloped down on the top side of the gunnels.

starsnstripers · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

the hull # is F 2312188 Another guy sent me ad from craigs of a boat for sale that looks identicle and it's a 72 according to the seller and his hull# is F231276 one less digit than mine so dont know what that means either.

starsnstripers · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

It's been verified it's a 72. A guy on hull truth use to have one and worked on them and he said the 72s helm was different from the 71 and the 73-75 had curved side windows. so thanks for everyones help figuring it out.

ziggy · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

glad ya figured it out sns. figures it'd be a '72, last year they didn't have the hin on them making ID harder to do... fwiw, my '72 is hin less too..

sdoomaha · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Hull and Engine

Your boat, so certainly not my place to say since I'm not the one putting the $$ or time into it...but it would make a really cool restoration leaving the twin 165s in it.

Neat ride whatever you decide to do with it.

Returning to lurking mode.....

Hull and Engine

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