Does anyone know just how much horsepower you can run through a King Cobra drive before it blows up? Also what gear ratios does it come with, I got mine off a 460 and it also dropped my rpms about 600 rpms from a previous 5.7 Cobra drive, with everything being the same except the lower unit?

I was always told 350 was the max for a King Cobra to live. I never ran more than that so I never found out the limits. You may have lost rpms due to a lower gear ratio and/or more drag from the larger gear case on the King.

Hello Miguel, I had a 1988 4winns with the 350 mag engine and King Cobra outdrive. It had the 1.41 gear ratio. After the warranty was over in 1989. I put a twin turbo kit on the engine. I ran with that till 1995 or so at 8 lbs of boost. When I finally blew the engine. I started from scratch with a Bowtie 350 performance block. This time I ran at 15 lbs of boost and it dynoed at 689HP.
I sold the boat in 1999 with a stock 350 engine. And I still see it to this day cruising the CT river. Never had a drive failier. It ran flawless. It's all in how you drive. if you don't Full throttle from a dead stop, or wave jump were the drive leaves and re enters the water with out backing down the throttle. It will last forever.
Good luck my friend, and happy boating.
Here is a picture of the engine that was in my 4 winns, It's for sale now.

I don't know from experience, but I have often heard it said they are comparable to a Bravo, about 500 hp.

There are two types of Kng Cobra drives. I believe the switch over to the new design was in the early 90's. I have a 93 Liberator that has the new style. Apparently there was alot of problems with the clutch in the old style. OMC built a duplicate of the current Volvo drive of the day when their patent expired. Also about the same time that Volvo took over OMC. I have been told that the gears from the Volvo and OMC drives are identical. I read a good article that I will post if I can find.

Somebody asked the same question in the Jan Hot Boat mag. Hot Boat said that the King Cobra held up to a a 575HP blower motor that they built.

Miguel
I ran 420HP through a late model King Cobra (cone clutch like a Bravo 1990) without a problem.
I was told at a Marina High Performance shop they could handle 650HP

I've heard 650 for the cone clutch units....

Kelly, the post is from 2002.......

I would agree with that. The cone clutch KCs are strong!

Edit, just realized this thread was almost a decade old! LOL