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What in the world is this?

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HPwannabe

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I’m assuming this was somebody’s bright idea, and not an actual mercruiser part. I actually like the idea, since I can use one size water hose for everything (I have aftermarket cooling system hardware and this would allow for using 1-1/4” hose for all of the supply lines). What do you folks think? This is a pre-alpha unit.
 

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Mercruiser 1, (pre Alpha) used 5/8 hose. Auto heater hose is fine. It looks to me like it is the original hose broken off.
Now about your aftermarket cooling sys parts, why?
 
Droid said:
Mercruiser 1, (pre Alpha) used 5/8 hose. Auto heater hose is fine. It looks to me like it is the original hose broken off.
Now about your aftermarket cooling sys parts, why?
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It never occurred to me that this was the old hose. It looks for all the world like a bushing.
It’s got Stainless Marine manifolds, t-stat housing and crossover. Been on the boat for years (these parts have outlasted two engines) and work okay.
 
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I believe that bushing squashes between the tube & housing to seal the tube to the transom plate. Tightening the bolts (2ea #32) causes plate 31 to squash it.

I stay with my original diagnosis. But maybe whoever installed the aftermarket cooling created it as a sleeve to adapt larger hoses.
 
Droid said:
I believe that bushing squashes between the tube & housing to seal the tube to the transom plate. Tightening the bolts (2ea #32) causes plate 31 to squash it.

I stay with my original diagnosis. But maybe whoever installed the aftermarket cooling created it as a sleeve to adapt larger hoses.
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Yes. that bushing goes inside the fitting to seal the tube in the gimbal housing. I actually ordered one thinking that it might be what I was looking at, but it’s not. I think for now I will accept your diagnosis that that is the end of a hose that has been cut off.
It is definitely not something put there by myself or the previous owner of the boat (my dad). I just installed this gimbal housing to replace the old one. This little gift was on the “new” housing when I received it. When my dad originally installed the stainless marine system, we made an adapter to go from the 5/8 hose to the 1-1/4 on the system inlet. Still scratching my head as to whether I should just use this little “bushing”. If it’s an old hose, then it might be deteriorated, and create more problems than it solves.
Another little item that is hopefully minor is that this water tube faces in the opposite direction of the old one. I think the old gimbal housing tube was configured for a straight six, and this gimbal housing came from a V8. Or perhaps vice versa. I’m not totally sure which one is which. I don’t think it’s going to cause a problem, unless the hose interferes with the shift plate.
This boat is almost 60 years old, and has been through four engines and two or three sterndrive upgrades. Over the last couple years I’ve overhauled it one more time, including rebuilding the transom, stringer reinforcement, and replacing the gimbal housing and transom plate, which had both failed due to corrosion (also rebuilt the upper gear housing). It’s currently powered by a 350 Chevy. Transom plate, gimbal housing and bell housing is pre-alpha, and the sterndrive itself is an alpha. What was that old song by Johnny Cash about the 60, 61, 62, 63,….automobile?
 
Inlines had a tube that pointed up.
I think maybe V6/V8 varied with the year & maybe Ford vs GM.
Can you rob the other tube from old transom plate?
I would remove that hunk of rubber & go back to 5/8 hose simply because the tube has a bulb to help the clamp grip the hose.
 
I only discovered that the tube was facing the other direction recently. Now that it’s all installed, it it would be a lot of work to open it up and change it. I am going to mock up the engine bell housing and shift plate to see if there is any kind of interference. Yeah, I’m thinking I will just remove that hose and use the old adapter or maybe purchase a suitable adapter to connect to the larger hose.
 
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