Omc king cobra 460

[211libwtfo]

Pic just because. But I drained lower unit oil and I've smelled gear oil before but holy crap it was quite pungent. Any reason for this. The color was a dark dark green/blue hue and a small amount of metal shavings on mid and lower screw.
Yes it is omc "baby king cobra". 1988 7.5l 460. I've heard fill it from the bottom. Fill it from the middle. Fill it from the top. And the fill being 85/90w gear oil. It being the lower unit. Clarification please. Also the drive belts are getting replaced what are some bullet proof belts or should I jus keep spares.
Mite as well pile it on soo why does my wife blame me for everything wrong in her life. Lol

 

[211libwtfo]

Had this bad dog out two weeks ago on the upper Mississippi rides and runs great it's a forever boat for us and wanna maintain it well. It handles 2' chop amazingly.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you know the drives no longer have parts support, correct.

metal shavings bad

blue/green may be Merc HP gear lube (and yes, it stinks). the few cobras I have worked on I filled from the bottom. pulled both plugs (bottom on nose, and top near anti-cav plate. then fill from bottom until it comes out top plug. replace top plug with new gasket. then remove dipstick and keep filling from bottom until oil hits line. then replace dipstick and replace bottom plug with new gasket

dipstick is in center of top cap.

keep your old belts as spares with a bit of tools on board and you will never have a belt issue

 

[211libwtfo]

Yea I'll try to keep this one going as long as possible but I've heard of adapters from a mercruiser to Ford engine there are some drives and parts on eBay
When I compared my buddy's alpha 1 to this baby king cobra his was so little and he's gotta 454.

 

[Scott Danforth]

the adapters are for the exhaust manifolds. the Alpha doesnt live behind a 454. however the Bravo does

 

[211libwtfo]

Ah yes bravo. Tiny. Any who I expressed my concern of hard to find parts for this outdrive to my well trusted boat mechanic because I want to add ponies to this doggie 460 but was concerned if I shelled the outdrive I'd be stuck with a jacked up motor He says he has machined the part to couple a 460 to an alpha out drive. And has done it many many times.
Soo can I use any 80/90 gear lube in the lower unit.

 

[Scott Danforth]

the Alpha drive is only good for 300hp. the Bravo is about 400 or 500 (depending). the Bravo XR is good for 600

havent a clue what the OMG outdrives are good for.

 

[HT32BSX115]

I've heard fill it from the bottom. Fill it from the middle. Fill it from the top.

Fill it from the "FILL" port.

That is the middle port. Fill it from anywhere else and you risk rebuilding/replacing it!

filled from the bottom. pulled both plugs (bottom on nose, and top near anti-cav plate. then fill from bottom until it comes out top plug. replace top plug with new gasket. then remove dipstick and keep filling from bottom until oil hits line. then replace dipstick and replace bottom plug with new gasket

If you fill a Dog-clutch Cobra this way it will trap a bubble in the drive that eventually goes to the top when the oil gets warm and then uncovers the upper gears ....(You may be able fill a (interim) cone-clutch Cobra that way though **Read the manual**)

Some suggest filling a "Dog" from the bottom until it comes out the middle one and then continuing from the middle.
I hear it works, but that's not how the OMC manual says to do it.

My previous dog-clutch King Cobra drive was filled twice 2 different times from the bottom by 2 different "Dealers". BOTH dealers replaced the drive when it self destructed.

Never Never Never fill a dog clutch Cobra from the bottom.........Fill it from the middle port with the dipstick resting on top of the threads (NOT screwed in), until "FULL"

Then run the drive and check level with the dipstick screwed all the way IN........then add more if needed.

Cheers,


Rick

By the way, If you filled it from the bottom, DO NOT RUN THE DRIVE UNTIL YOU CAN DRAIN IT AND REFILL FROM THE FILL PORT!!

 

[cooterdude]

i just did the oil on my 89 sundowner 225 i took all the plugs out ran mineral spirits through the drive to wash out all contaminants then refilled the drive from the top port put 32 oz of Lucas oil stabilizer in it and 32 oz of 75/90 in it did it over a 3 day period just cut the tips off the bottles and let them feed themselves into the drive

 

[211libwtfo]

Thanks I appreciate all the info. And I assure you I will be filling it from the middle.

 

[Lou C]

I could never understand why people don't just follow the OMC manual instructions when refilling these.
The parts issue with the 460 King is more of a big deal than it is for the regular Cobras with Chevy engines. Exhaust manifolds, couplers and parts for the lower gear housing can be hard to find. This drive (Baby King with dog clutch shifting in the lower unit) used the same upper gear housing as the standard Cobras but with a bigger and stronger lower unit from the V8 Evinrude outboard. The transom assembly & rams are both standard Cobra parts. A long time ago Don S put up a thread with pics on how to adapt a Volvo SX using the Volvo pivot housing on the Cobra transom mount. There were mods that had to be made to make the Volvo raw water pump work with the Ford engine....

 

[Lou C]

As far as the hp limits for the Cobra drives the standard Cobra is fine with the normal small block V8s. With a big block I think it's the same issue as the Alpha drive. This is why OMC used the Daddy King (cone clutch) drive with the GM 454.

 

[HT32BSX115]

As far as the hp limits for the Cobra drives the standard Cobra is fine with the normal small block V8s. With a big block I think it's the same issue as the Alpha drive. This is why OMC used the Daddy King (cone clutch) drive with the GM 454.

When I had mine, I was a frequent visitor to Offshore Only and other forums where there was a rather large OMC King Cobra (and Four Winns Liberator) following.

There was a guy on Offshoreonly that had a 211 Lib like mine that had built that 460 to the point where it would "Bury the Speedometer at over 80mph" (his words!) at WOT!

Most of them indicated that the King "Dog" and coupler would withstand the extra HP.with no problems The 454 was never offered in front of the King Dog either..........

The downside was the 211 hull gets VERY scary at high speeds.

i just did the oil on my 89 sundowner 225 i took all the plugs out ran mineral spirits through the drive to wash out all contaminants then refilled the drive from the top port put 32 oz of Lucas oil stabilizer in it and 32 oz of 75/90 in it did it over a 3 day period just cut the tips off the bottles and let them feed themselves into the drive

Looks like we can turn any thread into an oil thread!!

Well, good luck on that. Most of us here would suggest that you're doing 2 things that could damage or destroy your drive.

NO drive manufacturer suggests adding any type of snake oil to drive lubricant. Lucas doesn't show any sort of ASTM testing that would indicate how their product works when used in a high load hypoid gear application nor a marine application.

(No "Marine Drive Oil specification exists by the way... https://www.nmma.org/certification/oil/ )

Filling your drive the way you did may work but it took you 3 days to fill it!! The rest of us would simply pump it in through the OMC recommended "Fill" port (Which takes minutes not days......)

I had a look at the Lucas site for specifications of their "Stabilizer" snake oil.

There was no indication of the standard ASTM tests for gear lubricants. I would want to see as a minimum (among others) the FALEX Continuous Test ASTM D3233 which tests lubrication capability with a 10% water contamination. Most ALL registered hypoid gear lubricants meet or exceed this test (and others)

If you love the following Lucas Snake oil test.... put 10% water in it and see what happens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLnpHWwu9xM

Although I am not a big AM$OIL fanboy, they at least list the ASTM tests their oils meet/exceed.

My suggestion for that anyone with an OMC/Volvo/Mercruser drive, use a good SAE (registered) synthetic (or NON synthetic) gear lubricant and stay away from the Testimonial Supported (snake-oil) additives.


YMMV,

Rick

 

[Lou C]

Merc High Performance gear lube (the greenish blue stuff) that you can find anywhere works just fine in a Cobra dog clutch, that's all mine's had in it for over 10 seasons....

 

[Lou C]

http://www.allamericandriveservice.com/OMCCobra.html