DaleSC

need some opinions and advice........i lost an engine lastnite.....lost oil pressure......also had alot of blow-by prior to that.....it was an 1988 Mercruiser 454 330HP w/Alpha One Drives......i would like to get aliitle more horsepower......would a 502 work with the Alpha One drives...if so i would replace both engines.......if not .....i will just replace the bad engine with another stock one.......can anyone shed some lite on this???

glassdave

it will work but thats alot of torque for an Alpha in a 35 foot boat. It dosent make much sense to put a bunch more power in it if you have to baby it, I would freshen up the 454's and maybe bump the cams a bit. Those engines have cast internals so you dont want to get to crazy. The Aplhas will thank you for it later


have you ever thought about upgrading to Bravos?

DaleSC

yeah....i have thought about the bravo's .......i am not sure about which bravo's to go with........trying to get an idea about what the cost would be to do the upgrade (502 w/bravo"s) any ideas ??? i assume that the whole outdrive unit would have to be replaced? is that correct? would it be better with counter rotation? any recipes would be greatly appreciated......i don't want to go overboard on the pricing...... i am very confused or actually don't know which way to go.......i guess the cost will determine if i replace the 454 with the same......... or upgrade to 502's with bravo's.......i am open to all suggestions.........definately want to do something and have this thing back in the water by next weekend.......

bouyhunter

Don't mean to burst your bubble, but you're going to be lucky to get all the parts for a rebuild by next weekend.
And changing to a Bravo drive is going to include a lot of transom work.
Your best bet would be to do the rebuild to stock, and maybe a cam like Dave suggested. Your Alpha's are pretty much at there limit.
To go bigger your getting into quite a project.
Don't take my comments the wrong way, - I wish you the best of luck. But unless you can do the work yourself, you're gonna be out of the water for a little while.
Sounds to me like you're in a hurry to get back on the water. I understand, I've been there before, and having a broken boat that was out of the water for 7 weeks (I was quoted 2 weeks...) of prime season in an area that the season only lasted 4 -5 mos. (I always stretched it 6-7 ) really blows.
Hope you can get it worked out quickly.

DaleSC

thats what i thought....the lot of work to fit the bravo's on the boat......yes.....i can do all the work.......i do have a HD diesel repair shop w/ 3 mechanics (that can do marine).......i can have a reman'd long block 454 or 2) 502's from Jasper on tuesday........just the extra work to fit the drives is probably something i don't want to get into till this winter........guess my decision will be put the reman 454 in for now.....to make it thru the season.......or maybe get the 502's and baby it till i change the drives this winter(do ya think that will work?)........damn.....someone flip a coin.....heads 454 or tails 502's.......do you think the alpha's would hold up under normal operating w/ the 502's.....i won't be doing hole shots .....just gradual throttle........

Payton

I would go with the 454 for the season. Then this winter gut the engine compartment and change engines and drives. You can get 3/4 of your money back by selling the low hour 454 after the season.Then you can relax a little and not be worried everytime you speed up that you are going to pop a drive.

DaleSC

thats what i have decided to do......thanks everyone for your input....