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Wanted: 454 Mercruisers

  • Thread starter Thread starter captscottc
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captscottc

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Jul 24, 2011
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  1. OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
Hatteras Model
31' SPORT CRUISER (1974- 1976)
Searching for a complete set of 454 counter rotating 454 mercruisers. Please email me at captscottc@gmail.com with information. Thanks and see ya on the one whistle.
S-
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought all 454 MerCruisers were left hand rotation and the transmissions were what made them counter-rotating. The '93 7.4's in my 41 are left hand and use Hurth transmissions for counter-rotation.
 
Randy, my boat originally had 427s (Mercs) in RH and LH rotation. So she had two different transmissions, one with a reversing cog in it and one without. The gears were BW 72s. You are right that later gas boats came with two LH engines and gears which could be run full speed in either "fwd" or "rev". My original 427s were replaced with 454s.

As I recall it, the problem was that no one made a lightweight gear at the time which could run fwd or rev like a Twin Disc or modern ZF. The clutch packs for forward and reverse were said to be different- you could not run those gears hard in reverse.

Now, boats with two gas engines are set up like yours- both engines run LH and one transmission runs in "reverse" all the time- that is, it reverses the direction of rotation.

If you want to try to wrap your head around something I have always had a difficult time understanding (not unusual)- what is the list of parts you have to change in a LH gas engine to make it RH rotation? I'm still trying to figure that out, but I THINK it's the crank, the cam, the oil pump, and the distributor. I've probably left something out.
 
Your Hatt came with 427 MerCruisers? You sure about that?
 
Original should be chris craft 350 or 454. I would look for crusaders if going for a repower with gas engines. But if 200 hp 4 cyl yanmars are an option you will have a great boat.
 
454's came out in 1970, but I don't know when Mercruiser introduced them in a marinized version. I didn't think MerCruisers were available in Hatt's until Brunswick came into the picture.
 
jim rosenthal said:
If you want to try to wrap your head around something I have always had a difficult time understanding (not unusual)- what is the list of parts you have to change in a LH gas engine to make it RH rotation? I'm still trying to figure that out, but I THINK it's the crank, the cam, the oil pump, and the distributor. I've probably left something out.
Click to expand...

AFAIK it's the cam, and cam drive gears. All the rest stays the same except the water pump on some engines. Some water pumps are bi-directional. Distributor wiring is connected for opposite firing order in same rotation as the LH distributor.
 
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I believe 454's didn't come to mercruiser stern drive world until 1987ish. And this was on alpha drives that blew up a lot on single applications. 1988 the bravo drive came out to handle more power. My go fast has twin 454 with alphas and is the last year--1988 had bravos.

Inboards mercruiser got the 454 earlier, I think.
 
Scrod said:
AFAIK it's the cam, and cam drive gears. All the rest stays the same except the water pump on some engines. Some water pumps are bi-directional. Distributor wiring is connected for opposite firing order in same rotation as the LH distributor.
Click to expand...

Yup. Instead of two timing gears (crank and cam) connected by a timing chain, there are two intermeshing gears. The former causes both the cam and the crank to run in the same direction; the latter makes them run opposite.
 
krush said:
I believe 454's didn't come to mercruiser stern drive world until 1987ish. And this was on alpha drives that blew up a lot on single applications. 1988 the bravo drive came out to handle more power. My go fast has twin 454 with alphas and is the last year--1988 had bravos.

Inboards mercruiser got the 454 earlier, I think.
Click to expand...
454's did come first as inboards, and the Bravo 1 didn't really come into play until 1989. Prior to that, they were mated to TRS drives. As memory serves, B1's were introduced in very late 1988, but they were still using Alpha 1's hooked to 454's in '88. Had a new '88 32 Pachanga with white Alpha 1's with Sea Ray instead of MerCruiser decals on the outdrives. They only did that in 1988 as even the Mercury outboards were painted white. Blasphemy!! :D
 
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Ok. We're getting too picky on dates LOL. All I know is I have a 1987 wellcraft with 454/alphas and my friend had the same boat that had 454/bravo1. NOW...I though it was 1988, but you know it could be 1989 :). Who cares? I hate sterndrives, and I know how to fix everything on them!
 
krush said:
Ok. We're getting too picky on dates LOL. All I know is I have a 1987 wellcraft with 454/alphas and my friend had the same boat that had 454/bravo1. NOW...I though it was 1988, but you know it could be 1989 :). Who cares? I hate sterndrives, and I know how to fix everything on them!
Click to expand...

Krush its not about you. I think the statement was that they did not offer the 427's when that boat was built.
 
Boatsb said:
Krush its not about you. I think the statement was that they did not offer the 427's when that boat was built.
Click to expand...
Are YOU sure about that? :D

I didn't mean to phrase my question to Jim as my possibly knowing more than he did about his boat, it's just that I never saw older Hatts with MerCruiser power. Then again, I never looked for one until I ran across mine and knew it was a repower.
 
krush said:
Ok. We're getting too picky on dates LOL. All I know is I have a 1987 wellcraft with 454/alphas and my friend had the same boat that had 454/bravo1. NOW...I though it was 1988, but you know it could be 1989 :). Who cares? I hate sterndrives, and I know how to fix everything on them!
Click to expand...
Who cares? :D

No doubt your '87 couldn't have had B1's, but like I said, I think some late '88 B1's were around. They stopped mating 454's to Alpha's after the Bravo's came out.
 
Boatsb said:
Krush its not about you. I think the statement was that they did not offer the 427's when that boat was built.
Click to expand...

Freeebird said:
Are YOU sure about that? :D

I didn't mean to phrase my question to Jim as my possibly knowing more than he did about his boat, it's just that I never saw older Hatts with MerCruiser power. Then again, I never looked for one until I ran across mine and knew it was a repower.
Click to expand...

I never recall MerCruiser making a 427 and I think Randy may be right on Hatteras not offering them until the Brunswick years. I do think Hatteras offered the Chris Craft 427's back then and maybe that is what Dr. Jim's boat left New Bern with.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but when Brunswick took over Hatteras the smallest boat in the lineup was 50 ft. I don't think they were offering Mercruisers anywhere in the lineup.
 
tom5518 said:
Interesting information Randy. Were they Chevy blocks? I have never seen a boat with Merc 427's, so my curiosity is up. Did the horsepower increase much when the 454 came out?
Click to expand...
Yep, they were Chevy blocks (only big blocks used by MC), but I've never seen a 427 MerCruiser either. Based on the info in the previous link, I assume the 427 had to be the 390 listed based on the fact t only shows availability in '69-'70. I'm assuming that was 390 horsepower which is actually higher than the base 454 that replaced it.
 
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