omc 400 ? not sure of year,

[matey487]

hi all

i just got a free boat with a omc outdrive, the boat is a 1976 mfg trihull, but when i try and find the exact year of the outdrive i come up blank, i have the repair manual with yrs and model numbers but nothing matches. model number is 980703 serial number is w94372, the only numbers i find close to the yaer start with 99 XXXXX, i know these drives have good and bad points. i took the boat for the motor as mine has a cracked block(mercruser3.0 ) but maybe wondering if it would be worth to try and run this, any info/ comments would be welcome. thank you

 

[superbenk]

Re: omc 400 ? not sure of year,

I'll let others reply as to whether the motor or block specifically will work for you, but I'd highly recommend not bothering with the OMC. OMC has been out of business for over 10 years & the Stringer drive hasn't been in production since 1985. It's a relic & it's getting difficult to find parts for it let alone any professional mechanical support. Most shops won't touch the drive.

As for the specific year of the drive, I'm not sure about that, but looking around for that model, it looks like it's attached to a lot of mid-70's OMC 140's. Being of that era it's an electric shift and generally considered the worst of the shifting mechanisms.

Bottom line, you don't want to get into an OMC project & especially an electric shift one. You may be able to part out the OMC stuff on eBay as that's where a lot of us OMC owners have to shop for the bigger, rarer parts.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: omc 400 ? not sure of year,

The OMC 400 was first introduced in 1978, and is identified by a 13 spline propshaft with through prop exhaust, so you probably do not have one of those in a 76 boat

if the hull is a 76, exact year not important. one year either side isn't going to make any difference
1973 to 1977 were all the same for OMC 3.0 from water pump to prop

 

[matey487]

Re: omc 400 ? not sure of year,

thanks for the feed back, but i am still a little confused, so if it isn't a 400 what would it be called ?

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: omc 400 ? not sure of year,

Its called an Electric Shift, and about all stringer drives are good for anymore is scrap metal

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: omc 400 ? not sure of year,

from 1964 to 1977, OMC called all of their drives:

"The OMC Sterndrive"

that was it besides a 7 digit model number on the ID tag of the upper, and there is no good reference for the model numbers anywhere... Seloc manual has some of them

 

[matey487]

Re: omc 400 ? not sure of year,

ok thanks again for the info and everyones time, as always this forum is great !!!!

calm seas to all

 

[eschober]

Re: omc 400 ? not sure of year,

ok thanks again for the info and everyones time, as always this forum is great !!!!

calm seas to all

hi .... there are still a fair number of places around that sell OMC sterndrive parts (new and used) .. try www.twincityoutboard.com/ for one