Alpha SS
 

Hey guys. Got a few questions. I recently purchased a Sea Ray Pachanga with a 454 and an Alpha SS drive. I know it depends on my driving, but how durable is this drive? Are any parts interchangeable with a standard alpha? I know it is shorter so the vertical shaft is different. Is it shortened in the upper part or the lower? Any input would be appreciated.

i have heard it it pretty durable. Be careful not doing any holeshots and let off the throttle upon re-entry and it should give you trouble free service. BTW parts are hard to find for them. Also what size of Pachanga? And what power?

Lots of Alpha SS info if you do a search.
It's a standard Alpha upper (don't remember if Gen I or II) with a shorty lower. A few people used a Merc outboard lower unit if I recall, that seemed to be a direct replacement. also, I think the only "SS" specific piece was the vertical shaft.
Might want to have articfriends do his gear treatment magic on that drive.

This post has a good description of the SS drive...

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...light=Alpha+SS

I think the longevity of the drive depends on the weight of the boat, how hard you drive it, and care. My boat is only about 2800 pounds and it's had an Alpha SS on it for about 10+ years. I'm not sure exactly. When I bought the boat 4 years ago, the engine was a race-gas 550 HP Chevy 355 with another 125 HP shot of nitrous spinning up to 6500 RPM! So, for brief periods of about 10-20 seconds, this drive was getting 675 HP to it. I had a shop go through it last fall and they said it looked perfect. We just put new seals, u-joint, and bellows in it. In fact, it outlasted the motor. Now, I'm running a much tamer 400 HP 383 SBC. I always take it easy getting up on plane and have a drive shower to keep it cool. It's a fantastic drive for a small boat, IMO.

The ss lower is just like a CLE for an outboard...except the vertical shaft!

The engine is a 330hp 454. The guy I bought the boat from said he gaind 5mph with this drive.

No WOT hole shots
Get off the gas if you get the prop out of the water
After WOT runs, deaccelerate slowly
Synthetic gear oil
Drive shower

Alpha rules to live by when modified. I have the Merc #6 drive manual that covers the SS and it states it can be used with Alpha 1 upper housings but not Gen II's.

The SS is a Gen I Alpha upper, and a CLE lower, but it is not the same as used on an outboard, although some people have done that swap. I don't remember the exact details, but I don't think it was a direct bolt on swap. The argument has never been settled to my knowledge whether the SS had the HD gear set in them or not, but there is a HD gearset available.

I've got three of them (one spare). I finally broke a couple of teeth off the stock upper gears last year on one, I run them very hard, with mild power. Lot of wave and wake jumping. All three had small gear sets stock, one came from the 454/SS combo. I had HD gears put in all three, The ones that were changed last season were gone thru just last month and they looked perfect, repeate the mantra; drive shower,synth oil,off the throttle when flying, change drive oil every 20 hrs.

The vertical shaft is NLA, something to keep in mind.. Ya tweak it your history... The upper HD gearset is pretty much a mandatory upgrade, I have sent lots of SS owners the gear sets and they have had excellent results with them after that..

I'm on the hunt for one for a project myself, if someone finds one for sale please let me knoow.. :) :)

I'll be sure to notify Heidi that you are looking for another project.:eek: :eek: :p

She knows, she knows, oh boy does she know.. :eek:

What drive shower do you recommend.

I'm running a Simrek drive shower. I'm not sure about other brands. The Simrek is designed for the stock Alpha, so I had to make a spacer and get a longer bolt to mount it. I've watched it from behind while waterskiing and it works great. You can see it in this pic...

Simrek- here too, but they offer a kit to lower the shower. It requires you to shorten the tubes and install new pickups in place of the ones you cut off, 5 min. job. It puts the top of the shower closer to the top of the drive. Plum Crazy give them a call you can get rid of the long bolt and spacer

Hey Charlie,
Good to see you yesterday. I haven't seen one these drives in years, but it certainly looks exactly like the 2nd version (two hole/above the nose cone/ModVP legal) CLE that came standard on the 2.4 litre HP Mercs that we used to run. I think the internal upgrades that the guys are recommending are all good ideas in the higher torque/heavier boat I/O applications.
If the vertical shafts are NLA, it should be easy to cut down and respline a Mercury outboard drive shaft. We did it all the time when converting 20" mid section motors to 15" and 12" short shafts.
Congrats again on the Pachanga, but I think you're going to have get a new screen name, because you don't "need ride" anymore :D ............
Regards,
Steve

You can always learn something on this forum!

Hey Plum Crazy, Did your SS196 come with a V-8 in factory trim? I'm curious because I have an '87 SS174 I bought last summer to turn into a boarding/tubing boat for my kids. It's rough but it was cheap. The floor and hull seem to be excellent, but otherwise it's killed. I was considering taking the dead V-6 out and dropping a basically stock 350 4-bolt truck motor in it with a mild marine cam and thru-hull exhaust. I've already got manifolds, etc for the SBC, and the starter, alt., and that jazz from the V-6 should be a straight bolt-on with the right brackets from what I'm told. The seats are trashed so moving the back seat up about 5" to clear the new motor isn't a big deal. I guess my real questions are: a) is the swap as straightforward as it would appear on the surface, and b) is my transom likely to be extra-low riding with the increased weight? I think moving the back seat up some will help offset the rearward weight of the V-8, but only slightly. If you or anybody else out there has any input or experience with this one, I'd be grateful to hear from you. TIA!

Yes, my boat came with a 350. Sorry, I'm no expert on engine swaps and don't have any advice for you. Good luck!

I have and SS on my 18 donzi, I am 99% sure that the upper is different. It has no cavatation plate........
The lower is a 2nd genration CLE case, but does have a few different parts. Namely the vertial shaft, and **** linkage.

RT

anybody have any info on the CLE lower swap??

awwwwww man......I feel SO sorry for ya'.........that is SUCH a crappy drive.......I feel so bad for ya'......tell ya' what......being the good guy I am I'll do ya a huge favour and just come over and take it off your hands and you can forget all about that awful drive.......OK?