VP Outdrive identification- Mid 80's SX drive?

[Augoose]

I have a chance to pick up a VP SX outdrive which is attached to a mid 80's boat with a V8 engine. The guy bought the boat for the trailer and is parting out everything else. He doesn't know anything about the outdrive and the serial number plate is missing. He assumes it is a SX based on the SX sticker on the outdrive but that's all we know- it might not even be the original outdrive on the boat. He offered the drive to me for $250 but since its over an hour away, I asked him to drain a little gear oil out of it to see if its milky or contains metal flakes- other than that I don't know of any way for this guy to tell me about the relaibility of the outdrive. After draining the oil, he said the only thing he noticed was that the oil seemed to be draining out in different shades, light tan to darker black, but no milky white, not cloudy, no metal flakes and it smelled like oil to him.....

Questions:

1) Did they make the SX drive in the mid 80's?
2) I have a 1999 SX-M with the 1.51. My drive is currently frozen onto the back of my boat (detailed in another thread) and I'm considering picking this outdrive up for parts as a backup if anthing is compatible- maybe trim switch, casing, upper bearing cover, casing, etc. Any chance a mid 80's SX drive would have anything that a 99 SX-M drive could use?

Thanks!

 

[Don S]

Re: VP Outdrive identification- Mid 80's SX drive?

The SX drives didn't come out until 94.

 

[Augoose]

Re: VP Outdrive identification- Mid 80's SX drive?

I was hoping to hear something like that Don- that means the outdrive must have been replaced at some point. Since the data plate on the left side of the drive near the trim cylinder is missing, do you know of any other way to determine what model, such as SX-A, SX-M, etc this might be? Also the gear ratio?

Thanks Don!

 

[Don S]

Re: VP Outdrive identification- Mid 80's SX drive?

If the drive is 99 or newer, there should be letters stamped into the lower unit on the SX drives. But not 98 or earlier (Except for the DP drives) but they had complelely different gear ratios.

You could pull the drive and find out how many turns it takes to turn the prop one complete revolution. That would give you the ratio.

Here is from the 99 bulletin.

 

[Augoose]

Re: VP Outdrive identification- Mid 80's SX drive?

Thanks Don- the seller just called and said he saw "1.60" stamped "on a flat part" about 4" below the trim cylinder. Based on his description, that would put the stamping on the lower unit but its the upper that controls the gearing.....but I don't know what else the 1.60 could be referring to if not 1.60:1. He couldn't find any stampings where the two black arrows were on the illustration which I suppose means its an 94-98 outdrive.

I'm trying to wrap my head around how the gearing affects performance. I've got a 17p four blade prop with my 5.0 gl 20' open bow running 1.51:1 (its a heavy boat and I'm already sluggish in the hole shot) If I were to switch to a 1.60:1, it would cause an increase in rpms at a measured throttle correct? Thereby lowering top speed but increasing accelration?

Again, I'm just looking at purchasing this outdrive as a inexspensive backup in the event that I damage something trying to get my outdrive off (its currently stuck if you recall from other thread). Heck I paid $186 for a upper bearing cover already- If I had this drive already for $250 I'd at least had a replacement cover.

 

[Augoose]

Re: VP Outdrive compatability question- OMC/Volvo SX & Volvo SX-M

Re: VP Outdrive compatability question- OMC/Volvo SX & Volvo SX-M

Ok,
so I guess the question is now will a 94-98 OMC/Volvo SX drive mate up properly and without modification to a 99 SX-M transom shield assembly?

 

[Don S]

Re: VP Outdrive identification- Mid 80's SX drive?

The trim pin and cylinders are different on that drive compared to yours. Not sure if the cross pin through the drive is the same diameter.

 

[Augoose]

Re: VP Outdrive identification- Mid 80's SX drive?

The trim pin and cylinders are different on that drive compared to yours. Not sure if the cross pin through the drive is the same diameter.

Hmmm- I've got the opportunity to grab anything I want off of it, so I'll guess I'll take them as well.

Any other compatibility issues you can think of?

How will a 1.6:1 gear ratio compare to the 1.5:1?

Thanks again Don

 

[Augoose]

Re: VP Outdrive identification- Mid 80's SX drive?

Alright, I picked up the outdrive today - just a few questions and a follow up.

Seems the drive pin from the '99 and up drives is compatible with the '94-'98 drives.

1) Trying to track down a serial # but the data plate is missing. According to the manual there is a diagram with a line pointing to the "two" places were the serial number is listed, but I can't tell where the line points to. Where do I look? I'd really like to find out what type of SX drive this is.

2) (photos 1 and 2) Like another recent poster, there is a crack in the side of the outdrive in the exact same spot. Its definitely pushed out from the inside. The u-joint bellows was also torn- could it be that while the outdrive sat in Virginia, water entered through the tear in the bellows and came to rest in the cavity inside the outdrive. Then come winter, the ice expanded and forced the side of the outdrive out? There was quite a bit of wet mud in the cavity today when I picked up the outdrive, and since it hasn't been in the water, I'm assuming the mud was from years of running in murky water and the moisture from recent rain since its been sitting on a trailer? My plan and as Don mentioned in another thread, is to tap it back flush and tig weld it.

3) (photo 3 and 4) Based on the style sticker and the sticker on the back cover, can anyone narrow down what year this outdrive might be? Don had previously posted that '99 and newer had a gear ratio stamping but this one does not- I'm assuming then '94 through '98 but can it be further narrowed?

4) When I drained the gear oil, the oil looked clean and tan in color. I watched a youtube video which indicated that "tan" was a sign of water intrusion - is that true? There was also just a slight bit of soft metal shavings on the magnitized drain screw- this might be hard to answer, but are "some" metal shavings tolerable or is it a sign of something worse?

5) (Photo 5) Lastly, what is this item called?

Thanks!