I agree ..the "too hot to touch" is a relative term. I have a welder friend that could hold his damn hand under boiling water I think. . I rebuilt my first alpha one a while back and it got sort hot afterwards but I never really payed much attention until I messed with it. I was scared I had the bearing pre load too hight. I think is was OK, as a buddies alpha with same type boat was about same. Anyhow, I could not hold my hand on it while boat was under way under highly loading conditions. Like someone said they cool off super quick when they go under water. I stuck a temp sensor on it and got about 165 deg F . I put about 150 hrs on boat before I sold it....far as I know still working OK. Just not being able to hold your hand on it is not really a bad sign. They make drive showers for a reason , so I guess lots of them get warm. BTW, my Volvo Penta in the new boat is way cooler.......

i have parts and i can fix that thing for a lot less then that pm me and let me know

Re: Drive Shower.

Many many options, I like the look of the one that has the full cap in polished aluminum,and the description sounds like it works well.

Any suggestions on what shower to get??

Thanks again

I don't know which shower is best. But when you find out, I'd just get it and put it on. They don't cost that much $ and it's good insurance.

a recent thread....

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ghlight=shower

I run the Billet marine Drive cap with built in shower. It is a heavier duty cap, and has a bigger bearing. It also has built in water passages that flow water around the top bearing, then dumps the water thru little holes all around the top of the drive. They cost around $230.oo, but it replaces the top Merc cap which is the weakest part of the drive. Here is the link to billet Marine. Theres a few other companies that build the same thing.
Billet Marine

One the thread quoted above, one guy talks about plumping the shower to the water pump. I would assume that gets more water to the cap. Has anyone seen photo's of what the install looks like?

P.S. That billet cap looks like it would work very well (and looks really cool as well!)

It's not to the water pump, but to the outside of the drive that feeds the water pump. You drill and tap into the side of the out drive where the water passage goes thru to feed the water pump inside.