small block / asd6
 

I own a 1989 Scarab 21 excel that I purchased new, she has less than 100 hours total time on the hull and engine, always stored indoors. She is powered with the 350 mag and the weak link Alpha drive.

I really want to put the Arneson ASD6 drive on my boat this winter. Mostly because it looks so good and no body else has one! I am tired of looking at Alpha and Bravo drives, my included!

This unit is expensive from Arneson. Anyone have any leads on used setups or
should I just bite the bullet and purchase
a new one from Arneson?

the bravo to ASD conversion parts alone are going to be more expnsive than the boat is worth.

if you can find a cheap drives you still need the standoff box from arneson and the tranny. plus i'm sure you will need a ton of other parts. If you wana spend a bunch of $ and biuld a neat project it will be fun, but you will NEVER see any of the $ you put into it back.

To do a bravo conversion you you coudl bu a used b1 setup for cheap and sell yoru alpha setup for abtou what teh bravo cost. The whole conversion would cost you less than $1000 if you're a good shoper. Hellmine only cost me about $500 (i'm a good shoper and ebay seller). Also my engine makes550 hp and myboat is heavier than your's and drive durability isn' really concern.

Thats true - boats just don't make much sense period!

The last time I spoke with the folks at Arneson I got a price around 14K. This is okay with me. I am more concerned about my ability to install this package properly and what kind of results I might expect with this boat. Does anyone know of any performance boat shops in the Seattle area to help me out?

rik wimp shodul be able to give you all the setup info for oyur boat. As i recall the extension box thta the driev mounts to and the tranny sits in will bolt right up to normal bravo holes. To get "normal" bravo hole son an alpha setup get a bravo drill guide and drill the 2 extra top bolt holes, thats it.

having done a alpha to bravo conversion myself its pretty easy. I think the ASD conversion withte htrick custom stand off box woudl be just as easy. YOu wll have to put in rear engine mounts to. With the alpa/bravo the rear bell housing sits in eth transom assemblie witha tranny you need a rear stringer mount taht is similar to a front offshr emount

Thanks, did not know about the rear engine mounts. Is Rik Wimp with Arneson?

yep. he is the man when it comes to ASD drives. He is actually with twin disc the company that biulds ASD drives uner a liscense from arneson. He is on the board as well and will answer any quesion you coudl ever have about surface drives

Thanks again, I will try to contact him this week, keep ya posted.

Do you have an email address or phone number for Rik? I was unable to find it via twindisc website.

hmmm go to general discussion and post "paging rik wimp for ASD question"

i'm sure he'll repond. Or e-mail OSO advertising they prolly hae his e-mail addy. But as i rcall rik answers all the general e-mails from the twindisc arenson site.

iFYI i was consdeirng doign an ASD conversion on my 27 scarab but decied it was more thani wanted to do and the bravo setup is just way cheaper!!!!

NOW that being said if it was nw boat i'd go asds all the way new$ for new$ asds ae WAY bette r than bravos

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try.

The way I look at it, my recent review of Hot Boat magazine confirms to replace my boat would cost between 60-90K and I still end up with a Bravo drive and its not a Scarab!

By the way, I love the 27' Scarab, just too big for me to tow around behind my 33 foot motorhome.