Mercruiser upgrade Pre Alpha to ???

[AviatorJim]

I'm probably a bit misguided, but it has happened before. I have a 67 Bertram with a pair of pre-alpha drives. No S/N's left, corrosion etc. . . One is an 888, whick most likely has the wron gears for the 250 ci ingine it is attached to. No idea what is in the other drive.

I'm considering chasing down parts on Ebay to change out the transom assy's, inside and out, and upgrading to Alphas, Gen II's, or Bravo's. I love the Alpha that is on my other boat. But nothing is sacred to me.

What would be my best path forward? Money is of course a consideration, durability and easy maintenance is another. Better high speed cruise and fuel consumption on plane are the other considerations. I anticipate the prop experimentations. I haven't had this boat in the water yet, and plan to get through the next season with the gear that I have just to work all the other bugs out.

Many thanks -- Jim

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser upgrade Pre Alpha to ???

Ayuh,... Does this include the I-6s,..??

The Alpha 1, or Alpha Gen.II is a pretty straight forward swap for complete transom assembley...
You'll need to drill a couple more holes, ' possibly redrill a couple of others...

Goin' Bravo is the same job/ amount of work,... They just Co$t alot more, 'n are abit Heavier....

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Mercruiser upgrade Pre Alpha to ???

If you have the $$$ and can find the transom assemblys(lot's of graveyards out there)call Jasper and swap out the drives.Then you will have the right drives and good equipment.You can get Alphas to fit the older transom assy.
If there is a lot of corrosion then get the Mercathode system to cut the corrosion.
I've seen a few Berts with drives with BAD corrosion problems,make sure you try to control it.J

 

[AviatorJim]

Re: Mercruiser upgrade Pre Alpha to ???

Ive been running the boat with the existing gear for a couple of weeks, and I can make it till winter with what I have. One engine has pretty low oil pressure, and the other is dripping water from behind the flywheel. I definitely have some work ahead. I'm going to run down the Alpha transom assys, and once winter comes, I'll be dropping both engines off at a local shop for rebuild (marine gaskets and freeze plugs, truck parts for the rest), the current drives will be for sale, and when it goes back in get a pair of new SEI drives to finish it up. Looks like it will be a good time to go to hydraulic steering too.

Besides the electronic ignition upgrade, what other technology upgrades are out there? I'd love to find a fuel injection system, but I don't think one is out there.

Thanks
--Jim

 

[dubs283]

Re: Mercruiser upgrade Pre Alpha to ???

don't think your gonna find an EFI set-up for the I-6 Chevy - never seen or heard of it

all the ones i have run across seem to run pretty darn well with a carb and conventional ignition

sounds like you got a pretty good plan ahead of ya, not sure i would be running the boat in that condition for fear of causing more damage to something, but its not my boat