pre-apha and apha 1

[ohio river rat in KY]

what is the differnce besides looks and wich one is the better out of the two?

 

[Bondo]

Re: pre-apha and apha 1

Ayuh,.... 1 is Newer than the other.... 'n there is no Pre-Alpha....
But there were several drives before the Alpha 1...

 

[Don S]

Re: pre-apha and apha 1

What are you calling a pre-Alpha? Pre means before, and there were a lot of drives that came out before the Alpha I drive in 1986.
Many of them aren't even interchangeable with the Alpha drive.
Drives like the O drive, the I, II, and III, the 1A, 1B, 1C series, the TR. an TRS and 215 drives are all "Pre" Alpha, but not even close to interchangeable.
If you are talking about the MC-1 (known by many names), the R, and the MR, these are the drives that actually interchange with the Alpha I drive. When I say interchange, that means you can put a complete MC-1 drive in place of an Alpha, and vise versa, but you can not interchange parts between them, too many little differences.
Download this ID and History document I put together some time back, I think it will help you understand all the differences.
http://www.4shared.com/file/213854305/deac4209/Mercruiser_Alpha_ID_and_Histor.html

 

[ohio river rat in KY]

Re: pre-apha and apha 1

the reason i am asking is that i got a 1980 baretta and just got a 1983 baretta and nothing is really the same besides the motor cover and the motor trying to see witch one to start to work on first both run but need look work done....... but like out drives are differnt i guess baretta made a big change between these years
so my 80 is mc-1 and the 83 is i-r right?

 

[Don S]

Re: pre-apha and apha 1

so my 80 is mc-1 and the 83 is i-r right?

Hard to say at this point. Unlike cars and trucks, the year of your boat doesn't mean that's the year of the engine/drive package. You need serial numbers off the drive to know for sure.