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Howdy All,
First let me say that SEI is an awesome company. Awesome product plus Awesome technical help equals an awesome customer experience.
Here is my story. I have restored a 1967 Gulfstream Fury with a Mercruiser 160 sterndrive. Oldest boat on the lake! Older than the lake too! I lost the lower bearing in the upper gear case. There were metal filings everywhere. I took it to my local Certified Mercruiser mechanic and he was quoting me prices in excess of $2,000 to completely rebuild the outdrive. That was assuming he could locate parts for a 46 year old outdrive. Even then, there was no guarantee that the housings didn't have a hairline crack in them somewhere. A co-worker referred me to SEI and I contacted them. I spoke to Rob in their Technical department. Rob is da-man! He asked me some questions. I answered them and sent him some pictures of my old outdrive. He was confident that a SE106 Old Style Outdrive would work. So I purchased the SE106 Old Style Outdrive and an install kit. 4 days later the unit arrived on Omaha. Wow that was fast!
I assembled the lower unit to the upper unit on a Friday evening after work. I did snug up the bolts on the water pump housing just as a sanity check. The two o-rings supplied in the kit for the input shaft were too small. The o-rings on the old shaft were a larger diameter and thicker. I got two new o-rings and installed them. Other than that no problems at all. The instructions were great and straight forward. I did print them off onto 11" x 17" paper from the website so that I could get larger pictures. Sat morning my neighbor and I installed the out drive. Granted this was my first outdrive install so it did take about an hour. Everything needed to line up perfectly, shifter, u-joints, input shaft etc. After putting the unit in an out about 5 times we got it right and she slid in to position perfectly! I did have to buy a new prop, thrust washer, and prop nut as the new outdrive prop shaft was diferent than the old 1967 unit. Rob did mention that a new prop was probably in my future. He was right. I added the gear oil and tested the outdrive in the driveway with the engine off. It shifted smoothly and everything felt good! I hooked up the garden hose to the outdrive and fired up the engine. Immediately I could tell things were much smoother than before. My old outdrive was putting a pretty nice load on the engine. I never realized it as it must of slowly gotten worse over the years. It shifted perfectly and no cable adjustments were needed. How about that! The boat was in the water two hours later! I methodically followed the break in instructions and I am at the 5 Hour mark! No problems whatsoever! The outdrive is working perfectly. The next trip out I will be able to hit the 3,500 rpm mark! Can't wait. I have been putt putting around the lake at low RPM's. I would start at 600 for about 3 mins, then move to 1,200, then 900, then back to 600. I tried my best to vary the RPMS and not let the RPM stay constant for more than 3 mins. At the 4 hour and 45 min mark I took it up to 2,500 for 3 mins and then back down. The boat leaped right on plane effortlessly. I don't recall it ever doing that before. I am know convinced that the old drive was placing to much of a load on the engine.
I will report back as I continue put some more hours on her. So far So Good!
Thanks SEI you have saved another old boat!
Hec
First let me say that SEI is an awesome company. Awesome product plus Awesome technical help equals an awesome customer experience.
Here is my story. I have restored a 1967 Gulfstream Fury with a Mercruiser 160 sterndrive. Oldest boat on the lake! Older than the lake too! I lost the lower bearing in the upper gear case. There were metal filings everywhere. I took it to my local Certified Mercruiser mechanic and he was quoting me prices in excess of $2,000 to completely rebuild the outdrive. That was assuming he could locate parts for a 46 year old outdrive. Even then, there was no guarantee that the housings didn't have a hairline crack in them somewhere. A co-worker referred me to SEI and I contacted them. I spoke to Rob in their Technical department. Rob is da-man! He asked me some questions. I answered them and sent him some pictures of my old outdrive. He was confident that a SE106 Old Style Outdrive would work. So I purchased the SE106 Old Style Outdrive and an install kit. 4 days later the unit arrived on Omaha. Wow that was fast!
I assembled the lower unit to the upper unit on a Friday evening after work. I did snug up the bolts on the water pump housing just as a sanity check. The two o-rings supplied in the kit for the input shaft were too small. The o-rings on the old shaft were a larger diameter and thicker. I got two new o-rings and installed them. Other than that no problems at all. The instructions were great and straight forward. I did print them off onto 11" x 17" paper from the website so that I could get larger pictures. Sat morning my neighbor and I installed the out drive. Granted this was my first outdrive install so it did take about an hour. Everything needed to line up perfectly, shifter, u-joints, input shaft etc. After putting the unit in an out about 5 times we got it right and she slid in to position perfectly! I did have to buy a new prop, thrust washer, and prop nut as the new outdrive prop shaft was diferent than the old 1967 unit. Rob did mention that a new prop was probably in my future. He was right. I added the gear oil and tested the outdrive in the driveway with the engine off. It shifted smoothly and everything felt good! I hooked up the garden hose to the outdrive and fired up the engine. Immediately I could tell things were much smoother than before. My old outdrive was putting a pretty nice load on the engine. I never realized it as it must of slowly gotten worse over the years. It shifted perfectly and no cable adjustments were needed. How about that! The boat was in the water two hours later! I methodically followed the break in instructions and I am at the 5 Hour mark! No problems whatsoever! The outdrive is working perfectly. The next trip out I will be able to hit the 3,500 rpm mark! Can't wait. I have been putt putting around the lake at low RPM's. I would start at 600 for about 3 mins, then move to 1,200, then 900, then back to 600. I tried my best to vary the RPMS and not let the RPM stay constant for more than 3 mins. At the 4 hour and 45 min mark I took it up to 2,500 for 3 mins and then back down. The boat leaped right on plane effortlessly. I don't recall it ever doing that before. I am know convinced that the old drive was placing to much of a load on the engine.
I will report back as I continue put some more hours on her. So far So Good!
Thanks SEI you have saved another old boat!
Hec