Need help with an engine transplant

[rick30120]

View attachment b2.bmpView attachment b1.bmpHello iboaters! I have a two part questions on an engine transpant i'm working on and I am very new to the boating world, so here goes:
1. I have a 1979 Galaxy that a have been trying to get the stern drive off of with no success. The gear is all the way in the forward postion, all the bolts are off and nothing. I've raised the drive, raised the boat, nothing seems to work. My first question is, Can I pull the engine first and then concern myself withe the stern drive or does the stern drive have to come off first?

2. The boat I am putting the engine(a 305) in originally had a 350, both Mercruiser. Will the controls, cables, Y pipe be compatible or shoud I swap out everything?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

Welcome to iBoats . . .

Post some pictures when you can, as they always help visualize.

Generally, the outdrive has to come off. The fact that it won't budge may be an indication that the drive shaft is stuck into the coupler on the flywheel of the engine. So, the engine probably won't come out either, if you tried it that way. Keep working at it.

I'll let the 305/350 experts answer the, cabling & y-pipe question.

 

[bajaunderground]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

I'm not anywhere near an expert that Ted speaks of...but from experience I can tell you, if you don't have 6"+ of clearance in front of the motor, you'll need to pull the drive. As Ted above mentions, there's a drive shaft in a drive coupler that needs to be cleared by pushing motor towards the bow prior to going up. It's more than likely faster and easier to pull the drive, then the motor is free to go almost straight up as opposed to forward then up?

As stated, post a few pictures of what you're dealing with?

~Brett

 

[Silly Seville]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

Pictures of your transom assembly and outdrive would really help. I don't want to ask what may seem like ridiculous questions of your attempted removal procedure. However, assuming you have removed all of the attaching hardware per the Mercruiser service manual, I can only suggest you put some more muscle into it. It may even require some prying with tools, but I will not make suggestions on how to do that as I don't want to be responsible for your damaged gear cases. It's most likely just sticking between the drive mounting flange and the bell housing. I've seen a lot of hack jobs where folks who have sealed up their own drives use silicone instead of the proper gasket. As the above poster mentioned, it may very likely be the input drive shaft is rusted/frozen to the coupler, or the shaft is rusted to the gimbal bearing which then will require some REAL motive force to pull the whole drive away from the transom with the gimbal bearing still attached to the input shaft.

Good luck!

 

[achris]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

...2. The boat I am putting the engine(a 305) in originally had a 350, both Mercruiser. Will the controls, cables, Y pipe be compatible or should I swap out everything?

As long as both are either pre 1983 or both are 1983 and later, then everything will line up. If one is pre-1983 and the other is 1983 or later, then EVERYTHING must be changed...

As already mentioned, you must get the drive off FIRST, before attempting to move the engine.

Chris....

 

[84EdH]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

Do you mean a complete engine swap, or a long block swap with swapping over pulleys, ps, alt, manifolds, carb etc.?

Pulling the drive: look underneath the outdrive and be sure the lower shift shoe is straight ahead, if not, disconnect shift cable at bracket and manually turn the shoe straight. turn the prop counter clockwise to lock it, and put a bungee cord on to keep it that way.

After that, with the lift rams disconnected and the drive skeg clear of the ground, I would let the drive drop a few inches or so to "shock" the stuck components a few times. Prying I fear will start to mar the mating surface at the bell housing/drive interface.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

Agree with 84EdH, You definitely need to be sure the shift shoe is facing fore & aft so the two parts can slide apart. You can see it by looking in under the drive.
I have also heard of folks putting a block of wood under the drive so when the drive is dropped it causes a leverage effect to pull the front of the upper drive out of the bell housing.
You could also hold a block of wood against the upper and rap it (the wood) with a hammer to try to free up stuck stuff.

 

[chris.j.marshall]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

I wouldn't say "must" as I've done it before with my 3.0. As many have already said, make sure you have the clearance to physically do so. I'd still suggest you find a way to get it off of there to ensure your new engine/drive combo is aligned.

 

[Walt T]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

I'm pretty sure I've never heard of anyone installing a 305 in place of a 350 but the basic hardware should all swap over. NHguys block of wood trick usually gets it.

By the way which Galaxy do you have? Bowrider? Daycruiser? I like those old Galaxies. Post pictures if ya got em.

 

[smassey22180]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

My latest boat had a frozen bearing that did not allow the outdrive to come off. I had to put a 2x4 on the top of the outdrive and trim up. This wedges the 2x4 between the top cover of the outdrive and the transom housing and forces it off. This is an approved Mercruiser technique and worked perfectly the first time. Put a box full of packing material under the outdrive to catch it when it falls down. The rams will hold it upright and keep it from falling but it will come straight down.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

...with the lift rams disconnected and the drive skeg clear of the ground, I would let the drive drop a few inches or so to "shock" the stuck components a few times...

I would add, when doing ANY of these BFH techniques, loosely reinstall a couple of the nuts so that the drive CANNOT fall off onto the ground....

 

[rick30120]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

Thank you for all of your help. I have attached two photos of the stern drive. The Galaxy is a bowrider

View attachment 218532View attachment 218533Hello iboaters! I have a two part questions on an engine transpant i'm working on and I am very new to the boating world, so here goes:
1. I have a 1979 Galaxy that a have been trying to get the stern drive off of with no success. The gear is all the way in the forward postion, all the bolts are off and nothing. I've raised the drive, raised the boat, nothing seems to work. My first question is, Can I pull the engine first and then concern myself withe the stern drive or does the stern drive have to come off first?

2. The boat I am putting the engine(a 305) in originally had a 350, both Mercruiser. Will the controls, cables, Y pipe be compatible or shoud I swap out everything?

 

[rick30120]

Re: Need help with engine transplant

Re: Need help with engine transplant

View attachment untitled5.bmp

I tried to add to my original post, but I didn't have any luck. I wanted to thank you all for your help and suggestions. Unfortunately none of them worked for me. I tried using the 2x4, but the housing is just too rounded out the wood wouldn't stay in place. I also tried the drop idea, I started out gently dropping the drive and worked my way up to where I raised the drive as high as it would go and dropping it, it didn't budge. I have added some photos of the drive, as well as some photos of the linkage, to the best of my knowledge it is as far forward as it will go, tell me what you think.

Answers to some of your questions:

1. The Galaxy is a 1979 bowrider, it has a 898 mercruiser in it
2. I bought a 1982 Sea Ray SRX V-197, that is what I want to put the engine in. It had a 350 taken out of it before I bought.
3. Yes, my plan is to take the engine out of the Galaxy and put it in the Sea Ray
4. I can make plenty of clearance space, the Galaxy is a parts boat, I can cut the whole floor out if I need to.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Need help with engine transplant

Re: Need help with engine transplant

Ayuh,.... Yer shift linkage picture is useless,...
Ya gotta be lookin' up, from below the drive, outside the boat, like in this picture from Ziggy,...
The shift shoe, 'n the shift foot gotta be straight fore, 'n aft(aka; Forward gear) to pull the drive,...


Another option is to drop the lower unit from the drive, Then pull the upper unit off the boat,...

Did ya click on the big blue button lower port-side of this page that says, "+ Reply to Thread",..??..??

Or ya can click on the "Reply" button at the bottom lower starboard corner of each post in the thread,...

Or, click on the "Reply With Quote" button next to the "Reply" button on each post, if ya need the quote,...

 

[jere1972]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

Had a similar issue removing my old Yamaha Hydradrive system to replace with Merc, found the engine to be so out of alignment due to mount rot, it was putting to much pressure on shaft and locking it to the coupler and the gimble bearing, try raising the motor with the mounts stop nuts, that was my solution to my stuck drive

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: Need help with an engine transplant

Keep trying with the block of wood becoming a wedge on the upper when you use the tilt/trim to raise the outdrive. It will squish the wood up pretty good. Maybe try a piece of a 4x4, it could be stronger. I've had some of mine that were really really stuck and that eventually got it out.

Here is a photo of what I'm talking about (although I think you already understand this process)