1973 Mercury/Ford 302CU outdrive questions?

[Fordiesel69]

I am pondering the idea of buying an old 1973 21' Reinell boat. Powered by a mercruiser / ford 302 I/O. It was maintained and used regularly up to 1996, where it has sat in a barn ever since. Being new to I/O's and very seasoned on cars, the engine repair and inspection is no problem. However I don;t know anything about outdrives. Is it easy to tear down to reseal, relubricate, and inspect?

With a boat sitting that long, what should be done to the I/O portion of the boat? I want to make sure I am not getting into more than I can handle as it is expensive locally to have this done.

BTW, is the Ford 302 a decent engine for marine use? I dont; see this combo very often.

 

[jtybt]

Re: 1973 Mercury/Ford 302CU outdrive questions?

You should have an 888 (type I drive). For your size boat and drive combo, you should be able to do 35+ MPH...of course the engine may be a little tired by now.

Merc has special tools to be able to work on the drives. Most of them can be made except the shimming tools.

Also, the 888 has 351 heads and cam. You can tell by the firing order.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: 1973 Mercury/Ford 302CU outdrive questions?

....BTW, is the Ford 302 a decent engine for marine use? I dont; see this combo very often....

Haven't been used for some years but there were none better. If it has not been run in all those years, care must be taken before you try to turn it over.

 

[jtybt]

Re: 1973 Mercury/Ford 302CU outdrive questions?

Yup! One of my boats is a 1973 with the 302...has over 2200 hrs on it.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Re: 1973 Mercury/Ford 302CU outdrive questions?

BTW, the owner fogged it to stall it out and then opened all the block drains and left it dry. He did not put antifreeze in it.

Im sure the engine is going to need work to get it running good.

But the outdrive is what concerns me. Can I handle teardown and reseal? And is it even necessary?

 

[ziggy]

Re: 1973 Mercury/Ford 302CU outdrive questions?

But the outdrive is what concerns me. Can I handle teardown and reseal? And is it even necessary?

i'm on the is it necessary side. hows the gear lub look? any metal fragments in the lub?
go up to the adults only or diy threads at the top of the i/o forum. there you can get the service manual you'll need to service the drive. it has all the info in it for servicing. also in the diy or adults only thread is a thread regarding pressure testing a drive. if a drive holds pressure or vac. it's sealed. if it leaks, then ya need to go find it and repair it.
as for repairing it. you'll need to find out if ya need some special tools or not. there are quite a few special tools needed to repair or take apart a drive. i've only done bits and pieces of repair to my old drive. what little i did taxed me for special tools.
when it comes down to it. worse case. a sei replacement drive is $1300 or round abouts.
fwiw. my drives similar in age to your 888. it also sat for a long time out of service. only seal i've replaced was the very bottom seal in the upper. easy to get at, yours will be the same. and the ft. seal of the drive. not as easy to get and does require a few special tools. but doable. other than that. it holds pressure and vac. so i don't take it apart because i don't see the need. the seals are working..