New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

[deerslayer303]

Hello Everyone,

I am new here, I joined to get the lowdown on this new powerplant. I bought a 21' Grady White with cuddy yester day, The boat has been sitting for 3 years all the water and gas was drained out of it. I spent all day today cleaning the old girl up, which she is in fine shape, motor turns over and makes plenty of compresion, the outdrive seems to be in good shape. And for the 800.00 dollar price tag I'll keep at it. Now my first question is, How does the cooling system on this beast work, don't it draw in water from the ports on the outdrive to circulate through the engine, I see the coolant cap like where you add coolant. And if it is a closed system what in the world cools the coolant down there is no radiator that I see. Second, Where is a good place to get parts, ie carb kit, starter, and tune up stuff. I know some of these inboards cross to automotive engine and some parts can be had at O Reilly's, but I feel that this little / big 4 banger is a different animal.

I know I need to get a books and I will get one tomorrow. Thank you for all the help in advance.

Shawn
Lexington SC

 

[cpubud]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

yes it draws water in from the out drive via a water pump [or impeller], and yes some small parts are available at auto parts stores,parts need to be marine grade parts.i boats is a good source for most parts you need ,fill out your profile so every-body knows what you are working on it will make it easier to get help. and welcome to the forum.

 

[boatguya1]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

You have a heat exchanger. It uses lake water circulated by an impeller in your drive to cool of the coolant that circulates in your motor. If the boats been sitting for 3 years the impeller should be replaced.

At the top of the forum page there is a thread titled adults only. In it you will find helpfull info and downloadable manuals for mercruiser.

James

 

[deerslayer303]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

Wow thanks for the fast replies. As far as running this thing out of the water, don't I just put a pair of outboard style rabbit ears on the outdrive.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

Hello Everyone,

I am new here, I joined to get the lowdown on this new powerplant. I bought a 21' Grady White with cuddy yester day, The boat has been sitting for 3 years all the water and gas was drained out of it. I spent all day today cleaning the old girl up, which she is in fine shape, motor turns over and makes plenty of compresion, the outdrive seems to be in good shape. And for the 800.00 dollar price tag I'll keep at it. Now my first question is, How does the cooling system on this beast work, don't it draw in water from the ports on the outdrive to circulate through the engine, I see the coolant cap like where you add coolant. And if it is a closed system what in the world cools the coolant down there is no radiator that I see. Second, Where is a good place to get parts, ie carb kit, starter, and tune up stuff. I know some of these inboards cross to automotive engine and some parts can be had at O Reilly's, but I feel that this little / big 4 banger is a different animal.

I know I need to get a books and I will get one tomorrow. Thank you for all the help in advance.

Shawn
Lexington SC

Your 'radiator' is called a heat exchanger (see picture below)...and the raw water impeller (located in the lower unit, outdrive) supplies water to the heat exchanger, where the antifreeze is circulated and cooled. The early 470's had a 3" heat exchanger, and the upgraded units used a 4" unit. If yours is the 3", you would be wise to pick up one of the used 4" heat exhangers...since the achille's heel of your engine is the propensity to overheat. The 4" exchanger addressed this problem, and there are decent aftermarket units still being made.

Many 470 owners have scrapped the stator charging system, for a belt driven alternator. I have the stator, that is still working fine...but have the conversion kit standing by, for when (not if) the stator finally quits!

Welcome aboard!

 

[droptheline]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

up grade the heat exchanger on that 470, get a manual, and do ALL the maitenance required, the motor has its pluses with power to weight and fuel economy, but serious draw backs if not maitenenced properly, read all you can about that motor in these forums cause its a very finacky engine.

 

[deerslayer303]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

I'm trying to download the manual for the drive on this boat but don't know which one. Do I have the TR - TRS or the "One Drive"

 

[ken_23434]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

To know what outdrive you have, you would need to post the year and serial number on here.

If you have the bandwidth and drive space, just download each of those manuals and read the section in them that talks about identifying the outdrive. I think the serial # of the drive will tell you what year and model drive it is. The manual will tell you where to look for the serial number.

I can't do it, but if you posted a picture of the drive on this forum, I am sure you will get dozens of replies almost immediately telling you what type of drive it is, what year it was made, where the ore came from to make the metal used to fabricate it, why XXX model that replaced it is better (or worse), the names of the people who worked at the assembly line while that one was being built etc...

OK, I might have carried on a little about what they could tell you...

 

[ken_23434]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

I know some of these inboards cross to automotive engine and some parts can be had at O Reilly's, but I feel that this little / big 4 banger is a different animal.

I know I need to get a books and I will get one tomorrow. Thank you for all the help in advance.

Shawn
Lexington SC

The website hosting this forum has all the parts you need. I would not waste any money purchasing a service manual anywhere. The manuals other than the Mercruiser Factory Service Manuals are not very informative. Plus, the origianal Mercruiser ones are right here on this site for free.

Getting the serial number of your engine, carb and outdrive will help you greatly when buying parts. Even though the boat is a 19XX model doesn't mean the engine and drive are a 19XX also. Unless you are the original owner, you don't know if the engine was ever replaced in the past. Plus, in a given year range, different carbs, fuel pumps, heat exchangers etc.. could have been installed on a given size engine. Mine for instance could have a Carter or Rochester style fuel pump. Both work, but different fuel filters, pump rebuild kits, and fuel lines are needed. Similarly, my engine could have come with the MercCarb or a Rochester carburator. Both of those carbs look very similar too. Luckily for me, the rebuild kit I had covered both models.

I am not sure if it is against forum rules to link people to other sources on the 'net for repair parts. But, I have found a couple other websites that have the exploded views of the engine sections and the outdrives. They are broken into categories based on serial number also, so you know you are looking at the correct engine. I find those drawings VERY helpful to make sure I know the correct part number and name for what I think I need to order. I don't necessarily order from that website, I just use the drawings as a reference to make sure I am ordering the correct item.

 

[old bird]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

Doubt it's a TR or TRS

 

[deerslayer303]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

To know what outdrive you have, you would need to post the year and serial number on here.

If you have the bandwidth and drive space, just download each of those manuals and read the section in them that talks about identifying the outdrive. I think the serial # of the drive will tell you what year and model drive it is. The manual will tell you where to look for the serial number.

I can't do it, but if you posted a picture of the drive on this forum, I am sure you will get dozens of replies almost immediately telling you what type of drive it is, what year it was made, where the ore came from to make the metal used to fabricate it, why XXX model that replaced it is better (or worse), the names of the people who worked at the assembly line while that one was being built etc...

OK, I might have carried on a little about what they could tell you...

Ken,

That was a very funny post, I almost spit Mountain Dew on my new flat screen. NE Way. Heres some status, New Alt, Conversion kit on the way, Trying to figure out what carb I have to rebuild it. Gas tank is cleaned out, and starter is in the rebuild shop (it was dragging and hanging up sometimes). The motor is clean as a whistle under the valve cover, makes 160 ish evenly on all cylinders. My family is pretty excited about this boat, my uncle has stripped all the TEAK off the boat for refinishing. I told them do what ever you want my priority is the SUCK, BANG, BLOW!!! I don't like what I have read so far but I'll plug along.

So if this motor turns out to be bad after I fire it up, What all do I need to swap the 4.3 in. Someone do this?
Thanks guys I love this site.

 

[ken_23434]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

The impeller for the water pump in the outdrive is pretty cheap. Since the boat has been sitting a while, I would get a kit to change out that impeller before you run the motor. And, while you are at it, change out the lube in the outdrive. I changed my impeller last fall. It was the first time I was messing with an outdrive. I found it pretty straight forward and easy to figure out. It's pretty cheap insurance to make sure the motor is getting the cooling water it needs.

The compression being consistant between all cylinders eliminates a lot of "potential" problems with the motor. Real test is to run it still, though.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

So if this motor turns out to be bad after I fire it up, What all do I need to swap the 4.3 in. Someone do this?
Thanks guys I love this site.

The easiest 'swap' would be a 3.0L...and they are real close in horsepower ratings. The 470 was rated at the flywheel...and the 3.0 is rated at the prop.

 

[deerslayer303]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions UPDATE WITH S/N'S

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions UPDATE WITH S/N'S

Well I've been learning alot, fast about the old girl, I rebuilt the Mercarb (gosh those carb kits are expensive!!) installed new dist. cap, rotor button, points (gapped @.021), new plugs, changed the oil / filter and hooked up a ext. tank with fuel pump (I've got a bad fuel pump), I hit the key one time and it JUMPED to life and purred like a kitten. Man I'm telling you I am happier than a pig in slop. All the gauges worked and the old girl has 40 psi of oil press at idle (yep all the gauges work and all the lights). This 800 dollar boat surprised the crap outta me. Someone has updated this motor, the boat is a 78, but the parts dept. at the local dealer told me from the serial number that it is about a mid 80's motor, it has the 4" heat exchanger to boot and the alt. conversion. I have a new water impeller kit, and all the bellows that will be going in shortly.

Here is the serial numbers can you folks tell me what I have here.

Motor- 5821095
Drive- 6134160

 

[wiggleboy123456]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

Hey guys, I'm toatly new to this and don't really know what I'm doing but I'll make a stab at it. I just got A dixie 21' with a mercruiser 470 (this is my first boat). I got it real cheap. The motor wouldn't turn over. So I pulled out the starter and looked inside. It's cooked. Next I took out the plugs and tryed to turn it over by hand. Won't budge. Spray spark plug holes with pb and let it sit over night. Next day I was able to breke it free. A little tight but she turns. I have a new starter going in it tomarrow. Pulled dip stick and just the very tip had anything at all on it. It looked like the head from a guiness lol. Is there anything (besides filling with oil and coolant and hooking up a hose to the outdrive) that I need to do before trying to start it??? Thanks

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

Welcome to iboats wiggleboy.

You should start a thread of your own instead of commenting on this year old archive. No one will respond to your question.

 

[wiggleboy123456]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

how do I do that??

 

[TiredoleBoy]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

Your 'radiator' is called a heat exchanger (see picture below)...and the raw water impeller (located in the lower unit, outdrive) supplies water to the heat exchanger, where the antifreeze is circulated and cooled. The early 470's had a 3" heat exchanger, and the upgraded units used a 4" unit. If yours is the 3", you would be wise to pick up one of the used 4" heat exhangers...since the achille's heel of your engine is the propensity to overheat. The 4" exchanger addressed this problem, and there are decent aftermarket units still being made.

Many 470 owners have scrapped the stator charging system, for a belt driven alternator. I have the stator, that is still working fine...but have the conversion kit standing by, for when (not if) the stator finally quits!

Welcome aboard!

Actually it is usually the regulator that fries.

Sorry did not notice the date of the replies.

 

[buddyk]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

i'm trying to download the manual for the drive on this boat but don't know which one. Do i have the tr - trs or the "one drive"

tr and trs drives are NOT used on 170/470 engines. If the unit is older than 1985 and have a lift ring on top it is a #1. If the
cap is flat then it is an alpha 1 the 170 did not exist to get an alpha 1 gen ii
buddy

 

[Don S]

Re: New Mercruiser 470 Owner with a boatload of questions

Welcome to iboats buddy, feel free to read the archives, but please don't reply to them. This thead is 2 years old.