Re-power or not?

[jwestjr]

A local Mercury Marine dealership service foreman practically refused to work on my 1972 Mercruiser 120 out drive siting I would constantly be putting money into it. He wanted me to modernize with a new Mercruiser 130 with whatever out drive went with it. Well this is a vintage boat (1972 starcraft Star chief) and I kind of hate to put modern equipment in it. I'm sure it would be nice but 12 to 15 thousand dollars? My question is what is the model out drive for the new 3.0 these days and would this new equipment fin right in without any modifications?

 

[achris]

A 1972 drive is the old MC-1. A new drive with a 3 litre engine is an Alpha One Gen II. Looks much the same and puts everything in the same place as the current engine and drive. And yes, a 3 litre is 'plug and play' (mostly) with your current 2.5 litre 120hp engine. The cutout for the drive requires a very slight modification, but the engine will drop in and bolt up to the same holes.

This is an upgrade I did many times when I had my shop. Without exception, every customer was over the moon with the result.

As for putting 'modern equipement in an old boat', have a look at the boat in my signature. Best thing I ever did was update the engine, and it required considerably more work than you are considering. My boats' original engine was an in-line 6. To replace it with a V6 required the engine box to be widened, new engine mounts to be glassed in and the floor to be cut away at the sides.

Chris.....