Gimbal Housing

[Mark Emaus]

Are the Alpha I and the Alpha I gen 2 the same gimbal housing? If not, what is different about them. I am wondering if the bolt holes match up in both the Alpha 1 and 1 gen 2 where it attaches to the stern drive?

Thanks

Mark

[Jeff]

The bolt holes match up. I've been told mounting a gen1 to gen2 transom assembly can be done in a couple hours with a slight bit of machining and swapping the shift shaft, and probably vice versa. Also trim cylinders and trim cylinder anchor pins are different and gen 1 of course doesn't have the remote gear lube or speedometer water passage. Google search for mounting an alpha ss drive (which fit a gen 1 transom assembly in the day) to a gen II transom assembly and you'll find some of the people who have done this to get the x dimension advantage of the ss drive which is no longer made nor has an equivalent for an alpha gen II transom assembly. These are popular on the small donzi classics.

[Mark Emaus]

Thanks Jeff,

I have a question...Lookiing at a schematic, I can't find the remote gear lube..What is that and where is it in the unit? Also, what do you think if the unit water pump were to get pluged up with mud, we have an aircooled engine, but i am wondering if you think that the lack of water flow would hurt the sterdrive?

Thanks

Mark

[Jeff]

The gear lube passage is no big deal - it's just an additional passage in the transom assembly (see attachment) so you can have a gravity fed lube bottle inside the boat. The generation one retrofit way is to run an external line to the vent screw. I like the idea of keeping a positive lube pressure on and being able to see if I have a prop shaft or other seal issue.

I haven't been hard enough on drives to give you a good answer regarding no water through the drive; my feeling is that it won't cause any noticeable immediate damage esp. if you're not right at the drive's limits, but a few years down the road if you ran one with and one without you could calculate additional life in the one that has the water providing slight additional internal cooling. Mud that will clog it will probably kill the water pump in short order though. Then again, those expecting to run at the drive's limits run drive showers to go a step beyond and cool the upper, but they're not stock.

[Mark Emaus]

Thanks Jeff,

I ordered a service manual and it has not come yet. After I get the manual I will be able to ask some more dumb questions...lol This has been a real interesting project to say the least. I think we have a great idea on what we want to do now, and it is just a matter of learning a whole different system to make it work. If the alpha 1 gen I, and II bolt pattern are the same, I will get a I gimbal and make it work for the vw engine. Remember that this is going on the deck of a pontoon boat, so we don't have to worry about the hole seal in the stern. We also don,t need to have a complete bellhousing attaching to both the sterndrive and the bell housing of the vw engine. Unless there is some other reason to have them sealed together.

Mark

[Jeff]

Ah, I didn't realize what kind of project you were doing.