Universal Sabre

Any one have any info on transmission used in 65
I have 65 America Skier with a Sabre 198 and changing it out and installing
A super Sabre 225. The bell house doesn’t line up.
Would like to use the same transmission if I can
Find the right bell housing. Any info or help would be appreciated

The 198 spun a bearing. So figured the 225 was the next best thing.
The 225 is out of a inboard our board, it’s a Volvo pent
1965. The bell house is close. I would assume that that same transmission was on the super Sabre 225 with the correct bell housing.

My grandfather bought this boat new in 1965. I’ve
Been trying to keep it with the 198, but have been looking for several years
And haven’t had much luck. Hopefully we can find
A donor boat. I started skiing on this boat when I was there
Years old, would love to get it going again.

This may be rather silly of me to ask, but why not rebuild the original engine?

A spun bearing isn't the end of the world unless you spun pieces parts right out of the block

The place in the link lists quite a few 198 Buick parts and with a name like Old Buick Parts they should be able to help hopefully.

I've never dealt with them, just dug them up on a Google search.

A phone call would probably get any questions on availability answered.

link

Bell housings don't interchange .

Buick V-6

Bryan,
The way to make it work is, as mentioned, get a bell housing to match the 225 with a SAE to match the trans or, as Ken mentioned rebuild the original engine.

As Marty mentions, bell housings do not interchange on different blocks.

The B/W Velvet drive was the most popular trans but there were others like Paragon and even the Dearbomatic made by Ford.

For pictures, click the full reply icon (diagonal arrow in box) above or go to "post" reply and not the "quick". Then click on the tree icon with the up arrow.

BTW, for parts, maybe the difficulty you are having finding them is because you've been looking for Universal engine parts?? Keep in mind, Universal just bolted on marine parts to an automotive engine so, take Kens's suggestion.

B4nier wrote: If I decide to stay with the 225, where Would be a good place to look for a transmission?

I thought you wanted to use the trans you have??

B4nier wrote: Would like to use the same transmission if I can

Bryan, there is a bellhousing that fits a Buick 225 and also fits a BW Velvet 70C. In your case you have a bellhousing that fits the 225 but is made to bolt up to your I/O. So, you can look for the bellhousing that can let you use the 225 and your current tranny, or you can rebuild the 198. Once you see if the bh is even available, and if so what it costs, you'll be able to decide pretty easily I think.