vintage outdrive question
 

Does anyone outhere know anything about stern power drives,
or marine drive systems or know anybody that would? I am mainly woundering if they were ever any good or not? How much power they will handle? If any parts would be availible?
The boat they are on is a1978 sonic, I don't know if they are original equipment or not They use a borg warner velvet drive tranny. Any help would be greatly appriciated. Or any opinion on who made these drives.

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

Is it a trs? btw: welcome to the board

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

Stern Power Drives.
Edison NJ.

Used to make drives in the 60s and 70s.

Made the 80, the 90 and the 140.

Also made the Chrysler Drive 90?

Saw an ad for one used a while back.

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

I beleive they are still building drives... almost entirely for the US military. I could be wrong, but this is what I've been told.

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

does any one know if stern power, and marine drive systems are the same co. or differant. Because I have been told by some they are stern power and others they are marine drive systems. I can e-mail pictures if it would help, but I can't post any pictures because I just have the standard membership.
I appritiate all the help I am getting so far! These are on a sonic that I am looking at. It is soposed to be a 25' but I'm not shure if sonic ever made a 25' or not I know they made a 24,and 26 but I didn't measure the boat out I know by looking
it is one of the three. It has 2 454 chevys, it is black & blue
on the sides, and white on the upper deck it has no interior.
I seen the boat for sale a year or so ago but I'm not shure what site the boat was from bristol,TN. If any one has any knowladge of this boat, or older sonics (1978) I would appriciate that also.

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

I beleive Sonic did build a 26 all those years ago... there was one roaming around here for some time... haven't seen it in years though.

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

Stern Powr was made by Marine Drive systems. They made 101, 103, 105 and MX-07 drives. The company was bought by Sherwood Propulsion systems in '02. They manufacture all parts for the old drives. Call 888-322-7697 and talk with Doug or Wayne.

As for HP, the only one I can talk about are the MX-07's. Build like a brick and about as heavy too! :rolleyes: I have understood that the 07's will handle 1200 hp but a saleman told me that so take it with a grain of salt.

I have ran my 07's for three years now as they were on my Cig when I bought it. I have had to replace my bellows and am currently replacing all seals and bearing - I blow one seal and decided to redo the whole sheebang. :D

I will forwarn you, props are VERY difficult to find for the 07's. 1 1/4 shaft - 19 tooth - 4" deep hub. If anybady has any, please let me know!

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

Here is a link to a Stern Drive dealer. He has lots of pictures.

http://www.jtmperformancemarine.com/

Here is a picture of a 25' Daytona with a Stern Drive. I think my friend still has the drive and some spare parts that are available. The drive had very few hours. He sold the boat with a Bravo.

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

LOL!

Thats the guy who told me they will handle 1200 HP! :eek: I think the cat shown in his gallery under 'Boat 1' was the one with all the HP.

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

I think that's his boat in picture 1.

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

If they will handle that much HP, I wonder why you don't see more of them? I'm not an outdrive guy at all, but the people I have work on mine tell me the drives are built tough - way heavier than typical. People have asked me 'why not drive showers?'. They drives hold 2 gallons of lube - EACH! :eek: I'm lucky to get the lube above room temp!:D

I have tryed to sell my boat a couple of times and everyone is worried about the drives??? :confused: Hell, like I said above, these things are built like bricks! I guess it's a lack of knowledge about the drives which goes back to my question above. :rolleyes:

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

I had a Sonic 33', not alot of 33' sonic made. The boat had 454's with mx07. You can still get parts, they are pretty easy to work on. They looked cool as hell, it was hard to find props, I sold the boat with 2 sets. They still make brand new drives. Just not mainstream enough to get anyone to buy them. They are used by the military and are used for pleasure boats in the UK. Most are now being applied to diesal motors. I had them running with 425HP a piece. The manual that I had said they would handle 800HP. These were older. The sonic was an 81. The motors were new and so were the velvet drive transmissions. The new ones that they offer supposedly can handle 1100 HP from what I heard. They take a ton of Outdrive Oil. But they do run cool.

The only problem I see with the drives is the resale value if you decide to get something else. People looked at them and said, what the hell are those.

Just to let you know they will do full rebuilds of the drives. I would do them in the off season, since I don't know what kind of turn around they have.

Just my 2 cents

Re: vintage outdrive question
 

Thanks guys!! The info helps alot!

I really don,t know what I,m doing with this computer but the drives are awesome and just about indestructable, any power I don,t care supercharged 600 inch I have no issues at all period. People are fools in general have to have mercury bombs, well fill your boots cause they break all the time, these don,t. I have every gear ratio made props gaskets they are so easy its a joke, any nob could work on them if you ever had to which would be rare unless you ran into a rock ledge wid open lol. And if polished up they are wild.. big roost to . And no not really a surface drive but close.