excel/barefoot engine rebuild rotation

Correct. For what you're doing, save some money and reuse the stock cam.

So there are RH 351 HOs. Randy has one (I removed his name from my post above) as well as TX Foilhead. Safe to say all Excels got RH engines and 1:1 velvet drives.

Hollywood wrote: 240 hp Excel has to be quite the dog!

It is - drives and accelerates like a dump truck...... the 351HO is where it's at for Excels. Best weight / power ratios. ......but when I dream at night, it's of 6 Liters in Excels....

I thought I (the shop for $500, I'm planning on resealing it anyways and he is going to check the clutches) could rebuild the Velvet drive model 10-18-002 ratio 1:1 also know as the 72c, so that full power would match a rebuilt standard rotation engine?

Does anybody know how much rotation torque of a Chevy 454 BBC would cause to the hull? If its major than I will build the engine like it came from the factory (reverse rotation). But if you guys say maybe 3% "worse" than maybe I would build the engine standard rotation. I will continue to run the stock rotation prop which is a RH prop.

My distributor would remain because BBC turn the cam in the same direction in a standard or reverse engine. Alternator, circulation pump, and water pump don't care which way they turn. So I think its only the starter that would need to get rebuilt.

My head is spinning, not sure which way though, standard, reverse, automotive RH, automotive LH, marine backwards, I know upside-down. When I'm pulling the motor today, I hope I still remember "lefty loosy, righty tighty".

I have a RH 351w out of a '91 Excel so some of the above info is incorrect. Not sure if there was a change along the excels run where LH small blocks were used to turn RH props (like the super sport that followed).

I can think of a few reasons why you wouldn't want a reduction trans in front of a v-drive, space and strength being big ones- you'd have to build a stronger v-drive box of it had a torque multiplier in front of it. Probably why all ski boat v-drives have 1:1 trans and put all the reduction in the v-drive box.

I haven't seen or heard of any 454 HOs after 1986.

Gotcha. You said mid 80's HOs were LH so I was thinking there were some LH BFNs out there that came from CC that way and I had never heard of that. I'll get back to work...

I'm only aware of BFN's running 1:1 transmissions with RH rotation engines and props. You must be talking about the newer VDrive BFNs?   I never knew the HO engines were LH, but if they were in a DD, they must have had a reduction transmission?

Were the 454 HO boats LH props or did they have a reduction transmission?

A 1:1 V drive reverses the rotation, but that is off set by the bacerds installation of the engine which also reverses the rotation. Whatever the output is at the transmission,( RH or LH) should be the same for the prop when goes through the 1:1 v drive. Looking at the trans from the back of it as compared to looking at the prop from the rear.

dave12gauge wrote:    what are the specific negatives for a vee drive boat to have a standard rotation engine and I'll keep the RH prop?

This is not possible.

The transmission can be indexed to spin either way but it can NOT reverse the rotation of the engine (velvets cannot be spun full power in reverse). Engine and transmission rotation must match.

LH prop would be the biggest downside of a LH engine. It could be done but it's not just a starter (and you cannot simply "rebuild" it). Cam and distributor change too.

bi-curious rotation. I am on the left coast and we have plenty of screws loose, mostly in people's heads. Commufornia.
This engine also has a "cunuter" valve and a muffler bearing. Yup, both.

Plan is to pull motor tomorrow. Noise I heard at high RPM is not sitting well with my confidence factor. Plus just think of all the money I'm going to save not having to top off with oil every other pass.

Can't add picture of engine tag but its defiantly misprinted.

Looking around on the site, it did look like the ford engine in this boat spun both standard and reverse rotation. Besides rebuilding the starter, what are the specific negatives for a vee drive boat to have a standard rotation engine and I'll keep the RH prop? Probably going to reseal and check transmission (velvet drive 72C) for $500. Reason for asking is that the cam may be custom ground and will take a bit longer for me to get the engine back, plus I haven't got a cost yet. My only thinking is that the engine and prop will be turing in the same direction causing the torque to go to starboard and slightly tilt the boat. This is just a family boat and me and my 8 year old are far from being a professional wakeboarder.

Dave- sent a pm

That Princess Bride meme almost made me spit out my drink. I even read it in Enigo's accent. Lol.

maybe it's a bi-curious rotation. most of the time it spins right, but after a few tequilas it can be talked into going left