Re: Omc Seadrive Question
Duke,simple answer to you question is yes.If those engines you describe are those which the transfer will take place with.but ,as said,there was alot of experimentaal stuff that went on.Some had hydraulic steering some had cable.In simplicty,the powerhead will interchange but,he will need the intake manifold off the seadrive because the linkages have different hookups,the lowerunit will interchange but the shiftshafts from the seadrive will need stay with seadrive,I had a few of them,worked on many,and can only say ,very few were EXACTLY the same,they used crossflow engines and loopers,v4 and v6.That said,I found the idea to be good,but there was many faults,one being the powerhead tended to be too low and often backwash could flood the engine alond with a common flooding of the cowling,that also caused the driveshaft to become stuck in the crankshaft more often then standard engines,the lowerseals could pass water and the crankshaft would lose its splines after a while causing a great running engine to suddenly become a screaming ,overheating engine in neutral ,due to driveshaft not turning.most mechanics will tell you to avoid them parts ARE scarce,granted the internals of the powerhead and the lowerunits are shared with standard outboards,but,the bracket assemblies ,bushings,hydraulic hoses,hydraulic rams used for steering and trim and tilt are not common.many guys ,eventually pull the seadrive off,if the powerhead is great,they convert it to standard outboard and put a bracket on the stern after glassing in the holes left from the seadrive unit.Not really rocket science.If you have a seadrive,the best you can do for it is maintain it.Especially pulling the lowerunit fairly often ,I say once a yr.and greasing the driveshaft splines with a good grease like amsoil that wont breakdown from water or heat,clean with fresh water all the lines and rams.There are some GREAT deals on those set ups because many are steered awa .But if you put in mind ,one day,you may convert ,and especially if your mechanical inclined,you can do well because of the bad name the units have.The real pro to it all ,is,the full transome boat you get ,with ability to do any kind of bracket .engine combination you want to do.The controls are interchangable with standard engines of OMC make,excemp for ficht and the etec newer engines.
