I have a 1987 scarab panther thats been sitting for almost three years, it seems to be all original, it has 330hp 454's with alpha one drives, don't know why it would of came with alpha drives?? One lower is cracked, before i wrap up any money in these drives how big of a deal would it be to switch bravo 1's?? Looking to get boating for the season and maybe upgrading some power next winter? any info would help

Pull the motors, remove old gimbals and drives, drill 4 holes (2 per drive) mount new gimbals and drives and reinstall motors...it really is that easy.

Any idea why this boat would of came with alpha's?

my 87 hace 454 420,s and trs drives

I beleive 87/88 was the only years the mated big blocks to alphas. I have seen alot of Baja's set up that way. I assume at that time they may have discontinued the Merctrans and it was ~2 years before the Bravo was introduced............
Jr.

I had a 1987 Panther as well and it had Alpha drives. It was a pain in the ass, blew up the alphas three or four times. It wasn't hard to swap to bravos, but I didn't have the funds at the time, so I just babied them and they worked well enough. I only blew them when the boat would get airborne and land hard. I was told that the Bravo drive didn't come out until 1988, so the 1987 models had alphas or TRS drives. I was a great boat even with the alphas.

I would swap for bravos, especially since you have a cracked unit, youre still gonna spend some money... try an inspected pair of used bravos if you really dont hae the budget, like me and anybody else.... lol

keep us up to date with the restoration.

I'm bidding on an rebuilt alpha on ebay, hopefuly that will get me on the water for now, then i'll have 6 months till the snow flys to find some bravos, if anyone has any leads let me know, anybody have any idea on top speed with the 330hps? Thanks all

Hey. I agree with your idea.
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Koozies online

Should be high 50's... Maybe low 60's on a good day. What props does it have? 21-23p?