yesrej

hi guys. last october i introduced myself to the boating world. i bought my first boat. i wanted something with power and small. i ended up buying a 20' four winns liberator do to the lack of funds and its just something to start with and learn with. i do have some questions. i have a omc king cobra outdrive. it is a pain in the ass. when i first got the boat it had some shifting problems (i would lose gears). i out a shift cable in it and i also put a clutch in it. after i put the clutch in it, it was fine for a week or two but then the problem started again. so if anyone has any info on an omc please let me know. and i would also like to know some good ideas to get a little more mph out of this little 20 footer. thanks guys

ido1320

yesreg,

Try calling (757) 436-2800. That is Volvo Penta, and ask for Andy Sweet. He used to work for OMC and is VERY knowledgable in regards to their products.

Hope that helps,

indyblackhawk

I don't have time to look up the exact terms - I ran a 1987 OMC king cobra for a lot of years. The cobra's of that time had several recalls on the gears and shift cable. Even after all of the recall upgrades, I always had trouble getting the drive out of gear. I would turn the key off and kill the engine, shift into neutral and refire. OMC used an electronic module that disrupts the ignition during shifting (takes the torque off the gears). As it turned out, the electronic module was defective. After replacing the module the engine would shift fine. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the modules to last very long. After a lot of frustration, and my experience with earlier mercruisers, I eliminated the electronic module and wired the shift switch to momentarily kill the ignition same as mercruisers of that vintage.

Let me know if this helps,

Andy

PS: Don't go to long with a hard shifting condition because you will probably stretch the cable. Drive will pull hard out of gear during acceleration - very bad!!

Mr. Demeanor

What year is your drive. I belive the pre-1991 ones had problems like you desrcibe. The 1991 and up are much better and parts are identical to one of the newer Vovo's so parts are not a problem.
Want to buy a 92 26' Liberator with the new drive?

Scott72

I once had a 1987 211 Four Winns Liberator, but had a 350 Mag with an Alpha drive. Being and OMC, not sure what you can do with props, but the best I got out of the boat on GPS was around 53 MPH with a 21 pitch Laser prop. With the OMC are you running a Ford 351 or a Chevy 350? I know once Four Winns was bought by OMC they used some Ford Packages.

Dave M

I fell your pain with the OMC. My previous boat had a 1992 Cobra and most of the problems described here. I replaced the shift cable, adjusted it countless times and the problem would always come back. It was dangerous around the docks at times. The shifter would be in neutral but the boat would still be in forward. It's been a few years but there used to be a few articles floating around the internet describing ways to resolve these issues. Other than the shifting issue mine was pretty durable. I ran it hard for 600+ hours without any gear issues.

Good Luck

Kanookstr

Ahhhh Memories I had the 1988 OMC King Cobra on My 4winns 200 Horizon, After the Gear and Shift cable recall, I never had a problem. The only problem I had after the recall was with
shift Module. I did what indyblackhawk did and it was fine.
That outdrive can take a beating when set up right.
I put a 689HP twinturbo motor in it after the wartanty was over in 1991, and sold it with the same outdrive back in 1999.
Yes she flew baby Here is a pic of the motor in the 4winns

Kanookstr

Here is a shot of the speedo with almost 3/4 tank of gas
I had the one with 1.41 gears. was spinning a 22 pitch prop at 6500 RPM. The looks I would get when the hammer went down They would always chase you down to see how this 20' Bow rider just blew his doors off Lots of fun..

Kanookstr

here's the boat

mopower

Kanookstr,
I had an 88 F/W Liberator with a NA 540 , dynoed @ 625 hp and 710 ft lb tq I could do the same with my 80 mph speedo but with a 25" Ballistic prop in the low 5000's. Like a Timex , my OMC King Cobra took a licking and kept on shifting . As a mater of fact the drive outlasted the engine. End of the season one cylinder had 50lb compression , all the rest would pump 150/160

Still have the engine