272 x dimension
 

I'm in the process of restoring a 1984 272 l s .I'm going to be installing a couple of stroker small blocks .I know that the formulas had a conservative x dimension and can get more speed from running shorty lowers, but these are alphas..Is there a problem with just raising the x dimension .I know this involves re-doing the transom and bringing the entire drivetrain up. Does anyone know how far up I could bring them without running into problems. Problems= Running, and clearance issues. I do business with a pro glass shop that will do the transom for me on a tit for tat trade. My end of the trade is just doing what we always do.Thanks in advance for any input

I would just do a bravo swap. No glass work involved. Stronger drives for stronger motors and you can run shorty lowers. If it doesn't work out easy to go back to regular or spacers. A lot more options that way then trying to redo transom just to keep alphas.

Appreciate the input ,but i'm not trying to keep Alphas ,i'm going to keep Alphas. In fact I own a couple bravos and transom assemblies but don't want to throw them at this boat .For the amount of power i have, well built Alphas will work .Take the work/money part out of question on transom. I think I'd like to raise assemblies 1" to 2" inches but would like to hear from someone that has done this .My thinking is if 2" shorty's work on a Bravo to speed boat up, why not just raise x dimension a like amount.........But ,I was wrong once before .

Your good, I have been wrong lots of times. Heck, after 18 years of marriage, I do not remember what it is like to be right! Yes, raising the drives will help from what I have read. You need to contact sprink on here about his old 272 that he had. Scratch that, sprink needs to post a thread recapping all the info he has about his old boat into one spot.

Anyways, he had a 272 with stock mercruiser motors that had fuel injection back then with alpha ss drives. Guess this gave the boat a rated 320 hp per side, counter rotation and the drives were shorter, mayby by 2"? Definately picked up speed. I would like to know what the motor specs were internally to compare to what we are building today. Was it really only 320 hp? Or was it the rpm they were built to spin? Never got around to pestering him about it.

If I end up keeping this old bird long term or getting a newer fastech, I would love to do some newer generation motors to get the rpms up there as compared to what I run now and shorter drives. Seems there is speed on the table from what some have run. Good luck, will watch for where this goes.

Brian

I would like to see the results of 2" shorties on a 272. A friend of mine put an Imco shorty on his 242 w/ HP500 and gained exactly NOTHING. Loaned it to another friend with a 26 Sonic and he gained almost 5 mph!

I'd like to try a set of shorties on my 303

I'd certainly hate to go to the trouble to do transom and gain nothing .I'd think , by pulling more drive out of the water ( vertically ) and propping accordingly ,it's bound to be a little faster .I just don't want to go so high I have problems staying hooked up. That's why I'm looking for input from anyone that has done this to a 272.I thought I had read somewhere on this site about a guy running shortys and gaining speed. Maybe a hallucination...Can't find it now.
Never had a chance to see these drives running in the water at wot or any throttle for that matter .Bought the boat as is where is without even trying to start motors. They do run, but boat is now stripped to bare transom ....

Mopower ,just saw you had a 272 with two 540's .How much power per motor and how fast is your boat .I've always been a bb guy but I'm wanting to try a couple little motors in this boat ...just because.

I would think a single 525 would be nice in a 272, anyone try that?

I had that thought also, convert it to a single bbc. Bt now that I am as far in my current boat as I am, I will not rip it apart o start over and doubt I would get rid of it to do the same boat again.