Bwillson18
Recruit
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2026
- Messages
- 1
Hey, I just recently purchased a 1994 seaswirl striper 212. has a 5.0L Ford V8 and an OMC cobra outdrive. Had to do some work on the engine (new fuel pump, carb..etc.) but it is running great now. I am new to outdrives though and have been having some trouble with this one.
Just to fill you in, once I got the engine running I was under the impression that the boat should work (from previous owner, said he had no problems with the drive last time he used it). I got the boat in the water and it would shift into reverse, but not into forward. I fiddle with the cable adjustments for a little before feeling pretty overwhelmed and giving up.
I then proceeded into a deep dive all about cobra outdrives on these forums and youtube. I found The service manuals and a lot of good extra info in all my digging. I ended up pulling off the outdrive changing the oil and water pump while It was out and replacing all the basic gaskets (basically did everything except pull the lower off and rebuild it.). I put it back on and tried following the instructions I had found and read over several times for adjusting the cables and nothing really worked. it seemed the cable only had enough room to reach one gear; when I set it to go nicely into forward gear, it then wouldn't have enough travel/ swing to reach the point to get into reverse gear, and same problem when I switched it. I ended up taking the drive back off and setting the cable to neutral then measuring the "throw" of the arm in the bell crank and then adjusting the shift rod in the outdrive itself for it all to line up (it was still close to the 7-3/16 number or whatever it is that is mentioned in the manual, but was a little less). I then put it all back together again and everything seemed to be clicking into gear a bit better. I then put the muffs on and fired her up and everything seemed great.
today I took it to the water for the first time, and now my problem is it'll switch in to gear no problem but won't switch out. I tried adjusting the interupter switch but to no avail.
It seems that when the interupter switch is triggered just right then it can shift out of gear.
But heres my problem, when I trigger the switch it kills the engine, every time.
My questions:
1. do I need a new interupter switch? is this a common failure?
2. my engine is idling around 800 which i know is a little high (still need to fine tune the new carb), but is this enough to cause this problem.
3. I can't seem to find ANY info on my specific cable bracket, I will post a picture of it, but in the manual it says "if you have this bracket see service bulletin #4022 for cable adjustment" but in some other info i found on this forum, someone got a letter from the manufacture that said "we no longer include #4022 because it is obsolete" sooooo WTF. I literaly can't find a single scrap of info on how to adjust my specific style of bracket.
4. How can I find the specific model number of my outdrive? I've looked all over the engine and outdrive and cant find anything.
Also I should mention, in the picture the nut that is threaded on the cable before the trunion is backed all the way off, I did find a very random obscure facebook post about someone having similar troubles, and an experienced person commented to push that nut all the way up against the trunion, that did help with the shifting a lot (very glad to have found that info) but didn't solve everything. just wanted to point that out before someone sees the pic and suggests that.
Any help is greatly appreciated. I don't need to be pointed toward the service manual at this point, just a clear answer would be nice, thanks.
Just to fill you in, once I got the engine running I was under the impression that the boat should work (from previous owner, said he had no problems with the drive last time he used it). I got the boat in the water and it would shift into reverse, but not into forward. I fiddle with the cable adjustments for a little before feeling pretty overwhelmed and giving up.
I then proceeded into a deep dive all about cobra outdrives on these forums and youtube. I found The service manuals and a lot of good extra info in all my digging. I ended up pulling off the outdrive changing the oil and water pump while It was out and replacing all the basic gaskets (basically did everything except pull the lower off and rebuild it.). I put it back on and tried following the instructions I had found and read over several times for adjusting the cables and nothing really worked. it seemed the cable only had enough room to reach one gear; when I set it to go nicely into forward gear, it then wouldn't have enough travel/ swing to reach the point to get into reverse gear, and same problem when I switched it. I ended up taking the drive back off and setting the cable to neutral then measuring the "throw" of the arm in the bell crank and then adjusting the shift rod in the outdrive itself for it all to line up (it was still close to the 7-3/16 number or whatever it is that is mentioned in the manual, but was a little less). I then put it all back together again and everything seemed to be clicking into gear a bit better. I then put the muffs on and fired her up and everything seemed great.
today I took it to the water for the first time, and now my problem is it'll switch in to gear no problem but won't switch out. I tried adjusting the interupter switch but to no avail.
It seems that when the interupter switch is triggered just right then it can shift out of gear.
But heres my problem, when I trigger the switch it kills the engine, every time.
My questions:
1. do I need a new interupter switch? is this a common failure?
2. my engine is idling around 800 which i know is a little high (still need to fine tune the new carb), but is this enough to cause this problem.
3. I can't seem to find ANY info on my specific cable bracket, I will post a picture of it, but in the manual it says "if you have this bracket see service bulletin #4022 for cable adjustment" but in some other info i found on this forum, someone got a letter from the manufacture that said "we no longer include #4022 because it is obsolete" sooooo WTF. I literaly can't find a single scrap of info on how to adjust my specific style of bracket.
4. How can I find the specific model number of my outdrive? I've looked all over the engine and outdrive and cant find anything.
Also I should mention, in the picture the nut that is threaded on the cable before the trunion is backed all the way off, I did find a very random obscure facebook post about someone having similar troubles, and an experienced person commented to push that nut all the way up against the trunion, that did help with the shifting a lot (very glad to have found that info) but didn't solve everything. just wanted to point that out before someone sees the pic and suggests that.
Any help is greatly appreciated. I don't need to be pointed toward the service manual at this point, just a clear answer would be nice, thanks.
