Need help with something different...

[Chevy305]

A good friend of mine just picked up a boat for free on Craigslist and he and I have been trying to get it going. The boat is a 22" 1974 Cruiser with an inboard/outboard with a mercruiser outdrive and a Ford 351 engine.

We put a fresh battery in it, found the starter was bad, replaced it. And now the engine will only turn over about 3/4 of the way before stopping and the starter just screeming. So that leads me to believe that there are some teeth missing on the flywheel. If I am correct in my assumption, then I need to pull the motor in order to replace it, and I have no idea how to do that. I tried doing some research and it just seems like a standard flywheel for a manual tans is what I need. Can someone who knows about boats help me out a little?

cough cough Ryoken cough cough

 

[blazin_blazer]

I'd go w/ the weighted flywheel,not a flex plate

 

[Wasatch K5]

It's been a long time and I'm not very familiar with that vintage outdrive.

But, you'll need to remove the outdrive. (Not the gimbal housing, just the outdrive.) Attached to the outdrive should be the driveshaft and a CV joint. I don't know if you have through hull or through prop exhaust, but you'll need to deal with that.

Then, it's pretty much self-explanatory as far as what has to be removed. The engine to stringer mounts are adjustable. After you replace the flywheel and start to install the engine you will need to align the engine with the outdrive's driveshaft. Dealerships have a special tool that they use to do it.

It's really not all that bad of a job, and the price of the boat was right!

One caution: I see that you live in Massachusetts. If the boat wasn't winterized properly (water drained from the various manifolds, block, etc.) you may find that you have cracks in any, or even all, of the above.

A friend of mine bought a used boat that wasn't winterized and I think he spent over three grand having a dealership repair seven cracks in the block, intake manifold, and exhaust manifolds.

 

[Chevy305]

It's been a long time and I'm not very familiar with that vintage outdrive.

But, you'll need to remove the outdrive. (Not the gimbal housing, just the outdrive.) Attached to the outdrive should be the driveshaft and a CV joint. I don't know if you have through hull or through prop exhaust, but you'll need to deal with that.

Then, it's pretty much self-explanatory as far as what has to be removed. The engine to stringer mounts are adjustable. After you replace the flywheel and start to install the engine you will need to align the engine with the outdrive's driveshaft. Dealerships have a special tool that they use to do it.

It's really not all that bad of a job, and the price of the boat was right!

One caution: I see that you live in Massachusetts. If the boat wasn't winterized properly (water drained from the various manifolds, block, etc.) you may find that you have cracks in any, or even all, of the above.

A friend of mine bought a used boat that wasn't winterized and I think he spent over three grand having a dealership repair seven cracks in the block, intake manifold, and exhaust manifolds.

How does that drive shaft attach to the flywheel?

 

[Chevy305]

So we got the engine out and we took off the flywheel and ran the numbers on the flywheel. The flywheel says its a 1966 Mustang 289 flywheel. WTF? Now we have to take the starter off in order run the engine numbers to find out just exactly what the engine is.


Does anyone have any experience with Ford engines?

 

[Wasatch K5]

The 351 engine came in four completely different variants. The Cleveland, the Modified, The Boss and The Windsor.

I would guess you have a 351 Windsor. IIRC that shares a bunch of parts with the 302, (which was also built in Windsor, Ontario).

Ford casting numbers can be confusing, but they actually are quite logical. For example the first character is the decade: C= the 1960's, D= the 1970's, etc. The second character is the year in that decade: C8 would be 1968, D1 would be 1971, and so on.

You can also think of them as engineering revision numbers, in that they stick with a casting number until they decide to change the part. When they do that, they give the new (redesigned) part the new casting number which reflects the year of the change.

The 289 flywheel with a 1966 casting number may very well have been used in the 1970's.

 

[vortec]

The boat is a 22" 1974 Cruiser

22 inches? wow, that's a tiny boat

 

[ryoken]

most everythings been covered here.. couple additions.. the outdrive shaft is just a splined shaft with 3 seals on it... probably an alpha... anyway... always best to have a dummy shaft or alignment tool to align the motor.. front mounts should be a jam nut style adjustable...

many of those early i/o's had pressed on ring gears.. cut the old off, heat the new, drive it home...

was this a saltwater boat?

 

[Thunder]

Ford used the same flywheel on all the small blocks 1965 and up winsor and clevland. They had diferent tooth counts. IIRC it was 157 and 164.
I believe the 351 M engines also used the same flywheel. i could be wrong on that one tho.
Easy way to tell the difference between winsor and cleveland is the thermostat housing. Winsor t stas bolts to the intake. Cleveland T stat bolts to the timing chain cover.
Winsor valve covers have 6 bolts. Cleveland and M engines have 8 bolts.

 

[Wasatch K5]

I doubt very much the outdrive is a Mercruiser Alpha. They weren't introduced until 1983 (I think).

It may be an "R", an "MR", an "888" an "898" or an "I".

 

[Chevy305]

The 351 engine came in four completely different variants. The Cleveland, the Modified, The Boss and The Windsor.

I would guess you have a 351 Windsor. IIRC that shares a bunch of parts with the 302, (which was also built in Windsor, Ontario).

Ford casting numbers can be confusing, but they actually are quite logical. For example the first character is the decade: C= the 1960's, D= the 1970's, etc. The second character is the year in that decade: C8 would be 1968, D1 would be 1971, and so on.

You can also think of them as engineering revision numbers, in that they stick with a casting number until they decide to change the part. When they do that, they give the new (redesigned) part the new casting number which reflects the year of the change.

The 289 flywheel with a 1966 casting number may very well have been used in the 1970's.

Thanks for the info, its definately useful!

most everythings been covered here.. couple additions.. the outdrive shaft is just a splined shaft with 3 seals on it... probably an alpha... anyway... always best to have a dummy shaft or alignment tool to align the motor.. front mounts should be a jam nut style adjustable...

many of those early i/o's had pressed on ring gears.. cut the old off, heat the new, drive it home...

was this a saltwater boat?

Yes it definately has spent a good amount of time in salt water based on the corrosion that I can see of various parts and including the starter...

I believe the ring gear was riveted on... but I'm not sure, I'll have to double check.

Ford used the same flywheel on all the small blocks 1965 and up winsor and clevland. They had diferent tooth counts. IIRC it was 157 and 164.
I believe the 351 M engines also used the same flywheel. i could be wrong on that one tho.
Easy way to tell the difference between winsor and cleveland is the thermostat housing. Winsor t stas bolts to the intake. Cleveland T stat bolts to the timing chain cover.
Winsor valve covers have 6 bolts. Cleveland and M engines have 8 bolts.

Thanks for the advise, I'll see if I can identify it.

I doubt very much the outdrive is a Mercruiser Alpha. They weren't introduced until 1983 (I think).

It may be an "R", an "MR", an "888" an "898" or an "I".