Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

[miggt1]

Hi! I am new so bear with me. Thanks I have an alpha one unit and am about to purchase a pre alpha gimbal housing and ring. Will my alpha 1 outdrive fit the pre alpha gimbal housing and gimbal ring?

 

[Don S]

Re: Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

It depends on what "Pre-Alpha" drive you have. There really isn't any such drive as a pre alpha. Year and engine type will help.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

Hi! I am new so bear with me. Thanks I have an alpha one unit and am about to purchase a pre alpha gimbal housing and ring. Will my alpha 1 outdrive fit the pre alpha gimbal housing and gimbal ring?

Ayuh,... Welcome Aboard,.... What, Exactly are ya startin' with for a motor, 'n drive, 'n What, Exactly are ya tryin' to accomplish,..??

The term "Pre-Alpha" covers 'bout a dozen different possibilities,...

 

[captk]

Re: Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

Please forgive Me. My drive is painted white it has 2 hoses on the "trim cylinders" a key switch on the dash for the trim. and a mechanical lockdown,. Is this A "Pre Alpha"

 

[matt167]

Re: Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

R, MR and MC-1 and a few others are all a bit different, but each of them are "Pre Alpha". The Serial number would be helpful, or the year of your boat and the size of your engine if you can't find the S/N

 

[Don S]

Re: Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

Please forgive Me. My drive is painted white it has 2 hoses on the "trim cylinders" a key switch on the dash for the trim. and a mechanical lockdown,. Is this A "Pre Alpha"

There is no such designation as a "Pre-Alpha" What year do you have? Post some serial numbers, or some pictures. With the lockdown mechanism, it must be really old, and much of the newer MC-1 Parts and newer will not fit it.
Download and read this History and ID file, then you will have a better idea what you have. Mercruiser Alpha ID and History.pdf - 4shared.com - document sharing - download - Don S

 

[Dogdave]

Re: Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

I had an MC1 gimbal housing on my boat with an Alpha 1 drive. i had to replace the drive and gimbal housing. I bought a new Alpha 1 drive and gimbal housing for a 1992 5.7L. Everything bolted up great until I got to the exhaust. I then learned I should have replaced the inner transom plate, bell housing and fly wheel to alpha. Oh and the exhaust. This was my situation it may be differant from yours

 

[Glastron_V210]

Re: Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

I have an alpha-1 bolted to a 'pre alpha' transom plate. I had to replace the 'transom plate' recently and sure enough, like has been talked about above, different people will treat all the 'pre alphas' like they are the same thing. They are not!!!

The first one I ordered had a different cut-out size, and the exhaust config where the y pipe met was different, and the width of the gimbal ring was too narrow (Where the outdrive hangs...distance in between pins). I had to eat the cost...

One main visual difference was that the one that worked had notches in it for the trim switch 'pucks' on the gimbal ring. If it has that you should be ok I think.

Be very careful, get measurement done if you can.

Chay

 

[Don S]

Re: Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

Before you guys spend a lot of time answering this thread, the original poster posted this on Nov 18th (his one and only post) and has not even come back to look at it since posting. Probably forgot he even posted it here. :facepalm:

 

[miggt1]

Re: Pre Alpha to alpha one gimbal

Where to start.
I bought a so called pre alpha unit and guess what? It did not match. I bought this unit really cheap so I wasn't hurting too bad. The part I needed most was the gimbal ring and on further examination I found that the so called pre alpha unit had the same gimbal ring. I swapped out the gimbal rings and I now have a good cymbal housing. I learned a lesson on all this.
Funny being a marine mechanic in the 1980's I found out just how much I had forgotten.
Oh by the way Don S. I did not forget but was so busy that I had not turned my computer on until today.
Thanks for all your input. MIGGT