ChristianGott

if you need a pair of props, i have a set of c/r 21 pitch quicksilvers that you might want to try...

Philip

ssjade,, I had a 87 Panther with Alpha drives, they didn't come out with the bravos till 88, and the early 1988 Bravos were not very good, they would blow the upper cap off. I blew two Alphas, the I switched to a left and a right gearcase, with Near Net Gears that Merc. came out with,, I never blew a drive with the near net gears, they were straight cut, not beveled cut, and they were stronger. There is a few Mods to go to the Bravos, you need to install a engine mounted raw sea water pump, instead of the impeller in the lower of the Alpha. I ran 1.50 gears, and ran just around 65-67 <PH., 330 Mags. with 23" 3 blade props.

ssjade

Thanks everyone! I won the alpha last night, supposed to be rebuilt, new seals, gears, and paint. $376 delivered. We'll see how that goes, I have ss apollo 21p 3 blade now, I think I'll try 23p's as soon as I get out.

rumrunner29

My Panther had counter rotation alpha drives on it, spinning outward. The counter was the weak link on the boat because it drove forward with the reverse gear. Like I said mine were not really a problem unless the drives came out of the water. Just don't mash the sticks and you should be ok. If I can find the pictures of her, I'll post them. When I bought the boat, it was WAY over propped and was spinning 23 mirage props. I rebuilt the motors to about 400hp and dropped to 19 pitch revolution 4s and the boat was way better. Ran 68 on GPS.

rumrunner29

Found the pictures of it! Had to scan them. It had a killer paint job!

rumrunner29

found 2 more, these were taken after I had a new trailer made for it. Should have kept the trailer..

ssjade

Both drive spin clockwise. Is this standard for the model or year, if i switch to bravos is this something i can change with the outdrives?

Rookie

iTrader: (4)

I think that is common on twin Alpha boats. I have seen quite a few 32 Pachangas with twin RH drives.

rumrunner29

Yes, If you change to Bravo drives, this is pretty easy, you just switch the cable on the shifter. A bravo drive can be run in either direction, the Alpha can't. To have counter-rotation drives with alphas, you have to use the counter rotation alpha drive, the lower gear set is different than a stock right hand rotation alpha. Of the 2 alphas on my boat, I always blew the counter drive, never the standard rotation and always the lower unit. The counter rotation lower unit is more $$$ than the standard rotation lower as well. I would think that with 2 standard rotation drives the boat would list to starboard while running, you might be ok, but you will have to use the tabs to level the boat.

IRONMAN

It is not optimal but will be no problem running two right rotation drives, all of the twin alpha setups in Formula 272s were running this way from the factory and there are a lot of them. The longer Panther should care even less about the two right props. The big things to avoid with 454 alpha setups is overpropping, you are better overrevving a little than torque loading the drive and 4 blade or large diameter props. The other big no no is solid hub props on the alpha they will twist up the shafts real fast, I have seen this many times.