Alpha and Cryo Gears
 

I am running a 383 with about 500hp and an Alpha. I am not going to convert to a Bravo due to cost. I have read articfriends posts about his drive issues and possible solution with treated gears. This seems like a route I would like to go. What internals would you recomend I have treated?

Are you already having trouble with the drive? How do you intend to drive it? You might be surprised at how durable that drive really is!

I agree. Follow the rules of having an Alpha. Never any hard throttle starts from a dead stop or a low cruising speed. Get out of the throttle if you get the prop out of the water. Deaccelerate for WOT slowly. Run a drive shower and synthetic gear oil.

I've had 5 350-400hp SBC's thru a stock 92 Alpha Gen 1 and have never had a problem.

The Alpha's upper gears take the most torque right off the crank. They tend to break the teeth off when overpowered. They also tend to break at the O-ring cutout near the splines at the top of the vertical driveshaft. Late model Gen 1's do not have the o-ring cutout and are stronger.

GLM and Merc make HD upper 1.50 gear sets for the Gen 1 Alpha. I went with GLM sets in my primary and spare Alpha just as an added measure to keep them alive.

I am also planning on building a 383, 396 or 406 over the winter.

I am very, very gentle with the drive. No holeshots, no air time. This is a river boat and doesn't see rough water. I was just trying to beef it up now before I have an issue. I have Simrek driver shower, use Merc synthetic drive oil (I will be switching to RP 75/140 tho), and I try to shift around 750rpm.

I would not hesitate to treat the gears, It is cheap insurance to help control wear. Arcticfriends did two sets for me, 1 set in use, and 1 spare set. When I did my 25 hour oil change (75w90 royal purple) the magnet was clean. PM him for pricing.