You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

[quick2500]

I had recently purchased a Crownline with a broken gimbal ring and housing. After the initial shock from the cost of the Bravo parts wore off I started to do some investigating. Almost all the parts interchange on the transom assembly in regards to a gen 2 and bravo with the exception of the gimbal ring, drive shaft bellows and water hoses. I just happened to have a like new gen 2 gimbal assembly on hand so I did some measuring. To fit the bravo helmet in the gimbal ring the only modification needed was to sand about a 1/16" of material from the narrow part of the gimbal ring. The alpha water pass through neck is removed and the bravo hose fits right in. The shift cable swap is straight forward. The only area where care and time must be taken is on the trim/tilt ram mounting area on the ring. The alpha uses a smaller pin. The holes need to be reamed out to 3/4" to accept the bravo pin. It only took a few hours to complete the work, with all new bellows and gimbal bearing, and now I have a bravo transom assembly for a fraction of what just a replacement ring would have cost. This is also helpful for anyone wanting to convert their gen 2 to a bravo. With just a helmet, coupler, bellows, water hose and pump, you can mount a bravo on and save some dough.

 

[boatguya1]

Re: You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

I had recently purchased a Crownline with a broken gimbal ring and housing. After the initial shock from the cost of the Bravo parts wore off I started to do some investigating. Almost all the parts interchange on the transom assembly in regards to a gen 2 and bravo with the exception of the gimbal ring, drive shaft bellows and water hoses. I just happened to have a like new gen 2 gimbal assembly on hand so I did some measuring. To fit the bravo helmet in the gimbal ring the only modification needed was to sand about a 1/16" of material from the narrow part of the gimbal ring. The alpha water pass through neck is removed and the bravo hose fits right in. The shift cable swap is straight forward. The only area where care and time must be taken is on the trim/tilt ram mounting area on the ring. The alpha uses a smaller pin. The holes need to be reamed out to 3/4" to accept the bravo pin. It only took a few hours to complete the work, with all new bellows and gimbal bearing, and now I have a bravo transom assembly for a fraction of what just a replacement ring would have cost. This is also helpful for anyone wanting to convert their gen 2 to a bravo. With just a helmet, coupler, bellows, water hose and pump, you can mount a bravo on and save some dough.

So you have weakened an alpha gimbal ring in two places to make it fit a bravo pivot hsg that was designed to be mounted in a gimbal ring much stronger than an alpha one, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[Bondo]

Re: You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

and now I have a bravo transom assembly for a fraction of what just a replacement ring would have cost.

Ayuh,... That'll probably break again because of the to light a ring, that was ground to fit....

I agree with Boatguy,... it's false economy...

 

[quick2500]

Re: You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

The Gen 2 ring was, and still is, thicker than the original bravo ring that broke. The amount that was ground was so minimal it was comparable to just removing the paint. The material around the ram pin is identical to the bravo ring, the hole was just smaller. The amount of material removed in total was so small that dropping it on the floor has more of negative effect. From all the measurements I took it appears that in an attempt to reduce the amount of parts that mercruiser has to manufacture they reverse engineered a bravo assembly to fit the alpha and called it a gen 2. Small cylinder holes and rough castings go on the alpha, enlarged holes and a quick polish and it fits a bravo. By the way, all measurements were taken with calipers and micrometers, not a tape measure. The holes were reamed on a mill so the pin is true. Before you call this b/s, go and measure one and confirm instead of jumping to an uninformed conclusion. When you have hard numbers then make your argument, until then you are talking out of your ***.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

quick my dad thought the same thing a few years ago, when a friend wanted a Bravo engine in a boat that had an Alpha Gen 2. But the friend got a complete Bravo engine/drive/transom assembly, so he installed it all for him.

 

[Bondo]

Re: You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

The Gen 2 ring was, and still is, thicker than the original bravo ring that broke. The amount that was ground was so minimal it was comparable to just removing the paint. The material around the ram pin is identical to the bravo ring, the hole was just smaller. The amount of material removed in total was so small that dropping it on the floor has more of negative effect. From all the measurements I took it appears that in an attempt to reduce the amount of parts that mercruiser has to manufacture they reverse engineered a bravo assembly to fit the alpha and called it a gen 2. Small cylinder holes and rough castings go on the alpha, enlarged holes and a quick polish and it fits a bravo. By the way, all measurements were taken with calipers and micrometers, not a tape measure. The holes were reamed on a mill so the pin is true. Before you call this b/s, go and measure one and confirm instead of jumping to an uninformed conclusion. When you have hard numbers then make your argument, until then you are talking out of your ***.

Ayuh,... Not sayin' yer wrong at All Bud,... It sounds viable...

How 'bout some pictures, 'n clear explanations here to document the adaptation for future generations of iboats readers...

I liketa think of myself as a yankee engineer at mixin', matchin', 'n generally doin' what can't be done...

 

[buzzm19]

Re: You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

Bud, It is a interesting modification you have done, I have a wellcraft nova ll with twin 260's and would like to change over to big blocks. The info on this forum says it will work as long as the Alpha ones are not abused (anything can be destroyed if abused long enough), I have made a lot of improvements over the years to stock parts and actually made them better. I know there will be a lot of opposition here, but I believe in over kill and the stronger the better, besides if the part can be made to do a better job why not.

 

[quick2500]

Re: You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

I didn't take any step by step photos, but I do have another gen 2 that I can use as a demo unit to point out what to do. And of course I have the finished unit. For now I am concentrating on finishing the rest of the boat so I can get out this weekend.

 

[Pete104]

Re: You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

That's all well n good, if ya ain't got nothing better to do than grind on gimbal ring & "helmet"!

Which mounting set did you use?

 

[quick2500]

Re: You CAN easily convert an Alpha Gen 2 to accept a Bravo drive

That's all well n good, if ya ain't got nothing better to do than grind on gimbal ring & "helmet"!

To further clarify the "grinding". I used a flap disc wheel, which is just little pieces of sandpaper on a wheel, and literally spent less than one minute working on that area. You should clean up any used part anyway to check for cracks and apply paint to bare areas so there was really no time investment there. You don't have to modify the bravo housing at all.

Which mounting set did you use?

Once the ring is prepped you use all the bravo parts.