Are Sterndrives Interchangeable?

[gregintexas]

One more question please:<br />Are the stern drive assemblies (upper and lower units together)on OMC able to be switched between different size OMC engines, say from a 5.0L to a 5.7L or 5.8L? Must an OMC drive assembly be mated to only an OMC engine or would it work on other brands?<br />Thanks for any info here. (I copied this over from the general boating forum which was probably the wrong forum!)

 

[Laddies]

Re: Are Sterndrives Interchangeable?

Differant HP engines have differant gear ratio's, plus OMC built 3 differant type drives over the years

 

[Stratocaster]

Re: Are Sterndrives Interchangeable?

An OMC drive will only mate to an OMC transom assembly, not a Merc or Volvo. Basically speaking, an engine is an engine, but everything behind the engine (bellhousing, coupler, transom shield, drive) is specific to the brand. All that said, you can buy parts to mate a Volvo SX or DuoProp to an OMC transom assembly.

 

[Darkhorse1201]

Re: Are Sterndrives Interchangeable?

you can check out www.sterndrive.info and click on the sub heading king cobra gear charts (it covers regular cobra's as well). This will tell you the gear ratio for different size motors.

 

[Phantom17]

Re: Are Sterndrives Interchangeable?

Are you talking about a stringer with a cobra, or a merc with an omc? Cobras have alot of the same parts as a stringer, but I believe they are NOT interchangable. 4 cyl goes to 400, 6 and 8 to 800 in the stringer series. King Cobra I beilieve is the 6&8 cyl version of the cobra, and cobra for 4 cyl. As far as mixing any brand or out of series upper and lower, no they are not.