I have heard some horror stories. I was looking at a 312 stinger that was pretty sharp, but it has T460's and king cobras. Is this a reliable setup? Are 460 parts readily available. Anyone have good luck w/ this set up?

The 460 parts are available, because there are a lot of them in trucks. the Cobra parts are a little harder but still available. I had one of those set ups and was always told not to put more than 350 HP or the drive would go bye bye. I had it for 3 years and never had a problem, one ran great in a 23 foot boat.

I had a 1988 FourWinns Liberator with a 460 King Cobra. 1989 they went to cone clutch shifting like Bravos. My 88 had the Alpha style shift dog. The ignition interupter gave me problems a few times. This means you can't get it out of gear(with the engine running). The last year I had it I had a 540 Ford 625 hp and 710ft lb torque in front of it. Was warned by two OMC mechanics NO STRAIGHT ARM HOLE SHOTS! No problem , replaced the 460 before I sold the boat (2000) and it's still running.
I don't know how available parts are at this point

I had one on as new 22 foot pad bottom boat in 1988. the score:129 hrs=7 drives!
I will never own one again,thats for sure.

The ford 460's are a common motor and well built, as for the outdrives it might be hard to find parts soon or later but I believe OMC used the same cut or bolt pattern as a mercruiser to please the boat manufactures.

Get the serial number and find out if it is a true King Cobra or a King Kapow! A good OMC mechanic can tell you. If you post the sn I can check into it for you. I have a friend who has a complete cone clutch style cobra laying around and he is a certified OMC tech.

Earlier were somewhat better newer ones were good boat anchors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!