1992 454 King Cobra--I am new to this, and need advice

[danbettis]

I have a 1992 Four Winns Horizon 220 with a 454 King Cobra. It sat for about 7 years before I got it, because the guy said it was taking on water. I love the boat, and it was cheap. I drove it last year It runs great, but is ready for some updates as the transom seal does leak some. The lower shift cable should be changed, and the gimble is making some noise. So, here goes.

I haven't worked on boats a lot, but am very mechanically inclined. Everyone tells me that the King Cobra sucks, and even though mine is still working, it needs some maintenance, it is 23 years old. The parts are getting hard to get, and pricey, so I was wondering if there is an update/upgrade that I could do with a different outdrive. Since the transom will be getting replaced, I could change the opening, as long as I had a template, etc...

For those of you who have more knowledge that I ever will...

Am I better off just fixing what needs to be fixed, and just maintain it, or should I go to the effort and expense of updating/upgrading it? I do not want another boat. Thanks Dan

 

[Offrddrver]

DB,

Welcome to the site, I'm sure someone can answer your King Cobra questions better than I can, but a couple checks I would recommend (due to past experience).

1st, are you 100% sure your transom is leaking?
Here is why I ask....
My 1992 Four Winns 190 Horizon with 5.0L (standard Cobra) threw a grease zerk from the U-Joints, punching a hole in my U-joint bellows (drive shaft boot), and started taking on water through the gimble bearing and shaft seal. It also ended up destroying my gimble bearing, due to washing out the grease and rusting the parts (gimble bearing grinding noise).
It rusted out my u-joints also.
I replaced the boot, u-joints, gimble bearing, shaft seal, O-rings on shaft, gaskets, and the leak was gone.
Also align your motor as that can destroy your gimble bearing also.
(Maybe you have u-joint boot damage and are leaking through your gimble bearing, and causing gimble bearing noise.) Worth a check.

I looked up your parts and there are both OMC and aftermarket available. (The OMC cable was actually cheaper than the Sierra).
Your procedure is in the SELOC OMC Stern Drive Repair Manual for the cable replacement and the outdrive parts replacement.

Boat parts are always expensive, but a complete swap is going to cost you big $$$$. (opinion only)

I'm a semiconductor engineer (and technician when needed) by trade. I never worked on a boat prior to owning this one. I've done all my own work on this since I've owned it and have never taken it to a shop. MY POINT..... If you are mechanically inclined (like I am) then take on this project and fix this KING Cobra and don't make it a hybrid. My Cobra runs great.

Also, OMC got a bad rep due to cable issues and drives blowing up due to the bad cable setup prior to your year. (Are "THEY" sure your King Cobra is a pain???? Or just their opinion from reputation that followed OMC????) If you do it by the book it will run great.....just like my cobra.

My opinion only.....check for leaks due to a bad u-joint boot before pulling the transom (unless you know 100% the transom is leaking.)

Hope that help some.
By the way, that boat looks really nice in the pics. Best of luck.

Best regards,

Offrddrver

 

[Offrddrver]

DB,

One more thing, can you give us your Model number so that we can help you further.
Should be one of these:

• Model 744CPEAMH
• Model 744DPEAMH
• Model 744DPPAMH

And any other numbers that you feel might help. (Out drive number)

Best regards,

Offrddrver

 

[danbettis]

Thank you Offrddrver. I am pretty sure it is 744DPEAMH. The tag on the Outdrive says Model 987128, Engine KING, SER. NO. T0754131. I know that the previous owner stopped taking it out because it was taking on water. I tightened the transom bolts and used it last year, but by the time I had taken it out 3-4 times or so, the bilge pump would turn on about every 20 seconds. When steering left or right, you can hear some rumbling noise. Also, there was a time when it didn't want to go into reverse. I do know someone who works on boats, but predominately newer ones. He adjusted the shift cable(as far as it can be), and now it shifts fine, but the cable is old and he said it should be changed. My biggest problem is that I don't have a ton of money and very little boating experience. I can put my head in the engine bay, upside down, sideways, etc... I hear the water dripping, and can see it when it lands, but not where it is really coming from. I tried videoing it with my phone, but couldn't really see that well.

I have a factory OMC manual, and am confident that I could do the work, but I am not knowledgeable enough to diagnose it correctly, or even make sure that I have the correct part numbers for parts, since they seem to change quite a bit. I would want to have whoever diagnosed it to give me a complete list of the parts required. I recently pulled a Volvo Penta outdrive and replaced a V-8 engine in another boat, so I could do the work myself, if need be.

I don't want to waste a bunch of money changing everything over, but I don't want to work on it every weekend either. Since it is over 20 years old, and generally still in working order, in my opinion, it is probably a pretty good design, just outdated as far as parts are concerned, and in need of some maintenance.

Do you or anyone else on here know someone in the Phoenix area that is good with these older models? I realize that a lot of people don't want to diagnose a problem without then also fixing it. I understand that there is profit in the parts as well, so I could handle someone else doing the repair, as long as I didn't feel like I was REALLY being taken advantage of. Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[bruceb58]

When was the last time you took off the drive to see if you have water in the bellows?

If you have not done this, that would be the very first thing I would do.

 

[Boat Doctor1]

Im along with everyone else!!-- Likely only a bellows along with bad gimball bearing/ujoints too!! usually =NEVER a transom leak!! Replace all rubber parts & bearings as said & likely good to go!!

 

[danbettis]

Ok thanks guys. Hope to pull the out drive in the next couple of days.

 

[Offrddrver]

One more thought.....
If you are filling up quickly, you may need to check all your exhaust boots for leaks as this is FORCED water movement.
You might be able to see this by just running the boat on MUFFS, but there may not be enough back pressure without being in the lake for this test.

Also, in regards to a possible hole I your u-joint bellows, I was able to feel around with my hand and found the hole in mine. If you do put your hand in there, make sure you have your hydraulics locked out with some kind of block so it doesn't settle down on your hand. (safety first)

I'm headed out, so more later.

Offrddrver

 

[danbettis]

No Title

So I took the lower unit off today. I ran out of time and have not taken the pivot housing off yet, but here are a few problems that I have found.

 

[bruceb58]

That last pic is your exhaust boot. Does not matter if that is torn.

What does the inside of your u-joint boot look like? Any water in there?

 

[danbettis]

Yes, the exhaust boot, I wasn't too worried about. The other things are more of a concern. I did not see any water in the u-joint boot. The gimble bearing was very dry and noisy though. I should also say that although I have run it on a hose, I have not had it in the water this year. I have not taken it completely off, since I haven't removed the pivot housing yet. I am mostly concerned about the two holes in the lower unit housing, that appear to be from the inside out, due to corrosion, and the other unknowns...

 

[bruceb58]

That hole in your lower housing is normal. It is a water drain hole for a cavity so water doesn't freeze in there.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Everyone tells me that the King Cobra sucks, and even though mine is still working, it needs some maintenance, it is 23 years old. The parts are getting hard to get, and pricey, so I was wondering if there is an update/upgrade that I could do with a different outdrive. Since the transom will be getting replaced, I could change the opening, as long as I had a template, etc...


Am I better off just fixing what needs to be fixed, and just maintain it, or should I go to the effort and expense of updating/upgrading it? I do not want another boat. Thanks Dan

Howdy,



Well I did something similar swapping out a 460 King Cobra for a Mercruiser+ Bravo in my 87 Four Winns 211 Liberator.

Since you're asking, there is some truth in what you're saying. (you DO have the one that has certain parts that are simply NON-existent. (and the raw water impeller is crazy expensive if you can find them .............more than $100) The drive bellows will probably be fairly normal though (if $150 is normal)



Having said that, If it's running and everything is fine, count your blessings, treat it gently and run it until you find a complete Volvo DPS+ transom mount, inner transom plate, flywheel housing etc....... [But I would start looking NOW for all that stuff]

Your other choice would be to find a complete Mercruiser Bravo I, II, III drive, transom and associated engine stuff. I went with a Bravo III.


Your model 454 has an ignition system with a module (and some other parts) that are no longer available. so if you have any sort of ignition problem, you may need to replace the entire system. It's entirely doable with an after market Marine ignition system like MSD or possibly even a Mercruiser Thunderbolt 5 or maybe something from Volvo (but any Volvo ignition system may cost more than you paid for the boat!)

The gimbal bearing is going to be fairly standard. Yours uses the same one that pretty much ALL the Cobras use......

If it sat for 7 years before you got it and the raw water impeller WASN'T replaced, do that before you run it. (unless you did it last year etc)


If that crack in the pivot housing is in a structural area, you will indeed be replacing it. If it were mine and the gimbal housing had non-repairable damage, I wouldn't waste my money trying to fix it. I would part it all out and replace with either a VP or Mercruiser drive.


That'll also allow you to inspect the transom closely. Fourwinns didn't seal my transom very well at all. I drained a whole lot of water from the transom before I was able to completely dry it out for the Mercruiser install. Luckily for me, there was NO rot in the transom or I would have had to replace it.


cheers,


Rick

 

[sam60]

If your ignition has a problem, you can buy this for likely less than you paid for the boat.

http://www.michiganmotorz.com/delco-voyager-marine-electronic-distributor-p-142.html

This setup was highly recommended to me in the OMC thread.

 

[Offrddrver]

DB,

Here is a site I go to for my OMC Cobra parts breakdown pictures and part numbers. (I haven't bought parts there, but their site gives me a ton of information.) I suggest going here to see what you are dealing with in regards to parts that are obsolete, and parts that are still OMC original, and parts that are aftermarket. Hopefully this will give you a general idea of cost and availability.

Marineegine . com and work through the pages to find your setup.

Once you know your part number, or aftermarket replacement number you can go searching for the best price (hopefully here at Iboats.com), or e-bay, or other for "salvage parts".

For example, your picture of the water intake (plastic circle with o-ring) is listed as obsolete, so take care of that plastic piece, clean it up and replace the o-ring.

The rusty parts and the mount that they are on, the one with all the paint rubbed off is a concern. I believe this is your bearings and steering support lower. (check the parts breakdown for this) Is there slop in the mounting hole that these parts pulled out of? Damage in the receiving bearing hole, or damage to the steering pivot shaft may allow your outdrive to rock in/out when put in forward or reverse. This may wear out other parts over time. The paint missing indicates your bearing had slop, so investigation is needed to prevent other damage.

Also, is your exhaust modified? I was looking at your pics and note you have strait pipes. The OMC breakdown shows a Y-PIPE exhaust internal to your engine compartment. Maybe the strait pipes are original from FOUR WINNS, but if not, check to make sure all around the pipes are sealed. And then there should be a plate the blocks off the original mounting hole where the Y-Pipe should have attached. Maybe that is leaking if not sealed correctly. Again, go look at the parts breakdown to see how OMC originally set things up.

Best of luck.

Offrddrver

 

[danbettis]

No Title

Thanks for all of the help guys. I do have the shop manual, and the latest edition parts manual, so that is great because I can at least have the original part numbers as a starting place. The exhaust was some type hull through, or they did it for looks, I am not sure. They don't look like they have every been used, and the exhaust is stock now. I took it apart more today, and found that the lower portion of the clamp was not really on the boot, so that could be it. Not sure yet. I did see this area of the housing, but maybe it is fine since it is outside the area where the gimble sits. I can get the bearings for the lower support area. They look to be about $15 each(takes 3 I think, 1 for the bottom, and one for each side). I was able to get the water inlet piece out, and will match up the o-ring. The boot is really soft and pliable, should I still replace it, since it is 23 years old?

 

[bruceb58]

Wow! Looks like the u-joints took a dump at some point and chewed up the housing!

That is bad!

 

[danbettis]

That would have been well before I bought it. I know it looks bad, but if it functions fine, does it really matter?

 

[bruceb58]

That would have been well before I bought it. I know it looks bad, but if it functions fine, does it really matter?

If you can get a good seal on the bellows, the answer is that it may not matter.

However, it does look like there has been water in there to me.

 

[danbettis]

Ok thanks. Parts will be ordered tonight and then it's a wait game since I am headed out of town until the 15th. Will know soon after that.