ENGINE & DRIVE

Here's the engine, back  at home. 

Since I needed to familiarize myself with the engine's operation , I  rigged the shipping container as a test stand.

  Since the engine  has a high idle speed, a brake is needed to slow  down  the power turbine for shifting purposes. A shaft had to be made to serve as a power take off point.

 Mark Nye  of  Nye Thermodynamics, Mississauga Canada , was working on a similar project. Mark was installing the same engine in a 19 ft jet drive boat. He designed a power take off kit for the engine. It consists of a bearing housing, a splined shaft , a disc brake rotor and brake caliper  bracket.

(photo courtesy of Mark Nye)

After Mark installed and tested the components on his boat, he supplied me with the same  kit.  Be sure to check out Mark's web site, he is very knowledgeable and has completed many successful projects.

Here are the remaining coupling components.

       A short slip yoke drive shaft will be used. In the center is an adapter that will couple the shaft to the output kit. On the right is a carrier bearing/flange assembly.  The carrier bearing will bolt up to the ears on the inner transom plate housing. The flange has an internally slpined gear that the outdrive yoke will plug into. This will facilitate coupling of the Mercruiser outdrive to the engine drive shaft.

Here's the output kit with the drive shaft adapter installed on the engine.

The disc brake master cylinder will be mounted next to the driver's seat ,and will be operated by pulling up on the lever.

My good friend Marty heads up the rebuilt outdrive division at Moss Marine in Amityville N.Y.    Marty has over 10 yrs experience rebuilding  Mercruiser drives.   By using only the highest quality parts and through careful shimming of the gear sets, Marty is confident that he can set up an Alpha One  drive rather than a heavier and costlier Bravo unit  to handle the torque load and the 6000  or so rpm's from the turbine engine.

Marty, puts the finishing touches on the drive.