erikgreen
Captain
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2007
- Messages
- 3,105
I'm now the proud owner of a Volvo-Penta 290DP drive... I pulled it off my Bayliner parts boat yesterday (I may do something else with the bliner, we'll see).
At this point I'm planning on getting the drive checked out and a couple seals replaced (the outer shaft seals are rotted due to being in the sun, for instance). Also I'm going to clean up the drive and transom in general, and probably repaint. The transom bellows were intact except for an "inspection" hole someone made in the drive shaft bellows. The U-joints feel ok though, nothing but surface rust.
Thus far I'm nothing but impressed and happy with the way the Volvo drive system works. Much better designed and easier to deal with than Mercruiser.
A couple questions at this point:
1) If I take the drive to a VP dealer/service shop and tell them to go over the whole thing, check seals, etc can anyone give me an idea what that will cost? Or, can anyone tell me about how many hours of work this is?
2) There's a lot of dirt and dried algae on the drive and transom I can brush off, but what concerns me most is some places where the paint has bubbled and there's some corrosion underneath. The zincs are there and ok, though. Can I plan on sanding the corrosion and bubbled paint off, filling with some type of aluminum putty, and painting?
3) I'm planning to replace the reverse lock mechanism and the various O-rings, seals, and maybe the gimbal bearing in the flywheel cover. Anything else I should plan on at this point? What usually goes bad?
I've noticed the price of VP parts compared to Mercruiser, and I'm hoping nothing needs major work. I'm also hoping the quality of the drive means I won't have to fix a lot of stuff long term on it.
I pulled the engine that was in the boat as well and I'll use a lot of the VP bolt-ons from it.. it had about a 6 inch square section of cast iron on the lower block split out from freezing. I'll replace the block or rebuild my other engine with the red parts, then attach the DP drive to my boat and go...
Erik
At this point I'm planning on getting the drive checked out and a couple seals replaced (the outer shaft seals are rotted due to being in the sun, for instance). Also I'm going to clean up the drive and transom in general, and probably repaint. The transom bellows were intact except for an "inspection" hole someone made in the drive shaft bellows. The U-joints feel ok though, nothing but surface rust.
Thus far I'm nothing but impressed and happy with the way the Volvo drive system works. Much better designed and easier to deal with than Mercruiser.
A couple questions at this point:
1) If I take the drive to a VP dealer/service shop and tell them to go over the whole thing, check seals, etc can anyone give me an idea what that will cost? Or, can anyone tell me about how many hours of work this is?
2) There's a lot of dirt and dried algae on the drive and transom I can brush off, but what concerns me most is some places where the paint has bubbled and there's some corrosion underneath. The zincs are there and ok, though. Can I plan on sanding the corrosion and bubbled paint off, filling with some type of aluminum putty, and painting?
3) I'm planning to replace the reverse lock mechanism and the various O-rings, seals, and maybe the gimbal bearing in the flywheel cover. Anything else I should plan on at this point? What usually goes bad?
I've noticed the price of VP parts compared to Mercruiser, and I'm hoping nothing needs major work. I'm also hoping the quality of the drive means I won't have to fix a lot of stuff long term on it.
I pulled the engine that was in the boat as well and I'll use a lot of the VP bolt-ons from it.. it had about a 6 inch square section of cast iron on the lower block split out from freezing. I'll replace the block or rebuild my other engine with the red parts, then attach the DP drive to my boat and go...
Erik
