I am seriously looking at a marriage of a 215 V8 and an airboat gearbox. However the Buick 215 has an oddball transmission bolt pattern and several hours on the interwebs did not result in any useful drawing of that pattern. Does anyone out there know of a source? All the more or less proven gear drives out there will happily bolt directly onto Small/big block Chevys etc. but the Buick is very different. Making an adapter plate is not too hard a task but it would help getting the dimension to make a CAD drawing which I can give to a CNC shop. Failing that, it's a case of hacking one out the hard way and drilling hole using transfer punches etc - all a bit crude, though doable.
I don't even have a core engine yet so I don't have the option of physically measuring the thing and I don't really trust that method much for absolute accuracy.
BTW if anyone has one lying around in the southern California area, I'd be happy to make you an offer.
The Buick happens to fit my biplane design perfectly; I need a fair amount of weight on the firewall to make it balance correctly and I refuse to to put a horrible modern flat engine in it. The M14-D radial engine ( a direct drive version or -P with 220hp) is no longer to be found anywhere and would have been nice. And my direct drive small block Chevyidea would have worked but the money I would spent on making a suitable prop shaft and bearing/housing is likely as much or more than buying an off the shelf gear box. However Chevy+gear box = too much weight and more power then I need. 180-200 is fine for my needs and the Buick will do that. I figure about 470 lbs firewall forward. Which is what I need.
I don't even have a core engine yet so I don't have the option of physically measuring the thing and I don't really trust that method much for absolute accuracy.
BTW if anyone has one lying around in the southern California area, I'd be happy to make you an offer.
The Buick happens to fit my biplane design perfectly; I need a fair amount of weight on the firewall to make it balance correctly and I refuse to to put a horrible modern flat engine in it. The M14-D radial engine ( a direct drive version or -P with 220hp) is no longer to be found anywhere and would have been nice. And my direct drive small block Chevyidea would have worked but the money I would spent on making a suitable prop shaft and bearing/housing is likely as much or more than buying an off the shelf gear box. However Chevy+gear box = too much weight and more power then I need. 180-200 is fine for my needs and the Buick will do that. I figure about 470 lbs firewall forward. Which is what I need.
