When I bought my boat it already had nose cones on the bravo1 outdrives. The port drive always had an issue where the water was somehow getting between the putty and the casing causing the putty to soften and break off. I had it professionally fixed once. It did not last long. The nose cone must be off center a touch. So I started using marine tex to fill in the pieces of putty that had broke off at different areas. That worked for years until this year. Last week I noticed a large portion of putty missing off the outer side of the port drive. I was always told to get rid of the nose cones because they are slowing me down so I decided to remove the soften putty. After removing the putty I was down to where the nose cone sits on the drive. I didn't see any gaps where water can go between the drive and the cone. My question is: how do I remove these cones? Are they tack welded on or is it epoxy only? What is the best way of removing them without causing any drive damage?
thanks in advance

How they're put on is all dependent on who did it. If they're welded you should be able to see signs of the welding where the two meet. Must have been a really cheap epoxy if it's falling apart. So that's probably not what's holding them on.

I will take some photos of the cones today and post them here.

My water pickup is under the nose cone. As you can see the side water inlets have been filled in. If I can get these cones off I would like to re use the side intakes also. Can I carefully drill them open?

I'd say the epoxy is all that there. No welding is evident. Yes you can drill the side holes open. Possibly just use a 1/16" lunch and knock the epoxied out. Or whatever size punch matches the holes. I've never measured them.

Thanks for the info but how do do I get them off?
hammer and punch?

Good question. Maybe figure out what was making the epoxy soft.

Try an oscillating tool and cut along the flat areas before trying to knock it off. This will break some of the bond and minimize damage. Put blade flat against drive to cut under where the cone if that makes sense.

Maybe I should wait until after the season. I'll just marine tex that area again and wait for now. If taking them off could damage the drives that would end the season early.

It's hard to tell based on the photos, but probably car paint putty was used, which soaks up water and falls off. It is necessary to putty with epoxy putty.
If it is glued with epoxy, it is best to heat the joint and the epoxy will soften. Usually 60-80 oC is enough. If it is glued with MMA glue, it will also come soft when you heat it up.