Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

[98Shabah]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

Thanks fellas, I'm going to find out when I can go see it in person. While I'd like to have a 4.3 power plant I know that really ups the price since they are fairly hard to find.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

Well, the bonus with those little 4 cyl engines are your fuel bills are way less painful!

 

[98Shabah]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

That is one thing I really enjoy about the 4cyl in my current boat, I can run for days on summer vacations without needing gas. I also already have an assortment of props to help a little 4cyl perform any task I ask of it.

 

[barato2]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

yeah, i think that boat might be the ticket unless you plan on lots of tubing etc. fact that he even did that motor conversion indicates an intelligent previous owner who knows something about the baot and cares enough to spend $ as needed, not the norm for the prev owners of most people's boats here as you've seen.. i like the color scheme a lot more than Jas does, and fact that it's a chieftain rather than an Islander is a big plus for a family boat, IMHO....real cabin.

 

[98Shabah]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

Well, it does still have the 470 outdrive, he also said the mercruiser mechanic that did the engine swap replaced the trim/tilt motor at the same time.

 

[matt167]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

Not a huge deal IMO. It just means that it won't turn a prop as big as it could with the lower ratio, so it's giving up a little speed.. It's an '87 and that means the transom plate can take a 4.3L if you can get a bobtail engine and Y pipe. The drive ratio is right for the 4.3L, and I doubt that you would run over $2k finding a good bobtail 4.3L, or $5-600 for a 3.0L 1.98:1 geared leg as they are not uncommon ( New SEI is only $1,200 ).. That boat is a good deal. Later Chiefs are pretty hard to find, and it will run just fine the way it is.

 

[barato2]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

it seems like the ultimate issue is the # of inches each motor revolution pushes you forward, which is affected by both leg gearing and prop pitch. couldn't one make up the difference for having an "overgeared" leg (turns prop more revs per motor rev than it should because it was designed for higher torque motor) with decreasing the prop pitch?

 

[98Shabah]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

How much speed loss are we talking about here with the 470 drive? Are there any other downsides to the 470 drive? Parts availability or anything?

 

[barato2]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

no, i think the drive is the same leg as any other Alpha outdrive...just the gear ratios are different. i guess you could swap drive gears but it might be cheaper to just find a different leg.....Murkcruisers with cracked engine blocks from poor winterizing are a dime a dozen. you might want to check this on the Merc forum.

i think actually your loss with the 470 leg would be more in the area of acceleration than top speed until you hit motor redline limitations....your prop will actually be turning slower than it should for a given # of engine rpms. i think.

honestly, if you like that boat otherwise, i wouldn't let this be a deal killer. easy to find a leg for the 3.0 and as Matt correctly noted, SEI makes brand new replacement legs for these for abt 12-1300 with a full lifetime (if it ever breaks, they replace, and they seem to do what they say from the comments i've seen on here from their customers) warranty

 

[barato2]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

correcting myself here, maybe.....i suspect the rpm range for the 470 motor is pretty low, with 3.7 liters and pistons the size of coffee cans. it might be that the higer rpm range of the 3.0 (now THAT'S a relative term.....) offsets gearing. quien sabe.

 

[98Shabah]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

Great information, thanks Barato.

 

[matt167]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

Prop I think would be turning faster than it should be.. with a 1.98:1 drive ratio ( correct 3.0L ratio ), your engine is turning over twice for every prop revolution. With the 1.84:1 470, engine is turning a little over 1 3/4 times per revolution of the prop. Pretty close, but enough to need de propped a little bit from the optimal 3.0L prop.. It's still going to work fine and run over the water just fine the way it is.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

Yah, I'm headed the SEI route for my outdrive. Seems like a pretty good move to me anyway.

Hey Bruce, heads up, they carry a 3 year fault free warranty. Still darn good in my book!

 

[barato2]

Re: Glass owner here dreaming about a tin cuddy

gracias for correction, Jas. yeah, what got me about their warranty is the no-fault aspect....like Crapsman tools used to have, if anything goes wrong no matter whose fault it is, they fix/replace. takes out all the "wiggle room" that manufacturers use to escape their warranty obligations.

98, look at Pirhana props....they use replaceable composite blades, so not only can you just replace the blades one at a time if you hash one, but you can do it without pulling hub in a few minutes.....which makes swapping pitch really easy to get the right one. i think they even offer some sort of swap program if you get the wrong pitch blades 1st time. blades are cheap, too.