Beta engine good and/or bad for repower?

[capt jgw]

Originally Posted by fish53

A simple yet expensive way to get a Kubota diesel. You can buy a Kubota engine for less than a third of what a Beta costs and marinize it yourself. That said it's hard to beat a Kubota and the ability to use tractor parts which are about 1/10 the price of marine.

That's what I just did. Got a used Kubota D850 on eBay. Added Thermex water cooled manifold/heat exchanger, PRM gear and drive plate from ASAP Supply. Bell housing from Universal. Oberdorfer water pump">raw water pump from Depco. Total cost about $3800. D850 is what the Universal M25 is based on, and the PRM gear and Thermex manifold are used on the Beta engines. So I call mine a Beta/Universal hybrid.

[fish53]

Originally Posted by capt jgw

That's what I just did. Got a used Kubota D850 on eBay. Added Thermex water cooled manifold/heat exchanger, PRM gear and drive plate from ASAP Supply. Bell housing from Universal. Oberdorfer raw water pump from Depco. Total cost about $3800. D850 is what the Universal M25 is based on, and the PRM gear and Thermex manifold are used on the Beta engines. So I call mine a Beta/Universal hybrid.

Same here D950 and a D1005, I rebuilt the D950 for about $1200.00 and bought the D1005 new for $3800.00. Compared to Beta or Universal I figured I was making about $100.00 an hour doing my own work, plus when done you know your engine well, to me that's way better than a warranty.
I also use ASAP in the UK as well as Lancing Marine, very helpful and priced lower than the same stuff in the US.

[Captain Randy]

I just repowered replacing my old Perky 4108 with a Beta 50 for a 41' Cheoy Lee Pedrick. Redid the engine compartment completely as well. It is touted that Beta will match up the bolt pattern and that it is a simple drop in. Well not quite as we did have to modify the stringers which mainly needed to be adjusted for the proper angle but not a huge deal. We required a V-drive and bought the B50 with tranny and V-drive. We also needed to put a new prop shaft in to accommodate the new configuration and length.

Another thing I did not count on was we had to reprop the boat as the Perky setup required a right hand prop and the new Beta required a left hand prop so a good question to look into as this unexpectedly cost me another $3K plus. So a couple of things to be ready for potentially.

So with that said I am so glad to get that leaky, noisy, vibrating old Perky out even though it did run and did not smoke. We have completely refit the boat and this the best thing we did (so far)

She is about a knot faster, quiet and the experience with Beta and my local shop which helped me with the repower has been exceptional. Now when we get to Mexico and Central America next year I'll let you know once we truly task the motor if I am still pleased.
So far so good!

Randy

[Emmalina]

Sounds like a hate perky post LOL I would rebuild the perky myself as for leaks and smokey .... Not hard to fix . Rebuild kit for my 6354 was 700USD and a weeks work But its up to you ...

[scuttlebooty]

Originally Posted by Compass790

ok only problem I know is hearsay if you are a lawyer or watch tv lawyer programmes on tv. fellow yachtie ( sailboat in US english ) who was 75+ in years told me he had a heap of trouble with his Beta 14 heat exchanger, it corroded badly FRM MY MEMORY ( not to be relied on it was aluminium ) & it failed early. Had a big battle with the NZ agent to get a replacement. He had to call in a registered mechanical engineer to certify it was a corrosion problem. He only got a replacement heat exchanger after threatening a court case

I have a Beta 14, over 1000 hours, and the heat exchanger has been my only issue with it. I'm not sure why, but it gobbles up zincs and, if a careful eye isn't kept on them, the HX housing will start to corrode. In addition, the pencil anode on older Betas was placed upstream of the heat exhnager stack, meaning the zinc oxide that formed had a tendency to clog the HX pipes, leading to overheating issues.

Apparently Beta was aware of these problems though, and they redesigned the heat exchanger, moving the zinc downstream of the stack, and making other improvements too. I can't say for sure if this solved those issues or not.

Otherwise, I like my Beta. It has never failed me, and has always been reliable.

[ben2go]

Originally Posted by capt jgw

That's what I just did. Got a used Kubota D850 on eBay. Added Thermex water cooled manifold/heat exchanger, PRM gear and drive plate from ASAP Supply. Bell housing from Universal. Oberdorfer raw water pump from Depco. Total cost about $3800. D850 is what the Universal M25 is based on, and the PRM gear and Thermex manifold are used on the Beta engines. So I call mine a Beta/Universal hybrid.

Could that work on a V1505 Kubota? I'm looking at the Beta 38 kit with PRM transmission and it's around $15-$18,000 all in with my options.

[Ostinato]

I am not sure it would have the same foot print but Nanni also maranizes Kubota engines. There is good dealer in the UK too - Peachment. Just an alternative.

[ben2go]

Originally Posted by Ostinato

I am not sure it would have the same foot print but Nanni also maranizes Kubota engines. There is good dealer in the UK too - Peachment. Just an alternative.

Yeah, I did my research since my post. It looks like Beta is currently using old stock for some of their engines and transmissions. When I contacted them about the 38, they were still using PRM60 and 120 transmissions. The 120 has been replaced by the PRM125 for a while now. I decided on the 125 over the 60 because of the service hours, 500 for the 60 and 1500 for the 125. Anyway, as stated above, ASAP supplies has the stuff for way less than US pricing and they ship to the US. As long as everything isn't oversize or overweight, shipping shouldn't be to bad. Also, they do have everything to marinize the Kubota V1505 engines, I'm not sure about the T (turbo) model V1505.

[tom jones]

Capns what size kobutu engine is used for the 50 hp or next size up Beta engine
Tom S/V Blue Trust

[tom jones]

Compass 790
Capn What does “AFAIK” mean? Thanks tom blue trust

[DeepFrz]

Originally Posted by tom jones

Compass 790
Capn What does “AFAIK” mean? Thanks tom blue trust

“AFAIK” = as far as I know

[Nzl609]

Originally Posted by capt jgw

That's what I just did. Got a used Kubota D850 on eBay. Added Thermex water cooled manifold/heat exchanger, PRM gear and drive plate from ASAP Supply. Bell housing from Universal. Oberdorfer raw water pump from Depco. Total cost about $3800. D850 is what the Universal M25 is based on, and the PRM gear and Thermex manifold are used on the Beta engines. So I call mine a Beta/Universal hybrid.

Sorry to revive an old thread but what model heat exchanger did you get from Thermex? They have told me they don't have anything that fits a d850

[capt jgw]

Originally Posted by Nzl609

Sorry to revive an old thread but what model heat exchanger did you get from Thermex? They have told me they don't have anything that fits a d850

I saw that too. Got mine about 5 years ago, apparently they don't make that model anymore. I think they still have the one for the D722 which is what Beta uses for their 20 hp model.
Since the water cooled manifold is the most critical part of a marinization it makes sense to source that first then find an engine to fit. That's what I did when the D850 manifold was available. Had the list of available manifolds in one hand and engines in the other. Bought the first pair that matched.

[Engine man]

BIG RED FLAG ! The seller in Jakarta is not, and has never been, a Beta Marine distributor or a dealer, according to the owners of Beta Marine in the UK. Joe

Originally Posted by hattiews

I'm looking for a Beta 25 to replace my Atomic 4 with. There is a place in Jakarta selling them cheap ($4k with shipping to US). Has anyone tried this? Seems risky but that's half the price the US Dealers are quoting....