How much of a bang should Alpha Ones have when shifting front neutral?

[littleape]

So my 2000 Alpha One has no shifting issues, it shifts just fine without any grinding, but it does have a pretty noticeable bang. These are supposed to be normal but how loud should these be?

With my idle set at 650 while in water in neutral, using a digital tach on spark wire, it kinda feels like the boat is smacked with a baseball bat, both going into F and R. No grinding, just a bang and off she goes.

Anyone have a video of how your Alpha One shifts into gears?

 

[tank1949]

Make sure interrupt switch kills motor or be ready for major expenses. If my memory serves me correctly, you can manually actuate switch while in water. Mine were connected to manifolds inside a shifter linkage. Testing it with muffs on may not emulate a load that you would get with boat and OD in water. If you actuate switch and motor is temporally killed, at least that is not a problem. Check fluid to be sure OD is full and not rust or water in it. They are loud and too loud for me. Scary ...

 

[achris]

The interrupt switch should NEVER kill the engine when shifting INTO gear... And will only activate when coming out of gear when there is load on the propeller, ie when the boat is in the water.

As for the 'bang'... I'd call it more a thump. How are you reading the engine idle speed? If it's from the dash tacho, then you need to check it. I have seen dash tachos quite inaccurate at low speeds. One I recall was 150 rpm out. The tacho read 650, but the engine was actually running at 800. That drive really did bang when put in gear.. until we dropped the idle speed to a real 650rpm.

Chris....

 

[littleape]

For tach I'm using one of those small digital ones you wrap over the spark wire. This tach reads 650 vs about 1100 on the build in dash tach. Not sure why the build in one is so far off, the rear setting wheel seems to be set correctly for this 4.3 pointing at "3P".

I might get another version to verify its accurate, maybe a used timing light with rpm reading.

There are no shifting issues, goes into and out of gear without any problems.

 

[Alumarine]

Are you sure it's not the little tach that's off?

 

[achris]

What engine? (Year and model)

 

[littleape]

It's a 2000 4.3 serial L662063 model 4211015L1

Honestly I'm not sure which tach is accurate, I'm leaning towards the digital one thats wrapped around #1 plug wire.

 

[littleape]

I'm going to pickup one of those little $25 laser tachs just to see which of my other tachs is, more, accurate.

 

[littleape]

So I was able to use a cheap laser tach to tell that my little spark plugs tach was on the wrong setting. I had the idle set at 2x the speed I thought it was at. Made the adjustment and now shifts are super smooth compared to before. Much easier to dock now as well since it's not coming in at such a high speed, it was freaky to dock.

The dash tach is actually pretty good, off by maybe 100 rpm or so.

 

[achris]

So I was able to use a cheap laser tach to tell that my little spark plugs tach was on the wrong setting. I had the idle set at 2x the speed I thought it was at. Made the adjustment and now shifts are super smooth compared to before. Much easier to dock now as well since it's not coming in at such a high speed, it was freaky to dock.

The dash tach is actually pretty good, off by maybe 100 rpm or so.

And... you're not going to have the drive 'self-disassemble' because the idle speed is too high (yes, high idle will destroy a drive)...

Chris......