I picked up a used LU from a guy who said he was an ouboard mechanic and it would bolt right up to my '93, although I said it didn't look like it would on any of the conversion charts or parts diagrams I was looking at. Well, turns out: the shaft is just a little bit shorter, maybe 1/4in, although it has longer splines; the shift rod has an offset to the side, which mine doesn't; and it didn't come with the water pump, which the '93 also doesn't seem to cross reference to anything earlier, and appears may mount the impeller at a slightly different elevation. Those are just the differences I can see.
I'm thinking it would be a bad idea to try to just bolt this thing up, even if I could figure out and purchase the correct water pump. If so, next question is, can I cannibalize my '93 to make it work? I don't know the year of the one I bought but the gearcase looks the same. I'm thinking *maybe* my drive shaft would swap in ok, then my water pump would work?
The questions I can think of are:
Are there other internal reasons why these might not be compatible? Seems like I read some threads awhile back that the gears could be different, which would mean having to swap most/all the internals, which I think means it would have to go through the whole shimming process, which starts to make this a much more complicated and expensive project than this used replacement was supposed to be.
If the gears do fit, would I be crazy to not replace the seals at the same time? The seller claimed it was pressure/vacuum tested. Hate to be cheap but if I'm going to start spending money, I may rather spend it on rebuilding my own. This used one has grinder marks on it under the paint, which makes me think it may have had a lot of corrosion, with filler applied, and could be kind of rotten.
Which brings up a different approach, my '93 has a frozen forward bearing housing and rusty bearings. If I can get that frozen housing out of there, would the bearings and other bits from this older model likely fit in my '93?
I can look at the parts charts to see which ones do reference earlier than '93 but I'm hoping someone with experience can say generally whether it's a good idea to even attempt either of these approaches, or whether I should put this used one I bought back on Craigslist and start over. Or maybe some ideas what would be the determining factors to make the decision either way. Or maybe how to figure out what year/model a LU is exactly. Or anything...
Thanks much.
Matthew
I'm thinking it would be a bad idea to try to just bolt this thing up, even if I could figure out and purchase the correct water pump. If so, next question is, can I cannibalize my '93 to make it work? I don't know the year of the one I bought but the gearcase looks the same. I'm thinking *maybe* my drive shaft would swap in ok, then my water pump would work?
The questions I can think of are:
Are there other internal reasons why these might not be compatible? Seems like I read some threads awhile back that the gears could be different, which would mean having to swap most/all the internals, which I think means it would have to go through the whole shimming process, which starts to make this a much more complicated and expensive project than this used replacement was supposed to be.
If the gears do fit, would I be crazy to not replace the seals at the same time? The seller claimed it was pressure/vacuum tested. Hate to be cheap but if I'm going to start spending money, I may rather spend it on rebuilding my own. This used one has grinder marks on it under the paint, which makes me think it may have had a lot of corrosion, with filler applied, and could be kind of rotten.
Which brings up a different approach, my '93 has a frozen forward bearing housing and rusty bearings. If I can get that frozen housing out of there, would the bearings and other bits from this older model likely fit in my '93?
I can look at the parts charts to see which ones do reference earlier than '93 but I'm hoping someone with experience can say generally whether it's a good idea to even attempt either of these approaches, or whether I should put this used one I bought back on Craigslist and start over. Or maybe some ideas what would be the determining factors to make the decision either way. Or maybe how to figure out what year/model a LU is exactly. Or anything...
Thanks much.
Matthew