New to v-drives

[64bezer]

Hello all! My dad and I have been looking for a late 50's, early 60's 16ft Biesemeyer for a very long time. We have a friend with one and have always loved its lines. I finally found one and drove over 1000 miles to bring it home. It's a 1964 and has a Lincoln 430 in it. I'm told the v drive is a top loader. The seller said it's just neutral and forward. It runs, but we just want to make sure it'll keep running. The waterpump was trashed. We're replacing the waterpump and checking compression this week. Hopefully it'll be on its first spin this week. Grew up with big block I/Os, and this is our first adventure in v-drives. We hope to restore it to a fairly vintage state.

Couple of questions...
1) Can I shift this while it's running? I'll probably shut it off and restart it in gear after I warm it up, but I'm curious.
2) Does anyone make a floor mounted shifter or something with linkage to shift it? Right now the shift lever is inside a center console and looks like it was the first welding project for a freshman shop student. I need to open the center console to use it. I'd like to have linkage that runs forward of the v-drive to the bottom of some sort of forward and back shift lever that would be mounted to the floor. I guess I could fab my own, but I'd like to see what's out there.
3) Does anybody have any good catalogs they can recommend?
4) Does anybody have any Biesemeyer logos or badges?

Thanks for all help you can provide.

[AquaCraft]

Congrats on your new v-drive.

It is "possible" to drop your v-drive into gear with the motor running but it puts a huge, sudden load on the hardware that WILL lead to premature failure.

'Shutting-off an restarting in gear is inconveniant; especially with a new skier in the water behind you with two wobbling skiis and a life vest around their ears waiting for you to take the slack-out; but much easier on the hardware.

You will find your "in-and-out" shifter from a v-drive supplier or on Ebay.

There is more than one v-drive hardware supplier; here is one that is "old-school" and provides excellent customer service, especially if you can get "Bob" or his son on the phone: http://www.glenwoodmarine.net/

Some of the other members will jump-in here soon with other suppliers.

Before you hit the water, you will do well to check your prop shaft seal at the stuffing box, the rudder shaft seal at it's stuffing box and the cavitation shift rod seal if you have an adjustable plate.

Remember to keep the drive in "neutral" when running the boat on the trailer or you will ruin the strut bearings and score the shaft.

Have fun and share some pictures!

Aqua-Craft

[058]

Are you familar with the 430 Lincoln engines? Aside from a few quirks they are pretty reliable engines, heavy but reliable. FYI they are the MEL [Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln] engine family 383-410-430-462 made from 1958 to 67.

[64bezer]

Thanks AquaCraft and 058,
I will check the seals you mention. That's a good call. I am only newly aware of the 430 engine. It's similar in concept to the chevy 348 and 409 in that the cylinder serves as the combustion chamber. On the 430 and other MELs, the block is decked at a 10 degree angle as opposed to perpendicular to the bores. This causes a wedge shaped combustion chamber in the cylinders. The previous owner has put only 10 hours on the engine following a complete rebuild. Unfortunately, he didn't know many particulars about the rebuild, such as compression ratio, head work, etc. I hope to be able to determine an approximate compression ratio from the compression check. Everything I have read about the MEL series suggests that they are torquey, solid and reliable. The downside is that the aftermarket never caught on with them so they are hard to find parts for. Makes me think... where would we be without the internet and things like craigslist or ebay today? I'm sure I will have several questions in the future, most of which will begin with "What the heck is this...?" Thanks for your help so far.

[058]

Speed equipment for the MELs are as rare as hen's teeth but can be found. There are factory 3 x 2 manifolds, used on 383 Mercs mainly. Cams/lifters are still available thru Egge and I think Crane [Vintage Engine dept.] or there are cam services that can grind your core. For more info check out the Network 54 MEL forum #257364 The only concern I would have with your rebuild is pistons, most likely cast so I would not turn much over 5K rpms

[socal_wrench]

Congrats on the new boat.

Lincoln 430 stuff can be found Check with Vintage speed. He can somtimes find Stuff for really obsolite engines . I saw a 30 Model A with a 430 with 6 Strombergs at a car show a while back. The manifold was an Offy piece.

I also saw a 6-71 Manifold about a year ago. That was on ebay

Ross Racing will build you pistons for anything. Anything

[64bezer]

You guys are a lot of help. Hopefully, I won't need the cams/lifters/pistons. The seller has receipts for the rebuild, and said it included a set of custom pistons. Still, that's what he says and that's the only number I know of for this particular engine. Compression test and hull seals check this week. Hopefully I'll get her out Thursday night or so.
-Rob

[RiverRacer]

1) Can I shift this while it's running? I'll probably shut it off and restart it in gear after I warm it up, but I'm curious.


Unless you have a whirlaway you don't put it in gear while running, or you will destroy the dogs!..