Cobra Gimbal Housing differences-gctid367722

[Guest]

I bought a very nice Gimbal Housing off ebay complete with the trim lines, trim manifold, a new Gimbal bearing, new bellows and a very nice shift cable. When I removed the old one, I noticed my Y Pipe had a broken bolt hole so I purchased a new Y Pipe. I was excited to do the install today when I found that the Y Pipe does not mount properly to the Gimbal Housing. The person I bought the Gimbal housing from told me that all of the OMC Gimbal housings are the same, as did another marine place that is selling housings on ebay. I now know that it's not true. :-)Here's a pic of my old housing:

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/671099=26067-Old Gimbal Housing.JPG[/img]Here's a pic of my new housing:

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/671099=26068-New Gimbal Housing.JPG[/img]Here's a pic of my y pipe:

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/671099=26069-photo.JPG[/img]If you look closely you can see that the exhaust flange is different.There are two other differences as far as I can tell. The water neck on the newer housing is shorter. The steering arm has a larger hole in it to connect to the steerring (1/2" on the new vs 3/8" on the old).Can anyone tell me if the newer housing could possibly be the FORD version? I've seen a couple of FORD y pipes that look similar to the flange on my newer gimbal assembly.I was considering trying to find the matching Y-Pipe to my gimbal housing but I have a feeling getting the Y - Pipe to the risers connected might be more of an issue than finding a replacement for my gimbal housing.It's a shame because the new gimbal housing is in such great condition.Greg

[88fourwinns]

I did not know that there were different transom mounts, but after reading your post I went and looked up parts #s for my model (4.3)

I found that from 1986-1989 the parts #s were 0986717 for the transom mount, 0985768 for the pipe

In 90 it appears that a change was made, the #s for 90-93 are 0986718 for the mount, 3858873 for the pipe. The pix on the catalog websites are not good enough to see of the parts really were different or not, but if the #s changes from 89-90 there is a good chance the parts were different. You might try plugging your model # in to see if the parts #s changed at the same time.

https://www.crowleymarine.com

go look in parts.

[Guest]

Thank you for posting. I'm going to try to document the best I can. I know more information would have saved me some dough!! I don't want to see anyone else get stuck.

I spoke with a guy today that said when he did his swap he went through 4 y pipes before he got the right one. I also visited a place in Massachusetts today, basically a boat yard/repair place. I was talking with the owner and he wasn't sure which parts fit together. He first said all of the cobra gimbal assemblies are interchangeable. As far as I know now there are 3 different models.

That guy did have a fantastic place with really great prices. I bought a fresh water gimbal assembly with the transom plate, steering knuckle, and two good tilt rams for $100. He said he had 180 gimbal housings on property. I don't doubt it. He had a ton of boats.

Thanks again for replying.

Greg

[Guest]

My Y Pipe is a #912377. Transom plate/gimbal assembly is #985680. Both the gimbal & plate have the same numbers stamped.

I looked up on Crowley Marine and they list my Y Pipe for a 1986 Sterndrive 5. It was later superseded by part #0985769. (one number away from your pipe).

Weird my boat is a 1989 and everything looked original when I got it. I wonder if that same y pipe was still being used?

Doing a Google search I see this transom assembly is used in Bayliners with 2.3L engines as well.

Strange, I've got the 5.0-5.7 1988 Parts Catalog and they list 985400 for the Gimbal Housing. That part was superseded by #0986717.

I found a list online that supersedes the #0986717 - 0985187 985187 0984562 984562 0985400 985400 3840774 3858913.

Ford Gimbal Housing

My newer Gimbal Housing is a #914569. It didn't fit with my combination. I found someone looking for this part on Google and the person said it was for a cobra with a Ford engine.

Greg