Quick Question

[cherokeeguy]

Just had a quick question to see if anyone has had a similar problem.

Anyways I have a 270 sundancer with a 454 merc, borg warner trans, and TRS out drive and fresh water pick up from the bottom of the boat - in the past with all my boats i have winterized them by pulling all the plugs and manually filling the areas needed with the antifreeze this year however i bought and used the kit that comes with the 5 gallon container, t connection to add fresh water, and hose that runs down into the motor, anyways i used this on my brothers boat first that has twin 454s and water pickups in the out drive we started the motors ran them on the hose with warm water to open the thermostats and then ran the antifreeze through the motors all went well no problems, we then did the process on my boat only difference was i disconected the water hose from bottom of the boat aimed it upward and ran the fresh water hose and antifreeze setup into it, started the boat ran on water then on antifreeze except mine got very hot before it could finish taking in all the antifreeze (this is strange because it has never ran over the thermostat temp while in the water) has anyone had this problem do i need a different setup next year to ensure it is recieveing enough water.

 

[tburgess7568]

Hey there Darren,

I just bought the same exact boat this fall: 1984 SRV270 Sea Ray with the rare single 330hp, borg warner-TR Drive combination. The engine is a fresh water cooled 1986 454 mercruiser. As far as my research shows you should have the Borg warner transmission as well and not the Merc Trans which is a different inferior model. I had the yard winterize it this year so I can't provide insight on your question.

What condition is your stern drive in? That's the only thing that worries me as it is an orginal 1984 and heavily pitted. It passed the survey and sea trial but I'll take a closer look this Spring.

 

[cherokeeguy]

Always good to talk to someone that has the same boat and you are right it is definatly a rare option, every one that sees the 19.75 in prop always asks why it is so big. Yeah i checked all the tags on mine before a bought it and it is a borg trans, my out drive is in great shape it actually has a 87 outdrive on it (at the time merc called these merc trans II instead of TR-II like the earlier ones same drive though) but i also have the original sitting on the shelf I was told there was nothing wrong with it however the dealership i bought it from said they would trust the newer one alot more so I worked out a deal that i would get the old one just incase. I few tips i have found though the out drives and drive train in general are extremly strong in these boats in fact the setup was designed for tow and untility boats so it can take alot of abuse, however there are a few week points, like the steering pin setup. There is a large Hardened Steel pin with either a gear cut or square cut top and bottom that connects the gimble ring to the steering shaft that comes in through the transom, the thing to watch out for is that shaft is aluminum (why i don't know) and with the weight and size of these drives it can start to wear or in worst case you hit something or something forces the drive to one side it will strip the gears right off the shaft. Biggest problem with this is they don't make them any more but because the TRS drive and the TR-II is identical except the lower half if you go to any major boat racing shop they should be knowlegeable about the drives and could have the part laying around that is how i found mine.

P.S. if you have any one look at your boat be prepaired to see some weird looks I was in a real hurry to get mine fixed as it was 4th of july weekend and i didn't have time to do it my self and it took me 5 shops before i found someone that actually knew enough about the drive to make me comfortable.

Also if you ever need a new prop due to the shaft size being different on our boats the BRAVO II drive uses the exact same prop 19.75 dia 19 pitch with a 1.5 in shaft