SneakyPete

I am running a 383 with about 500hp and an Alpha. I am not going to convert to a Bravo due to cost. I have read articfriends posts about his drive issues and possible solution with treated gears. This seems like a route I would like to go. What internals would you recomend I have treated?

David Stotz

Are you already having trouble with the drive? How do you intend to drive it? You might be surprised at how durable that drive really is!

Ryan00TJ

I agree. Follow the rules of having an Alpha. Never any hard throttle starts from a dead stop or a low cruising speed. Get out of the throttle if you get the prop out of the water. Deaccelerate for WOT slowly. Run a drive shower and synthetic gear oil.

I've had 5 350-400hp SBC's thru a stock 92 Alpha Gen 1 and have never had a problem.

The Alpha's upper gears take the most torque right off the crank. They tend to break the teeth off when overpowered. They also tend to break at the O-ring cutout near the splines at the top of the vertical driveshaft. Late model Gen 1's do not have the o-ring cutout and are stronger.

GLM and Merc make HD upper 1.50 gear sets for the Gen 1 Alpha. I went with GLM sets in my primary and spare Alpha just as an added measure to keep them alive.

I am also planning on building a 383, 396 or 406 over the winter.

SneakyPete

I am very, very gentle with the drive. No holeshots, no air time. This is a river boat and doesn't see rough water. I was just trying to beef it up now before I have an issue. I have Simrek driver shower, use Merc synthetic drive oil (I will be switching to RP 75/140 tho), and I try to shift around 750rpm.

Old Navy

I would not hesitate to treat the gears, It is cheap insurance to help control wear. Arcticfriends did two sets for me, 1 set in use, and 1 spare set. When I did my 25 hour oil change (75w90 royal purple) the magnet was clean. PM him for pricing.