wtfo

it all depends on what your goals are...

I have the alpha ss on a 17 1/2 foot boat with a 450+ hp 383 in it. it makes sense in that aplication for a number of reasons - it's faster than it would be with a bravo, lighter by a little bit (an even bigger issue if I but the L&S sternjack on), probably handles a good bit better than with a standard bravo (huge difference in high speed stability over standard alpha and got me through blowout as approaching 80 mph), shallower in the water, and can easily be swapped back to a regular alpha drive if I want to do something different. Finally, if I went with a standard bravo drive, i would potentially still be dealing with the gearcase blowout as I pushed it faster....

You'll have to weight what factors are important to you in making choices. How much power are you pushing now? how heavy is the boat? how much more are you going to try to get out of it in the future? is it going to be better off with a shallower drive? if you're going to want to step up in power to make it much faster, how much is it going to take and will an alpha be sufficient to handle it, etc, etc, etc...

I may be overly simplistic or uninformed in the way I'm looking at this, but that's my two cents..

Fenderjack

iTrader: (2)

wtfo! application,is on a 202 chriscraft stinger.Now have a 350mpi motor in it with good manifolds and a A/Z tune about 400 hp.Have played with props and gear ratios and weight of the boat.Have it running hi 70's l0w 80's depending on the day ect.Found after a fews years the boat needs to be a little longer.Installed a extension box,external steering,280 tabs and in the process of installing a procharger.Now because of the box and new angle the drive is lower in the water,need to get it up,don't want to change the Xdemension.So I believe the alpha ss would benifit us and be a little cheaper .Although we will be pushing more HP it still is not a lot of torque and torque is what kills a drive.Have only blown one drive and that was our falt.So that's where I'm at.Thanks JOHN

wtfo

Sounds like fun!

I've run a regular alpha drive pushing 70+ for 20 miles or so without letting up before... on a calm day down the pamlico near where your other boat probably made it's first shakedown runs... the only one I've torched was because it got a little water in the lube, broached the hardened surface on the uper gearset and burnt the lube oil black... I broke a driveshaft yoke on one also, but that's a different story/.

I've got the heads off mine this evening, putting a set of competition ported afr heads on it... and dropping the compression ratio to think seriously about putting a blower on it. the bottom end is built to take it so why not?

Fenderjack

iTrader: (2)

well if you ever think you might want to sell let me know on the drive don't know if I can afford it.Thanks JOHN

Fenderjack

iTrader: (2)

does anyone know where any alpha ss upper cases are.Thanks JOHN