Have engine and Bravos off, what should I check/replace while here?
 

Older B1 drives, was thinking about replacing gimbal bearings while here, and changing the water inlet to Inlets since I need to feed engine and blower exchangers. Not sure what else I need for those, some kind of gaskets, insert sleeve?

What about gimbal bearings what all is needed to replace those?

What else on an older boat should be replaced while there? Doing new cables etc

Check the U-joint bellow for brittleness...while you're there might be worth the money just to replace it...requires skinny hands a long 5/16" swivel socket and extension plus some cold ones and patience but it's worth it...you said you are doing intermediate cables so do that bellow as well...gimbal bearing is a good idea...gonna need a slide hammer and jaw style puller end to get it out and we made an insertion tool from an old input shaft but might be able to do it with a block of wood...maybe...just make sure it goes in straight and it's in all the way...you'll know when its in all the way...you'll hear a difference in the hammer when pounding it in...also going to need an alignment tool to square the bearing and check engine alignment...of course mercury makes special tools for all of these but they are a fortune...of course O-rings and such on the drive for removal and installation..any marina should have a bravo install kit which has all the reguired O-rings..make sure you lube them well before installation to save some grief during installation

Where are you located?? if you're somewhat close I wouldn't mind giving you a had at all since I have all the tools??

Stewart

I would just add through hull water pick ups for the engine cooling and feed the chillers from the drives.

Why would you do thru hull for engine and chillers from drives instead of vice versa?

The water thru the drives will be forced through and the pressure and flow will increase with speed. At idle you don't need to cool the chiller.

id check all the rubber on the transom assembly . bellows ect ..

Same holds true for transom pickups correct?

Are you saying the drive pressure has bigger variance from idle to at speed? People use seapump pulling out of drive anyway right or do they ever just use pickup forced through exchanger? (Blower is on its own closed loop, with an external exchanger with seawater

The water coming thru the drive would not be hooked to a sea pump. It would just be pressure fed and as speed increased it would create more flow.

Yours is unique though with the closed system and heat exchanger for the chiller.

So three different solutions to the inlet hose crustyiness

CP Performance - HOSE Kit Mercruiser 32-8M0090859

CP Performance - Bravo Water Inlet Repair Kit

http://www.glmmarine.com/pdf/Instru-47230.pdf

GLM Im thinking is cheaper Merc part number... so whats better the Merc solution (rubber hose mated to hard plastic) or CPs (all rubber hose)? It looks like the CP part still uses that 4 prong ferrule to tighten the hose up, Merc part doesnt?


even though Im tossing the plastic neck and using CPs billet NPT threaded piece, no better way to get the other parts?

And while Im in the area what are the part numbers I need for boots etc, I see CP Performance - Bravo Bellows Kit

has water hose which would be redundant, not sure if OEM quality bearing etc what to use?