Waterthunder
Well-known member
I just weighed a wide gear soft drive 2.68 rotator. These boxes are rated for 1000HP and only weigh 72.4 pounds.
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Heavy duty 2.68 Rotator soft drive
- Thread starter Waterthunder
- Start date
deepsea diver
Well-known member
Say you have a 500 hp motor and you plan on swinging one of those barn doors. Are you better off with the heavy duty or will the standard box hold up with one of those extra wide 3 blades?
Why do the gear boxes make that noise. Kind of scary. The belt drives just seem to wine. Have you ever tore one up?
Why do the gear boxes make that noise. Kind of scary. The belt drives just seem to wine. Have you ever tore one up?
Waterthunder
Well-known member
They started quieting them down over a year ago and even then the only time they whine is at low RPM’s and idle. I have ran one on a 600 plus HP 406 with N20 and a clutch. I use to hold the boat still at 5,500RPM and dump the clutch I never broke a gearbox, I have also ran a 15:1 compression 482 with two stages of N20 and never broke one . To be honest I have never seen or heard of one breaking. I hear stories from out of state but I have yet to encounter any problems. My buddy has one of the first ones with well over ten years on it and not a single problem. To me even when they were loud it was worth the superior performance and not having your boat torque roll like a belt drive. The Stinger has differant power levels but I think all the Rotators are rated at a 1000HP now.
fatboy0054
Well-known member
YES SIR MR MAC , IT DOES !MOST OF THE ROLL ! NOW THE FAT PROPS TAKE OVER NOW AND WE GO THE OTHER WAY !BUT NOT AS HARD !
airboatman631
Well-known member
My buddy has a 2.38 to 1 Rotator box. It is about 4 years old and it's mounted to a 350 that is slightly modified...maybe 350 hp. The problem he has is the noise. When coming down off of plan to an idle it makes a gosh awful noise. This is really bad cause it scares all the mullet away when trying to throw the net. I'd thought about getting a gear box but have shied away because of this problem.
fatboy0054
Well-known member
ABOUT 140 POUNDS ! GIVE OR TAKE , THATS THE LITE ONE ! ROTATOR ABOUT 1900 TO 2200 ITS WHAT RATIO YOU WANT !THATS WITH THE SOFT DRIVE ! --- AIR BOATMAN NEVER HEARD ONE MAKE A LOT OF NOISE EXCEPT THE WHINE ! I HAVE SEEN THEM WITH A BIG CAM IDLEING ( GEAR CLASH) ! BUT NOT BAD ! HE MAY HAVE THE ONE WITH THE HARD DRIVE ! THE SOFT DRIVE MAKES A WORLD OF DIFFERECE ! :shock:
airboatman631
Well-known member
Do any of you know if they make a 2.68 box for a 455 Buick? Just something I'm thinking about for a future project.
Waterthunder
Well-known member
The Rotator will bolt right up to it!
airboatman631
Well-known member
Thanks Thunder. I knew one of you would know. What's your opinion of the Buick. I know it's more expensive to build but I heard it was pretty good on power and torque.
airboatman631
I wanna add my $.02 worth on this one.
Lord knows in its day the Buick was a really good DD engine. 365 HP and 500 Ft Pounds of torque. At under 3K RPM it still has decent power and was a bit lighter than its nearest competitor the Caddy. I supplied them with a 70'x42" wood prop and they would spin that up way outa safe limits. 3150 RPM was where we had to set the RPM limit. They would do more. That great center crankshaft thrust bearing was perfect for the DD application.
If your going to try to put one in a REDRIVE application you may be in for some dissapointments. There is a book out there (if its still in print) Hotrodding the Buick. Get it and pay special attention to the oil system mods. They arent difficult but certainly are necessary for the higher RPM the engines will see in a redrive.
I'm high on the aluminum accessory housing on the front of the Buick, the front mounted distributor and the oil pump placement, and the waterpump ease of replacement. With a BIG Q-jet carb they did well for what they were. The Offenhauser or Eddelbrock cast aluminum manifold let ya drop a bunch of pounds off that cast iron intake.
Tommy Ivo loved them enoguh he built a 4 Buick Engined Dragster that was a real crowd pleaser. His werent 455s though I don't think, been a LONG time.
The reality is that times have moved on and the Buick is a dead end engine. In todays world, were I looking to do a car motor boat I would rather spend my money on an LS1 or a BB Rat Motor.
If ya got the money and want to do a nostalgia project, the Buick, however, would be hard to beat.
Dave likely has things to say about it I havent thought of yet as well.
Scotty
I wanna add my $.02 worth on this one.
Lord knows in its day the Buick was a really good DD engine. 365 HP and 500 Ft Pounds of torque. At under 3K RPM it still has decent power and was a bit lighter than its nearest competitor the Caddy. I supplied them with a 70'x42" wood prop and they would spin that up way outa safe limits. 3150 RPM was where we had to set the RPM limit. They would do more. That great center crankshaft thrust bearing was perfect for the DD application.
If your going to try to put one in a REDRIVE application you may be in for some dissapointments. There is a book out there (if its still in print) Hotrodding the Buick. Get it and pay special attention to the oil system mods. They arent difficult but certainly are necessary for the higher RPM the engines will see in a redrive.
I'm high on the aluminum accessory housing on the front of the Buick, the front mounted distributor and the oil pump placement, and the waterpump ease of replacement. With a BIG Q-jet carb they did well for what they were. The Offenhauser or Eddelbrock cast aluminum manifold let ya drop a bunch of pounds off that cast iron intake.
Tommy Ivo loved them enoguh he built a 4 Buick Engined Dragster that was a real crowd pleaser. His werent 455s though I don't think, been a LONG time.
The reality is that times have moved on and the Buick is a dead end engine. In todays world, were I looking to do a car motor boat I would rather spend my money on an LS1 or a BB Rat Motor.
If ya got the money and want to do a nostalgia project, the Buick, however, would be hard to beat.
Dave likely has things to say about it I havent thought of yet as well.
Scotty
Waterthunder
Well-known member
My personal opinion out of all the 455's the Old's is the best and here is why. The Buick has a horrendous oiling system and the least amount of aftermarket parts and available information. The Pontiac uses cast rods but has some parts. The Olds is the motor good oiling system ton's of parts. Just order Mondello's Olds book and you have all the info you need to build a Killer Old's. Edelbrock makes a killer head for the Old's and Pontiac. I almost built a DD OLDS to race but changed my mind they are an excellent airboat power plant and very cheap too.
airboatman631
Well-known member
Thanks for the input. I already knew about the oiling problem. My engine guy runs them on the strip and knows about the mods. I have several of these engines and as such I just thought I'd try it. Nothing more than pleasure I assure you, I've found lots of resources for parts and info, but as you know a airboat is a whole lot different than a race car. That's what I have you guys for.
Waterthunder
Well-known member
Sounds like ya got it whiped alread just tell your guy keep the cam around a 106 or 108 and tell him keep the duration tight and don't be afraid of lift. You will be happy with it.