30H on E-Bay

[STEVE FRENCH]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Coll...5655da&vxp=mtr

[jeff55v]

About 30 years ago, I remember being told by someone that those grey blocks were cast by Reynolds aluminum, and had slightly lower cylinder cc's than the other blocks. Can anyone confirm this? Or maybe the guy that told me that was full of sh**.

[David_L6]

About 30 years ago, I remember being told by someone that those grey blocks were cast by Reynolds aluminum, and had slightly lower cylinder cc's than the other blocks. Can anyone confirm this? Or maybe the guy that told me that was full of sh**.

I don't know who cast those blocks but I have had a couple of them and they didn't cc any lower than any other block. There may be some blocks (not counting padded blocks) out there that do cc lower than most of the others but I never found one and I have cc'd a bunch of C blocks - different colors, two port, four port, Wizard blocks...

[krazy karl]

This is the second time around for this motor. Didn't get any takers first time. His price would be a good starting point for the whole motor on an actual auction. I put my 30H on ebay a few years ago and it only got to a bit over $800. He also had a 55H on at the same time, I don't think he got a buyer for that one either which had the same conditions, extra for tower and foot etc.

Dark blocks are no different than any of the lighter colored ones. If I remember correctly they are from earlier production. It was sometimes stated that they were stronger than the lighter ones but that has not been proven either.
kk

[STEVE FRENCH]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Merc...item3cd458fc00

Do we have ANYONE make'n these new...... complete?.....Could we contract someone in China?.....There HAS to BE a market for 30H and 55H foots?

OR are 302 Yamato foots the way to go/Legal??.................

[BmJuby]

Paid close to this for new everything in a 55H foot to be put together. Price isn't far off, can't imagine it selling though...

[Yellowjacket]

[url]Do we have ANYONE make'n these new...... complete?.....Could we contract someone in China?.....There HAS to BE a market for 30H and 55H foots?

OR are 302 Yamato foots the way to go/Legal??.................

I believe that most of the pieces, with the exception of the housing are available, and that at one time Aeroliner was going to make a run of housings. The water pump housing, tail housing and tailcone and driveshafts are available on the Aeroliner site, here's the link. http://aeroliner-boats.com/10.html

As I said, at one point Alan was planning on making a short run of housings, but not sure if he ever got a sufficient quantity of orders to make it possible.

It's not a big problem to do it, but used parts, while getting scarce, are a lot less expensive than building an all new unit. IIRC gears were in the $450 range, the driveshaft is $295. The propshaft was around $200-250, the rear bearing carrier, water pump housing and tailcone add up to $240 with seals installed, and add another $15 for an impeller. So you are talking about $1255 for a unit without the housing.

If you made a housing from scratch you'd need a casting, or you could hog it out from a billet. I don't know how much that would cost, but it would be highly dependent on how many you make. If it cost $600 (less if you could cast it, maybe more from a billet) for a housing you're looking at $1850 for a new complete unit, and that doesn't include assembly or bearings. Call it two grand for a new piece on the bench.

Not many folks are willing to pay that much, even for a new gearfoot. If you made a bigger run of them, it might get less expensive, but it's not going to get a lot less expensive unless you make a heck of a lot of units.

What most folks do is, if they need a housing is rebuild one, Doug Kay has it down to a science, but it isn't cheap. He reworks the rear thread and makes them as good as new, but it is costly.

Bottom line is that while a good gearfoot is getting harder to find, nobody wants to spend the $1350 that this guy is asking for what looks to be a pretty decent quality unit. If a 55h gearfoot was more like $900, we'd all be buying them up and happy, but that's not the real world anymore.

The real problem is that these units aren't that robust. Gears are highly loaded and go bad, sealing isn't very good, and they require a lot care and feeding to keep them in good condition. If they would last longer and seal better, folks might be willing to pay a bit more, but bottom line is that they are pretty expensive to run and that's a fact of life.

[krazy karl]

A "new" Yamato foot can be obtained from Ric for about $500. Not an option if someone is trying to keep an original H going, but will work in the mod classes with a nose cone and some shaping. Not as good hydrodynamically but virtually bullet proof and maintenance free. A lot better option than $1,300 for a temperamental quickie. I blew up one of these a few years ago and I put several hundred into it with new gears, bearings etc and professional assembly. My assembly may have been responsible for it's destruction in the first place. I only run my 55 and 30h's occasionally because of the care and maintenance that these gear feet require.
kk