Probably been coverd to death here but have 81 Nova II 260 I picked up cheap($500) that has no motors or drives I have to Pontiac 400 that produce roughly 400HP apiece . I know poncho was big in the sixties and I can still marine manifolds and water pumps for these..my question is the drives how or what do I use ..the original transom is in all have been check and are solid..I know I will need adapter to go from Pontiac to GM at bell housing..I heard original drives can't take more then 250 HP...can they be built for more..I am a newbie to the go fast boats but want to build her to run..advice welcome...I am fairly mechanically inclined.

Sell the Pontiac engines and build a couple 383 small block Chevy engines.
The pontiacs are cool and all, but the marine parts are all "shelf" items for the SBC.

Post some pics of the boat. Sounds like a cool project.

OK so that said what do I do about drives past owner kept destroying drives how do I make replacement drives survive...??

Buy alphas instead of MR's. Handle a little more. Marinizing PBombs would be a PITA...

I agree...you will have NO PROBLEM selling those original Poncho motors to Pontiac collectors. For simplicity and bang for the buck...Vortec based roller cam 350's~383"s make 400+ HP and 400+ TQ easily and marine parts are everywhere on the cheap.

You will get a bunch of knowledge here on OSO. I'm finishing up a similar project on a '79 255 Formula Liberator with twin 355 Vortecs on Bravo I drives.

As hard as they are to find these days I will keep the ponchos for other got's I am working on...now the trick for a pair or rebuildable merc.5.7 then the bravos to handle them I guess ..is there no way to build the alpha to handle the HP?? Surely there is as offshore is older then the bravo drive invention....

Tried post pics to my profile how do u do that on mobile app.? Or here in topic

Two ways: Silver or Gold membership or get a free off site photo app and link them in. I use photobucket.com but unfortunately it's been down since last night.

As plentiful as the Bravo I drives are now don't waste your time and money on an Alpha. Sort of like choosing between a small shaft M-20 Muncie vs a M-22 to go behind a Big Block...you have a lot more to work with from the beginning.

There is no way to build the alpha to handle the horsepower. Prior to the bravo drive there was the TRS drive and the Super Speed Master (SSM) drives to handle the big power.