safe to run without the drive?

[scutly]

i have a full fresh water cooled system (block and manifolds) and an alpha drive with the impeller in the drive. can i safely run my engine with my drive removed and just a garden hose shoved in the inlet to flow cold water through my heat exchanger and elbows? watching temp gauge of course. and what RPMs are ok?

 

[achris]

Re: safe to run without the drive?

I do it all the time. Just stuff a rag into the uni-joint bellows so you don't fill it with water (from the splash out of the exhaust bellows)... Same revs as always (idle), but if you need to elevate them, it's a bit safer without the leg on.

Chris...........

 

[Don S]

Re: safe to run without the drive?

No, because it probably wouldn't get to the heat exchanger.
What I do with the Alpha drives is remove the water hose from the transom shield inside the boat. Adapt your garden hose to the boats hose with clamps, then run it. The garden hose pressure will then be the raw water pump.