Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

[Plugging Away]

Hi Guys,

Off the wall question, maybe?
On the Stringer drives, do the Intermediate, Upper & Lower units need the water for cooling, or is it just passing through? Just a thought, I know nothing about out-drives, other than they always seem to need seals replaced, like the one I'm dealing with. What if I supply water to the engine without using the stringer?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

Ayuh,... Generally speakin',...
Many boat coolin' system rely on a motor mounted raw water pump, 'n a sea-****,...

The only parts of an outdrive that absolutely needs coolin' water flowin', is the exhaust passages....

 

[wire2]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

The lower is constantly in water, the intermediate has no gears or bearings, so not an issue.
The upper has the the water passage shaped to maximize the heat transfer, since it does have gears & bearings, plus it's out of the water at planing speeds. Hi performance applications even add a "shower" to externally cool the upper. So, you may experience overheating with no cooling water through the upper.

 

[wrench 3]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

The later stringers had water lubrication for the ball gears, and there was a retrofit kit for the older ones. If you have that kit installed, you would loose that advantage.

 

[Plugging Away]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

Thanks for the info guys.
I was just trying to think of ways around the water leaks by eliminating the source.

Wrench, how would I know if the retrofit kit was installed?

 

[wrench 3]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

Thanks for the info guys.
I was just trying to think of ways around the water leaks by eliminating the source.

Wrench, how would I know if the retrofit kit was installed?

They all seam to leak some at the pivots, but still cool OK.
The water spray kit has a tin shield that attached to the two top bolts on the bearing retainer in the intermediate housing and bends out over the ball gears. The kit is no longer available, but I have fit the shield from a newer unit and figured out were to drill the spit holes myself.

 

[Redrig]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

how would I know if the retrofit kit was installed?

When it is running in the lake or in driveway, if you look down from the back of the boat to the top of the outdrive you will see a stream coming from the starboard side of the upper shooting towards the ball gears.

 

[Plugging Away]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

Thank's again Guys

It doesn't have that kit installed, not one of the spots that squirting. :rain:

Not sure if I can do a video, but if it works, this is before attaching the drive, just the motor leaks.

[video]http://s1297.photobucket.com/user/FM-312/media/P1010155_zps46df813e.mp4.html[/video]

We'll get the bugs out, one at a time.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

wow
If you're doing all that work to the hull, you might just want to redo the transom to accept a donor engine/drive that doesn't have a bunch of non-replaceable parts. i.e. look for a Mercruiser with a cracked 3.0 and use your engine - same basic motor used right to 1990

for example, the round-hole transom boot. Are you going to bet against sinking with a hunk of rubber from the 1960's? You can't get those boots anywhere.

You probably have the 1 piece ball gear shaft in the intermediate.... brp wanted $1100 for that last time they had them in stock... and that's a wear item.

Enough commitment, money and dedication and anything can be kept afloat, but you better love searching the internet.
There's a bunch of guys with the old OMC boats from the 60's on a mailing list here:
http://www.ultimate.com/omc-boats/#list
They have that same kind of open drum steering and such - would know where some of the parts might be.

Those dual carbs were never a user favourite so you might think about a more modern 2BBL carb/manifold setup as it looks like your manifold is shot anyways in the vid.

not trying to rain on your parade, but a few no longer available parts can drydock a boat for seasons at a time... hate to see that stuff break your heart repeatedly- do some research before investing too much in that drivetrain.

Putting a merc in would probably require differentstringers in the hull as the c/l of the crank sits lower with a modern setup

 

[Bondo]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

wow
If you're doing all that work to the hull, you might just want to redo the transom to accept a donor engine/drive that doesn't have a bunch of non-replaceable parts. i.e. look for a Mercruiser with a cracked 3.0 and use your engine - same basic motor used right to 1990

Ayuh,.... I couldn't Agree more,.... Now is the time for a course correction,....

 

[wrench 3]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

the round-hole transom boot. Are you going to bet against sinking with a hunk of rubber from the 1960's? You can't get those boots anywhere.

You probably have the 1 piece ball gear shaft in the intermediate.... brp wanted $1100 for that last time they had them in stock... and that's a wear item.

The boot is still available from Sierra to fit from 1967 up.
In your video, it looks like a nut on the rear of the intermediate shaft. So it's not a one piece. The complete ball gear kit is also available from Sierra. The last one I bought was $350 cdn.

 

[wire2]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

..........

Putting a merc in would probably require different stringers in the hull as the c/l of the crank sits lower with a modern setup

Maybe not, I converted from an '84 stringer 800 to a Merc alpha gen 2, had to make 4?" high aluminum blocks to go between the stringers and the alpha motor mounts on my 5.7L.

 

[Plugging Away]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

Good to hear different opinions.

From reading through the forum, seem's like the guy's running the electric stringers actually like the performance.
The negatives are the obviously the parts availability, and parts cost.

What I've got is 100% operational with no obvious major issues, but does need plenty of TLC to bring it back.

I'm not committed to this drive yet, still just tinkering to see what I've got to work with.
I liked the boat, wide beam, stable Tri-hull, just what I wanted for fishing, skiing, and cruising the lake with a bunch of friends.

My biggest concern so far is the amount of rust coming out of every thing I've flushed so far. There's 3 small ports in the head that were 80-90% plugged. Cleared now, but it wouldn't take much to plug them again.

As far as the boot, it's new. PO had it replaced after someone took a razor to the original.
So far, the only high dollar item I see is the exhaust pipe, available for $180.
And I'll need a tilt motor, available for $60.
The rest of the leaks are just gaskets.

As far as looking for a donor boat, I wouldn't really know what I was looking for, or looking at.
Sound's like there's a lot of different version's of Merc's out there, Alpha, Bravo, Gen I, II, III - yada yada yada.........
Wouldn't know one from the other, or what to look for. I have noticed a lot of them in the repair shops though.
Volvo's sound like high $ maintenance PIA's.
Any advice on what to look for, or stay away from, would be appreciated.

Bottom line, I'm not committed to this drive yet, but I have a problem replacing with another set of unforeseen problems.

The boat will float again, just may end up using a paddle to get around.
Anyone got a spare coupon for 20% off Ore locks?

 

[southkogs]

Re: Electric Shift Stringer - What If?

IF you can keep it cheap .... and IF you can keep it safe ... it ain't a bad drive to goof around with. I would pay real close attention to the dollars and hours you put into it, and draw the "no more" line clearly.

That's what I've done. Kinda' bought mine without realizing what it really was. It's been pretty inexpensive to keep mine going and the boat itself is in great shape. I've got a "in one year" dollar figure that if we ever get close to, I'll think about cutting my losses. But for the moment I like what I got and I'll keep it going.

Generally, around where I live ... $3,500 puts you into a decent lookin', lake-ready boat with a Mercruiser. Consider carefully before you let yourself spend $500 here and $300 there, y'know?