Search results

  1. W

    Mercruiser 260 pistons

    I recently pulled the engine from my boat and was suprised to see the pistons that were in there. This is a 1980 Mercruiser 260. Do you think these pistons are stock? The motor was rebuild a number of year ago, but the previous owner said he used all stock replacement parts for the rebuild.
  2. W

    Bravo 1 parts boat

    I am looking for a boat that I can part out mostly to get all the parts I need to swap my alpha for a bravo. I have found one that I think may work, but the transom assembly looks different than others I have looked at. Is there something strange going on here? I have not gone to look at the...
  3. W

    a bit more grunt

    I am looking to get a bit more grunt from my boat. I'd like to see 50MPH. Right now, with a 15p Al prop, she has a ton of snap and tapers after 4k RPM and tops out about 43mph, but runs right where she should at WOT. I tried a 17p prop and still has decent snap, but runs about 200RPM shy of...
  4. W

    exhaust question - closed cooling

    picture attached On my boat, the exhaust manifolds get engine coolant circulated through them to cool them down. The exhaust riser gets lake water injected into them which then flows out the exhaust back into the lake. Since the water jackets on the risers and manifolds come together, the...
  5. W

    trim rams not even

    See the attached picture. One of the rams is always about 3/8 of an inch further extended than the other. It is the same at full up or full down. Is there a simple way to resolve this. The only time it causes me trouble is when I need to remove and replace the drive....just makes it a bear to...
  6. W

    spark plugs after upgrade to electronic ignition

    My engine is a 1980 Mercruiser 260. The previous owner upgraded to electronic ignition. I did a compression test the other day and figured I'd put new plugs in at the same time. Turns out when he upgraded the ignition, he changed the plug he was running. The boat runs great. Should I go back...
  7. W

    exhaust manifold/riser gaskets

    My boat has a full closed cooling system on it. I am getting ready to remove the elbows for inspection and would like to have new gaskets ready to install. It appears that my manifolds (picture attached) are after market and I am having a hard time finding a gasket. Is the gasket in the...
  8. W

    Old boat, prop selection for cruising performance

    I have a 1980 24 foot SKV day cruiser with a mercruiser 260 and alpha one out drive with 1.47 drive ratio (picture attached) . Not sure what the boats weight is, but for these types of boats, it is a heavy one. WOT throttle, measured with the tach in the dash is about 4500 RPM which seems...
  9. W

    ok, what next.....

    We recently purchased this (pics) 38 year old boat. She's well looked after, but still old. I just finished replacing all bellows (exhaust tube this time), gimbal bearing, trim sender and trim limit, lower shift cable, upper half of outdrive, water pump in lower half of outdrive, changed oil...
  10. W

    synthane gaskets at bell housing

    I didn't realize I needed these until after I had done all my bellows and reinstalled the bell housing. My drive did not have them on it when I disassembled it. I got them and was able to slide one in, but there is no way in hell that other one is going to go in without pulling the bell housing...
  11. W

    preload pin lower unit compatibility

    I am trying to assemble my sterndrive. The lower unit is a fresh older unit with the preload pin on top. The top is a new SE106. When I get them together, there is about a 1/4 in gap between the halves because of the preload pin. Is this telling me that the upper and the lower are incompatible...
  12. W

    trim sender switch install

    I am working on installing my new trim sender and limit switch. They are complete new install including the wires going back through the transom....yes, that was fun. When I first started I had the key turned to the on position and the switch was disconnected....the gauge read pinned at the...
  13. W

    Bellows adhesive question

    When installing the bellows, do you put them on with the adhesive and wait for the adhesive to dry and then tighten the clamp or do you tighten the clamp as soon as you slide the bellows on over the adhesive? thanks, wR
  14. W

    alpha one lower shift cable length

    I purchased a new lower shift cable and it is nearly 2 feet shorter than the one that is currently in the boat. The new one is about 58 inches in length. The one currently in the boat is not the correct one or I received the wrong part in the mail. The one I received in the mail did not have...
  15. W

    New sterndrive --- purchase or rebuild

    Based on some good information I got from here, I needed to replace the ujoints and drive shaft in my sterndrive and also do the seals in it. I got the manual and looked through the procedure and determined it was beyond what I wanted to do myself. I researched either having it rebuilt or...
  16. W

    transom seal teardown - pics

    At the advice of this forum, I am replacing all my bellows, lower shift cable, gimbal bearing, impeller and going through the engine alignment procedure......I bought the alignment toolkit with all the cool extra tools in it as well. I purchased all OEM Mercruiser parts where I could. There was...
  17. W

    Found my leak - pic attached

    The water in the bilge was warm, so I figured it was coming from the closed cooling system somewhere but it must have been warm from being in the bilge. I took the boat to the lake today and found this (pic) while it was sitting on the trailer. I could hear it coming in from the captains chair...
  18. W

    leak on trim tilt unit

    I have the trim tilt unit in the attached picture. The boat is a 1980. The unit leaks from the bottom wether the drive is in the raised or lowered position. I snugged up all the bolts from the underside of the unit and checked and everything is tight. It looks to me like there is probably some...
  19. W

    ok, I am just going to have some stupid questions

    I am new to this sterndrive thing and if you have read my other threads, I am having a water leak problem so I am trying to understand how this thing works. What currently has me confused is the exhaust. I see the exhaust bellows, so I assumed that was where the exhaust comes from the engine...
  20. W

    Closed cooling system, water in bilge.

    I recently purchased this boat and as is normal, it is going to put me through the paces with repairs. It is a 1980 Mercruiser 260 I/O with a closed cooling system. The boat and engine have been well maintained. After a few hours on the lake, there was A LOT of water in the bilge....hot water...
Top