A few people, including myself, have inquired about aftermarket
outdrives. Aside from postings from the represantatives of the companies
that manufacture them, we have had no first hand postings on the subject,
so I thought I'd offer up mine.

I placed my order for the outdrive with SEI (Sterndrive Engineering
International) on Tuesday, June 15th. At that time they said it would be
up to seven days before the drive was shipped out. After having a bad
experience with a previous parts supplier out of Louisianna, I was happy
to find, and paid $10.00 extra for COD shipping.

The sales person said she would email a tracking number when it was
shipped. After not hearing from her the following Tuesday, I contacted
her on Wednesday, She informed me the Drive was shipped out on Tuesday
June 22nd, and gave me a tracking number. On Friday the unit arrived,
with each half entombed in custom styrofoam packaging within a cardboard
box. In short, the unit was properly packed.

The fit and finish seemed fine. It looked great, or it least it did before
I started assembly and installation. To save money, I used the nuts, shift
shoe, and washers from the previous unit. I needed to add a shift
bushing, which I think would have been better if it had been pre-installed
as I believe it supposed to be a pressed fitting. I noticed the
intermediate shaft was devoid of a groove for an o-ring which goes into
the upper gear assembly.

After hammering in the shift bushing, I put the drive together and bolted
it up to the ginbal housing on Saturday. After installation, I noticed
was unable to move my shift cable. ****! I went home, came back Sunday,
tore the drive off, disassembled the drive, and hammered in the bushing
until it was below the underside of its carriage. Put the drive together,
and it statically shifts F-N-R. Contacted SEI about my comments (no
o-ring groove) and problems, and received a helpful and prompt response.

Here are my thoughts so far. The company does a good job of shippoing
their product and ansering questions. The drive came properly packaged
and had a good fit and finish. The drive is "working" in static
operation. So far it looks like a winner, but is too early to be sure.
As I test and gain experience with this drive, I will provide feedback to
this group. My opinion is even if these drives last only three years,
their low cost would justify the manufacturers repeat patronage.

Bob Dimond