scottgjerdingen

Can you match a DP 290 lower with a 270 or 280 upper?

scottgjerdingen

I can take the 270 out of the question here, I just broke through it's winder wrap and confirmed I have a VP 280 prop on the boat now. SO can a VP 280 upper run a VP 290 duoprop? What I am really getting at iis if I need to install the whole 290 drive or if I can just get away installing the lower (for now).

Thanks!

High Cetane

Yes, it will bolt up and function providing the 280 mid section is correctly shimmed to the 290 leg. Depending on the vintage of the 290 leg, you may need the splined sleeve coupling.
Does the 280/Boat have power steering?

scottgjerdingen

The 280/boat has hydraulic steering, power steering....I'm not sure, maybe, one time the hydraulic reservoir lost pressurization and the steering wheel spun freely without moving the drive. How would I confirm power steering or not?

Mbam

That pressurized resevoir sounds like old school Hynautic steering. When it does work the Hynautic is kind of hard to turn and rough, feels like gear teeth going by. That is non-power.

Power will have a belt driven pump on the engine.

scottgjerdingen

yea, it is a 1969 boat, "old school" describes it well :-) it sounds like it does have power steering.

f_inscreenname

Ya, Scott has a hydraulic steering kit something like a Teleflex system. No power take off the motor. The manual pump is behind the steering wheel.


http://www.hodgesmarine.com/Teleflex...jqeniramsegdoh

Also Scott I think you have a Volvo 270. Not sure how a 280 cover got on it. But the D/P bottom should bolt up to the mid section with no issues. Shimming is done in the top and bottom independently and should not affect one another. If the (bottom or top) unit was shimmed proper before it should be as simple as swapping the two sections out.

You want to learn everything I know about a Volvo Penta I made a series of videos rebuilding one from the ground up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nECNMnIvidQ&list=PLBcphYdOqWq55c5hJZ716_MGid8AEXjQG

scottgjerdingen

Awesome. Is there much of a downside to this vs pulling the engine and hooking the whole unit to the engine (hoping to keep the cost of someone doing this for me so I have a bit more cash to apply to a 2nd boat).

I guess I should also ask if this is a change worth making? I am hoping to get more of the following from the 290 DP; a) stronger unit to handle more horsepower, b) give me more prop options so I can increase pitch and get more top end speed, 3) a bit more control over the boat around the docks. As my expectations false?

f_inscreenname

Being I have never done a swap with a DP I can’t swear to it but my conclusion after a lot research on it there is a lot of upside and very little downside.
Just by the amount of work alone is cut back drastically because the transom shield for the 290 is bigger than the 280/270/250 drives. A couple other things I’m not a big fan of the 290 besides the bigger shield is the trim rams inside the shield instead of the way your 280T’s are. The 290 may look more streamlined but that part is not even in the water when running on a plane. The problem is if you ever have an issue with those rams they cost a fortune. I’ve seen sets go for in the thousands when the 280T’s 99% of the time can be fixed with a couple “O” rings. It’s like Volvo made the whole thing more complicated just for styling purposes alone because it still used the same Penta 280 outdrive with a different steering fork and doesn’t do anything that the 280T shield doesn’t do. Also not a big fan of how the lines for the hydro system are almost buried in the transom so getting to them is almost impossible when it’s installed.
With that said…..
Yours is a 270. From my research on the boat I’m pretty sure that the drive is original or at least from that vintage. Volvo evolved over the years using bigger parts in their drives as they did other sires they ran at the same time. Meaning if they installed a thicker vertical shaft in their 280’s at the time they also installed it in their 270’s. Same shaft in all their drives saved money and kept things simple. In the videos you will see me make the comment of how thick the vertical shafts were in a Volvo 270 geared for a 4 cylinder. It was just because they were made in the mid 80’s instead of the early 70’s. But then again yours was made for a Hi-pro boat that I was told even did some racing back in the day so it may have been an upgraded drive like my H&M drive was on my Nova. Without taking it apart you can never know.
But we are only talking really about the top section because the shields do the same thing. Worst case you could always take apart your DP drive and use the center section of your 280 which is only a tunnel (no mechanical function) between the upper and lower and something to hold the steering fork so you would have all the mechanical parts of the 290 but still keep the 280T shield and parts that connect the drive to it.

scottgjerdingen

@ fins rename - thank-you for that info!