jbenson

I am taking delivery of a 1988 Sea Ray Pachanga 27 with twin blown roller 350s 425hp to 475hp with STANDARD Alpha drives 25hrs on motors and 25hrs on new drives running 21 4 blade props. Can I run 23s-25s or is this to much stress how long will these drives last with the current props?

Tinkerer

BOOM
the drives will not last more that 5 hours with that much HP behind a blower motor because of the torque.
I would prop the boat for high RPM. The drives will live a little longer.
Make sure that you don't leave the water without pulling the throttles back.
I was producing a little over 500 HP with a SBF and the drives were lasting one outing.
GOOD LUCK

88Fount33

I made it through 2 seasons with ~450 HP-406CI with an alpha, but never hole shot, never leave the water, always slow up and slow down. I went fast but never hammered it. It still spit the teeth through the case on the lower gear in the middle of the short second season (5 months per year). Sell the new drives and use the $$ cover some of the cost of the conversion, it will not be cheap, but after you've blown the drives a couple of times you will have paid the difference anyway.

pullmytrigger

AND........ABSOLUTLY put good drive showers on those alphas!!!!!! They run hotter than anything in the Merc line except a Bravo3. I have alphas behind stock 350s in my 29. I blew the upper gearset in one last year the mechanic said the failure was heat related, took the top cap off....stinking burnt oil. I had a bent propshaft replaced this year on the other one (hit something) the mechanic went through the whole drive, he replaced the upper bearing set because they were all worn out and barely hanging in there, his explanation......heat.......put the Simrek showers on........When I used to put my boat on the trailer after a day of running I would put my hand on the back of the drive just below the top cap(where the 'alpha one' sticker is) the drives were always signifigantly warm..remember this is after sitting in the water for 10 or so min with the engines off while I went and got the truck and trailer and we loaded the boat and pulled it out.....now with the Simreks the drives are cold!!! same temp as the prop........nuff' said.........doug

jhnrckr

I lost an alpha 2 weeks ago that was supposedly built to handle my 415 HP SBC. The Gen II drives are supposedly stronger but you will really have to watch the way you drive, no more than half throttle on the hole shot. I don't know how your motor is cam'd but mine has a crap load of midrange acceleration which is where I blew the drive. The prop hooks up very well between 2500 and 5200 RPM thanks to Houston Prop and unfortunately I can't beat on it the way I used to if I want to keep running the Alpha.

aero-offshore

Also watch coming out of corners with power on. BOOM

puder

if you can do eth work yurselfit won;t be to expensive. You will have to pull the engines. You can sell off the alphas for a little less than a set of fresh bravos.

You'll enjoy boating alot more when you aren;t constantly worried about puking your drives.

wwwTOPDJcom

Puders right sell them Before they turn into junk, that way you will have some cash towards the bravo's you can sell them 2 alpha and transoms assembly and get enough for one complete bravo and transoms assembly or a couple used bravo setups with a little cash from you. how good are tha alpha's conditon wise, Get a hold of SterndriveSpecialists.com he might trade toward bravo's you will still needs some cash
but Chris will work with you.

puder

chris is teh man. i did an aplha to bravo convesion on my baot and he hooke dit up. I think after i sodl my alpha drive and transom the freshly rebiult bravo and transom assemblie form chris only cost me like $500. My engein was already out and i did all th work myself so it was pretty cheap for a MAJOR reliability gain. FYI other than pullin gthe engine the installaiton is dirt simple. YOu basically drill 2 entra holes and bolt the thing on.