Re: 1988 Cruisers Inc with 7.5L Cobra combo.
seems crazy that there are no replacement parts for those drives. I believe you when you say it, if you have owned one, you would definitely know, but it just seems crazy. there were a lot of those drives built and sold. I wonder why no aftermarket support? what a waste.
I see your point.......AND I agree with you............But OMC only offered the Dog-clutch 460 King Cobras from 87-89. (3 years) The 7.5L engine was only offered a couple years after that and then it "went away" completely.........NO ONE offered the 460 after that except for some jet bote makers.......
Because of that, the after market didn't really pickup the after market parts. AND the lack of the REALLY important ones (like manifolds, risers, and coupler) which turn out to be real "show-stoppers" can really be a downer......
I went through ALL of this when I needed to rebuild the 460 that was in my Four Winns Liberator. I investigated EVERYTHING because I needed to over haul the engine after I had a manifold-riser leak that essentially ruined the engine.
I had a a good coupler, and would eventually need manifolds and risers. (my manifolds and risers were usable but it didn't make sense to put used rusty manifolds and risers on a $3600 engine only to have to replace them a year or 2 later) AND I didn't want a repeat of the damage caused by leaking manifold/risers.............
I did find stock manifolds for $1400 EACH
(They're now around $750+ $100 shipping now....) I DID not find risers then..... and although I did find a couple of couplers back then, they're considered NLA now.
(to be fair.....
there's a place in Canada now that will modify your 460 flywheel to accept a Volvo or Mercruiser coupler I think ) $899....... click to see.......
OK,
so lets summarize...... Michigan Motors has manifolds and risers for $2350 + shipping, PLUS $900 for coupler mod from that Canadian company (+ shipping both ways.....)
Assuming the engine and drive are good, you have to spend over $3250 just to replace normal wear parts that would be under $1000 or a Merc/Volvo.
And this doesn't speak to ANY parts problems for a King Cobra drive.........many parts that are still available now....for the smaller Cobra drives (5.8L and smaller engines) are simply NOT available at all for the larger (108oz oil capacity) drive.......
This is NOT an anti-OMC rant. My OMC 460 King Cobra ran well for more than 20 years with no real problems!! (except that 2 different FW dealers screwed up the drive oil 2 separate times and both ended up replacing the drives!!)
But it was largely trouble free...... I bought the boat from my brother who bought it new...........BUT knowing what I know now, I would NOT have bought it at all!!
Also, because of todays boat and financial markets, There's a LOT of boats out there with Merc/Volvo engines installed that can be bought for a "song"........so there's not much reason to consider OMC powered boats at all............
ymmv........
Rick
