Thinking About 1993 245 Vista

maxum1997

Cadet
Joined
Jun 27, 2007
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8
Thinking about 1993 245 Vista

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Hi I'm Tony and a newbie to this forum. I have some questions about a boat I am considering buying. It has a 454 King Cobra Setup (1993 Cone Clutch instead of Dog) and is currently at a boat broker. It has sat inside his showroom for the winter and when they went to sea trial it about 6 weeks ago it took water into the block so now it is getting a long block and I told him to call me when its running. Its really clean and only 451 hours on hull. I have spoke to 3 local mechanics and they say walk away from any OMC. The last being Wrights Marine in Tacoma, WA who does repowers. He says if I like the boat and the price is right drive it till it blows the OD and maybe repower for $15k with Volvo-Penta. Boat price $13500 including long block. Before buying I will get a marine survey done. Can I find enough parts if OD goes sideways, lower or upper and shift mechanism? Am I ok with the GMC 454 powerplant? Should the price of boat be considerably lower due to OMC parts scarcity? Any help would be appreciated. Last boat was a 1997 Maxum 2300SC with a Alpha One.

Many Thanks

Tony1993 245 Vista
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Bondo

Moderator
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Apr 17, 2002
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70,994
Re: Thinking About 1993 245 Vista

I have some questions about a boat I am considering buying. It has a 454 King Cobra Setup (1993 Cone Clutch instead of Dog)
I have spoke to 3 local mechanics and they say walk away from any OMC.

You've been given Excellent Advice,..............

I suggest that you Listen to it..........

You'll get more of the Same here..........
 

Don S

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
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Aug 31, 2004
Messages
62,321
Re: Thinking About 1993 245 Vista

Volvo does make a conversion kit for the OMC Cobra drives to change it over to a SX/DP-S type Volvo drive. BUT, and this is a biggie. I think the transom shield for the OMC Cone clutch drive is different than the one for the dog clutch style. Which means the conversion will not work without replacing the transom shield and all. Now things will really start to get expensive.
 

HT32BSX115

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
10,083
Re: Thinking About 1993 245 Vista

Howdy,

ALL of these people are giving you pretty good advice.

I was in the same "boat" a couple years ago. EXCEPT I had a King Cobra with a 460. I still have the transom/gimbal and drive but I sold the 460.


I was going to rebuild the 460 and put it back in but after researching the parts availability of ALL the OMC parts I decided that it should all come out.

Most of the parts are still available but did you know that OMC went out of business right around 2001?

There's still a fair amount of parts available for that King Cobra setup.

They'll be considerably more money than the Merc/Volvo counterparts.


Your best bet is to not get too attached to that boat. Just for "fun" ask the dealer what they would charge to bolt a Mercruiser/Bravo into it. Thats how much more you'll probably spend fixing it when you get frustrated with the Wonderful OMC!


I was lucky. I found a 98 Bayliner (97 model year Merc 454 BravoIII...122 hrs since new) in Snohomish that had a huge tree fall on it. The guy sold me the engine, gimbal, drive for $5K including cables, harness, gages etc........it's just about bolted in now....I'm finishing rewiring the whole boat.


Even after all that it's probably STILL not worth it. I only got $150 for the engine (after all, it was just a core) ........I figure that the gimbal & drive are worth around $1500. I'll just put it on EBAY at some time or other.


The exhaust manifolds (new) are not available. Neither is the coupler. The 454 parts availability is a little better but take the manifolds for example.....

Assuming you can buy them they'll be almost DOUBLE the exhaust manifold/riser price for a mercruiser 454 (although you may be able to use the Mercruiser parts)


If you make the mistake of buying this boat there'll be a lot of people on iboats and other forums that can help you maintain it if you decide to do it all yourself. If you have it maintained at one of the marinas or places around Tacoma it will "cost you".

Of all the people on the forums that will tell you that they have had little problems with their own OMCs most will tell you that you should not go out and actually buy a boat with an OMC stern drive (of any year) in it.


My vote? RUN away from that OMC powered FourWinns.




Cheers,


Rick
 
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