best replacement 460 king cobra

[Steve Mahler]

i am hesitantly looking at a boat with a bad 460 king cobra. knowing all those fine issues, i would be converting to mercruiser....so, would an alpha one fit the king cobra cutout, or is it too big?

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: best replacement 460 king cobra

Howdy Steve,



We might need a little bit more info.

How big is this boat?

Just an aside, when i pulled the 460 in my current boat I wanted at least the same performance with any replacement.



A replacement that has an ALPHA behind it will probably not perform as good as the 460.

The 460 is a lot of things, good and bad. Performance WAS NOT one of the bad ones!!



Oh, and to answer your question. YES an Alpha will bolt right in. If it's a GEN II or a Bravo, you need to drill 2 additional holes at the top of the cutout.


See the pictures below for comparison.

Liberator with King Kobra

Liberator with 454/Bravo III

Cheers,


Rick

 

[Steve Mahler]

Re: best replacement 460 king cobra

boat is a 28 bayliner, really needs a 454/bravo; but i know they can modestly perform with a 350 alpha...i am hunting around for prices/donor boats.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: best replacement 460 king cobra

boat is a 28 bayliner, really needs a 454/bravo; but i know they can modestly perform with a 350 alpha...i am hunting around for prices/donor boats.

That's a pretty big heavy boat.

Don't expect anywhere near the same performance with a "350"

You might get close with a 383, but I wouldn't put a high HP engine in front of an Alpha on a cruiser type boat.

I paid about $5K for my 454/Bravo III. I also was able to sell all the King Kobra "stuff" part by part for about $3400 so far.


My suggestion for a 28' "anything" is a Bravo III (or a Volvo DPS if you can find one.....I looked and found a LOT of Bravos.)



Good luck!


Rick

 

[rodbolt]

Re: best replacement 460 king cobra

if your drive is in good shape you can go with an 8.1 or a 6.0 GM.
use the omc bell housing from a GMv8 cobra or SX,use the front mounts from a GM v8 cobra or volvo sx.

the 7.4 has been out of production since about 2003 and finding a good complete unit is hard.