swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

[ericcarr2000]

Ok I recently purchased a 87 Sea ray sundancer with the 454 in her. The thing has an alpha one outdrive and as I read up on these, I notice that there really isn't anything else I can do to the motor to get more HP without ruining the outdrive. My question is this, if I were to switch over to a Bravo, I understand that I will have to get a whole different transom assembly, but will I necessarily have to remove the motor at all or can this be done with the engine still in the boat?
Give me your thoughts on this one. Id really like to swap out that Alpha one for a Bravo drive.

 

[agallant80]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Have you looked in to how much the Bravos are going for? This is going to be a hugely expensive project on an old boat. That engine from what I remember is only 330HP. The Alpha1 is rated at 300HP. I don't think 30 extra HP will kill it.

As for increasing the HP on the 454 do you have a plan? From what I understand there are no real bolt on performance gains, but I could be wrong. Im assuming someone one will step in and correct me.

 

[ericcarr2000]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Well as far as gaining a few extra horses, I was thinking of maybe replacing the carb with a Holley, and replacing the intake with an aftermarket one, maybe a victor jr....Just a few slight improvements is all, nothing major.
I do know the problem with the 454/Alpha combo is that the 454's have too much torque for the drive to handle. I'm sure if I were to ease on the throttle I should be fine, don't you?

 

[alldodge]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Ok I recently purchased a 87 Sea ray sundancer with the 454 in her. The thing has an alpha one outdrive and as I read up on these, I notice that there really isn't anything else I can do to the motor to get more HP without ruining the outdrive. My question is this, if I were to switch over to a Bravo, I understand that I will have to get a whole different transom assembly, but will I necessarily have to remove the motor at all or can this be done with the engine still in the boat?
Give me your thoughts on this one. Id really like to swap out that Alpha one for a Bravo drive.

Need to pull the motor to replace the transom and transom will need to be replaced

Well as far as gaining a few extra horses, I was thinking of maybe replacing the carb with a Holley, and replacing the intake with an aftermarket one, maybe a victor jr....Just a few slight improvements is all, nothing major.
I do know the problem with the 454/Alpha combo is that the 454's have too much torque for the drive to handle. I'm sure if I were to ease on the throttle I should be fine, don't you?

With a single 454 I am figuring this is a 270 sundancer. The boat weights in around 6500 pounds give or take. Your current engine produces about 300HP when new. There is a lot of stuff you can do to pull more ponies out of the motor but it may damage the drive. The max naturally aspirated 454 running on regular gas would be around 385HP. By the time you do the drive and all the motor work your talking a lot of money. Replacing intake and carb could give you a few more HP but would probably be a waste of money in overall performance without other steps to bring it up.

If you want quicker hole shot just prop down, but watch you don't over rev. If you want top end increase you need to bring on several more thousands

 

[Bondo]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Well as far as gaining a few extra horses, I was thinking of maybe replacing the carb with a Holley, and replacing the intake with an aftermarket one, maybe a victor jr....Just a few slight improvements is all, nothing major.
I do know the problem with the 454/Alpha combo is that the 454's have too much torque for the drive to handle. I'm sure if I were to ease on the throttle I should be fine, don't you?

Ayuh,.... It's already got a 4bbl. carb, 'n intake, another 4bbl. 'n intake is just burnin' up yer gas money, with Zero payback,...
That's circular logic, ya ain't changin' a Thing,...

You'd have to do the Heads too, to gain Anything from changin' the intake,...
A Big port intake on peanut port heads, creates turbulence, cause the air still has to get through the peanut ports in the heads,...

Yer motor is kickin' 330 hp, unless ya build another 50hp, you'll never see the difference,...
'n by then yer smokin' the drive,...
'ell,. yer drive is laborin' Now, with the strain of Too Much motor,...

I suggest ya be Happy with yer New to you boat,.....
When yer ready, step up to a newer, Bravo equipped boat,...

If yer gonna swap out to a Bravo, then the motor Has to come out,...
At that time, go for a major rebuild, 'n build all the horsepower ya want,...
You'll need to up-grade atleast the heads, intake, cam, 'n probably the exhaust,...
But it'll still be a 27 year Old boat,...

 

[thumpar]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

I agree with Bondo. You need a big increase in power to notice it, especially on a big boat like that. Switching to a bravo would be very expensive. One of the big reasons I bought my current boat is that it had a bravo so I could upgrade later if I ever wanted to.

 

[agallant80]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

I agree with Bondo on the fuel consumption. Run it for a season as is and then decide if you want to do anything to make it use more fuel.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Big money to change over from an Alpha to a Bravo. Then if you want to add horse power, more big money going into the engine. You would be better off to just get a boat that had the HP and performance that you are looking for.

 

[ericcarr2000]

Alpha one outdrive

Alpha one outdrive

Ok as I mentioned in my other posts, I just recently pulled the trigger on purchasing an 87 Sea Ray Sundancer with the 454 Magnum in her and a Alpha one outdrive. I know that the outdrive is at its limits when it comes to the torque the 454 will put out. My question is this, Is there another generation Alpha outdrive that will bolt right up to my transom assembly that is better than just the Alpha one at handling the torque? This would be much cheaper than converting everything over to Bravo.
Thanks, give me your thoughts.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Alpha one outdrive

Re: Alpha one outdrive

Ok as I mentioned in my other posts, I just recently pulled the trigger on purchasing an 87 Sea Ray Sundancer with the 454 Magnum in her and a Alpha one outdrive. I know that the outdrive is at its limits when it comes to the torque the 454 will put out. My question is this, Is there another generation Alpha outdrive that will bolt right up to my transom assembly that is better than just the Alpha one at handling the torque? This would be much cheaper than converting everything over to Bravo.
Thanks, give me your thoughts.

Nope,....

 

[ericcarr2000]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Ok Bondo, give me your personal expertise on this one then. Do you think that my Alpha one would be able to handle the 454, given I dont really hammer it right out of the get go?

 

[Walt T]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Look into these guys

konradmarine.com

 

[alldodge]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Your boat came out with the alpha and has worked ok this far, I don't see an issue. If your boat was heavier there could be an issue but in that case it would have shown up a long time ago.

Happy boating

 

[Bondo]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Ok Bondo, give me your personal expertise on this one then. Do you think that my Alpha one would be able to handle the 454, given I dont really hammer it right out of the get go?

Ayuh,.... How many times ya gotta hear it,...?? as I said, it'll run perfectly, til it don't,....

I can't foresee the future,...

Many posters have said they've gotten by with yer set up,... for Years, 'n Years,...

Merc decided after a couple years of BBC/ Alphas, that it ain't such a great idea, 'n the Bravo is the smallest drive now used with BBCs,...

I was on a Bud's boat years ago with that set up, 'n it blew a gear tooth just slippin' it into gear,...
Not sayin' that caused it, more likely it was cracked long before,...

Ya say ya just bought this boat,... Use it, Enjoy it,...
No reason to be Hot Roddin' it,... it's already Twice the motor of yer ole 470,...

Later,... say Next year, after ya got a season behind ya,...
Then decide whether ya wanta drop another 10 Grand or so, 'n build yer motor up, 'n swap out to a Bravo drive,...
Or sell it, 'n move on,...

On the Bright side,...
Alpha 1 replacements are cheaper than dirt, since SEI cut the price in less than 1/2 what Merc wants,...

 

[thumpar]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

The SEI drives are cheap. They won't warranty for you application and the ratio would be wrong so you would have to reprop. You could buy a few of them for the price of a Bravo though.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

I am in the same soup so to speak..In my case the boat's light enough as long as i dont go airbourne things will be or should be good....Many people have run that combo well..i am on my first sei. One summer and its still pluggin along

 

[ericcarr2000]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Ok so im assuming these sei drives are direct replacements to bold right onto the alpha one transom? Ive been told that the Konrad 520 outdrive will bolt up to the alpha one transom as well. Bondo, Thanks for all the helpful info, im just wanting to make sure I dont have any problems with this set up, I want to be able to go out there on the big water and be able to open her up gradually, not just throttle it from the get go...

 

[thumpar]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

The Konrad is a replacement for the TR/TRS drives. It requires a transmission in the boat to shift.

 

[ericcarr2000]

Re: swapping out an alpha one for a bravo drive.

Wow, really...Looks like im just gonna have to enjoy the setup and hope for the best.....