Early (real early) Bravo question.....

[gcarter]

I'm now refinishing the outdrive, getting all the several layers of old paint and tons of corrosion off.
This particular Bravo is from August of 1987 so it's one of the first I think. It has no accomodation for a drive oil reservoir, but on the front stbd corner of the driveshaft housing cap is a spotfaced recess w/a plug screwed in. When I pulled the cap to clean the mating surfaces, the hole leads to the fwd small hole w/the O-ring you can see in the second picture. The hole is about 1/4" in diameter
My question is, does anyone know what it's for? Was it a preliminary attempt to have access to a reservoir?

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=48800&stc=1&d=1249158187

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=48801&stc=1&d=1249158187

[Conquistador_del_mar]

George,
I don't have an answer, but I do know the original Bravos did not have a good oil circulation system. I still have my 1989 Bravo upper on my Eliminator which probably also has that same fitting - I will check tomorrow when I get out to my shop - it sure looks familiar. If it only goes to that O ring with the hole, it sure seems like a good guess that it was made to be tapped for an external reservoir. Why else would it have been provided? Bill

[gcarter]

Looking forward to you posting tomorrow then.
The O-ring isn't in the microfische. I'll just have to match the O-ring.
OTOH, it's nice to sand on a different color for awhile.

Ya wanna guess what color the drive and gimbal is gonna be?

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Looking forward to you posting tomorrow then.
The O-ring isn't in the microfische. I'll just have to match the O-ring.
OTOH, it's nice to sand on a different color for awhile.

Ya wanna guess the drive and gimbal is gonna be?

Would the correct answer be red? :cool:

[BUIZILLA]

Ya wanna guess the drive and gimbal is gonna be? charcoal gray :yes:

[MOP]

Looking at the photo and the angles it appears to be ported through to the cap to lube the top end, it is not for a reservoir they take that oil out at lower point. The hole is positioned on the upper so you don't screw up! The drive must have an air space at the top to allow for a little expansion, it you were to fill the drive to its very top the seals will let go in short order.

[CHACHI]

Silver?

Ken

[gcarter]

charcoal gray :yes:


Silver?

Ken

I considered variations of both. I strongly considered silver (platinum) because it's a trend in my plans.
However, there's a fly in the ointment!:nilly::nilly:
Silver for sure, and grey might be metallic colors. In high end automotive paints, metallic colors require a clearcoat (at least that's been the results of my searches).
If this is true, I don't want to be faced w/repairing color AND clearcoat when fixing scratches etc.
I learned on the Minx it's so much easier to repair single stage polyurethane paint. Someone showed me how to blend the repairs and I never looked back.

[BigGrizzly]

I believe the hole is a cross drilled hole for Machining not a resovoir

[Conquistador_del_mar]

I learned on the Minx it's so much easier to repair single stage polyurethane paint. Someone showed me how to blend the repairs and I never looked back.

George,
How did the person suggest blending the polyurethane enamel paint (Imron/Awlgrip/and others) ? I thought I would see if my method matches someone else's. Bill

[gcarter]

Bill, what I mean is you can repair the paint and blend the new paint to the old (of the same type) paint w/o any demarcation of coats.
I made several repairs to the Minx and they were all invisible.
After spraying the repair paint, probably just a small spot, let it set up for several minutes until it starts tacking. Then spray some fast reducer(200 in the case of the BASF products I used) onto the edges of the repair and let it dry. I used a small touch up gun for the reducer so I wouldn't saturate the area because the viscosity of the reducer is so low.
When it's dry and you sand and polish, the transition is invisible.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Bill, what I mean is you can repair the paint and blend the new paint to the old (of the same type) paint w/o any demarcation of coats.
I made several repairs to the Minx and they were all invisible.
After spraying the repair paint, probably just a small spot, let it set up for several minutes until it starts tacking. Then spray some fast reducer(200 in the case of the BASF products I used) onto the edges of the repair and let it dry. I used a small touch up gun for the reducer so I wouldn't saturate the area because the viscosity of the reducer is so low.
When it's dry and you sand and polish, the transition is invisible.

OK. That is just about the same method as I use, except that I simply highly reduce the Imron on the final pass past the repair area using Imrom reducer. The wet sanding and compounding takes very little work and won't show, but I also don't wait more than a day or two after shooting. Bill

[MOP]

George flip the top cap over let us know where the oil comes out.

Phil

[gcarter]

Phil, Griz is right. The hole is cross drilled to the central dip stick hole. For oil circulation I guess.

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=48837&stc=1&d=1249233253

[MOP]

Phil, Griz is right. The hole is cross drilled to the central dip stick hole. For oil circulation I guess.

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=48837&stc=1&d=1249233253

George look at post #6 by your photo it to me was fairly easy to figure out that is why I asked you to flip the cap.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

George,
I don't have an answer, but I do know the original Bravos did not have a good oil circulation system. I still have my 1989 Bravo upper on my Eliminator which probably also has that same fitting - I will check tomorrow when I get out to my shop - it sure looks familiar. If it only goes to that O ring with the hole, it sure seems like a good guess that it was made to be tapped for an external reservoir. Why else would it have been provided? Bill

Not that it really matters now since discovering the purpose of the hole, but my 1989 Bravo also has the same plug and associated hole. Bill

[gcarter]

I'm stripping the outdrive components to bare metal before starting to refinish them. While stripping the lower gear housing, I noticed the exhaust port down through the center in addition to exiting through the prop, also exits on each side just below the joint w/the driveshaft housing.
Do the later Bravos have these same ports?
Do they add a lot of noise? I suppose at rest they are submerged.

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=49109&stc=1&d=1249776430

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=49110&stc=1&d=1249776430

[Pismo]

Didn't early Bravos have a problem with the lower unit casing being too short causing blowout at higher speeds. What year did they extend forward? Do you have a photo of your lower unit and cav plate?

[gcarter]

I bought it w/a nosecone on it....

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=49112&stc=1&d=1249778238

[Conquistador_del_mar]

I'm stripping the outdrive components to bare metal before starting to refinish them. While stripping the lower gear housing, I noticed the exhaust port down through the center in addition to exiting through the prop, also exits on each side just below the joint w/the driveshaft housing.
Do the later Bravos have these same ports?
Do they add a lot of noise? I suppose at rest they are submerged.





George,
I got your message at my shop this afternoon. I would not think the exhaust ports would be very loud - at least not any louder than most thru drive exhausts, but won't you be running through transom exhausts anyway? Bill

[gcarter]

I have a set of Quick and Quiet for it.

I was just curious if this is a feature that is universal or not.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

I bought it w/a nosecone on it....



That looks like a Hydromotive nose cone. I have installed quite a few of them over the years and they work very well. The rule of thumb we used to use was if the boat did over 65MPH, they really help to eliminate blowout. Bill