Printable View
I have a chance to buy a buddy's boat. Its a 1988 Laveycraft 21-22 foot (length?). The boat is clean. I am just leary about the power. It is a stock 460 OMC King Cobra with a Cobra outdrive. The boat has 260 hrs and the outdrive was re-buit by a local marine shop last season. I am not looking to do major power mods. My main concern is reliablity and the availability of minor power upgrades. The price is under $10k and seems to be a bargain to me. Any input??? Thanks in advance for your help!
Johnc, your 460 is a durable engine with a 429SCJ cast iron manifold that performs extremely well.OMC installed the last remaining SCJ manifolds on this engine to boost HP and these manifolds no longer available readily.I've had Edelbrock,Offenhouser etc.manifolds on the Ford and none performed better than the cast iron unit.Don't waste your money on intake,invest in a better exhaust manifold instead.The SCJ man has huge runners that don't match the smaller 460 heads but don't worry about that.The other good manifolds match better yet they didn't produce higher RPM's or acceleration.Your drive would be my only concern because they seem to dissapear from the market.They were derived from the V8 outboard model wich handled 500HP.I guess if you careful it should give you longevity.Up here in Canada it seems to be a hassle to get parts in a hurry.
Before I got my new Eliminator Eagle, (this year) I had an '89 Marlin 22'Day Cruiser with a 350 King Cobra. I put on over 1100 hours and changed the gearset once, shift cables twice. I will say that it was not the same quality drive that Mercruiser builds, shifts rougher and wanted to pop out of gear on occasion. But all in all, I'd say it was pretty darn reliable. That boat is still in the family and still going as I passed it on to my son.
The 460 Ford was coupled to a much larger and more robust looking drive than the one that I had with the 350. I had almost bought a 24' day cruiser with the 460 but opted for the 22' open bow instead. The reason that the cobra drive came and went pretty quickly was (I was told by some friends in the industry) that it was based on some expired Mercruiser patents, so OMC designed a drive around those older patents. Not sure it is true, but I have no reason not to believe them. Probably designed the new one since the old silver OMC drive (I think it was dubbed the "better idea drive" or something like that) was kind of a hunk of junk and was not really competitive with Merc.
OMC developed a relationship with Volvo-Penta and married their lower drive with Volvo's upper unit with the Cone clutch sometime in the mid-90's. That was when the Dog-Clutch Cobras vanished......
I'd say for that price point with Lavey quality, it is a steal. And if the drive was recently serviced, it will probably handle the ponies as long as you don't get too carried away......
Limin8r,
Thanks for the reply. This board does not appear to get a lot of action so your reply is appreciated. Since I made the post I have been checking other more active boards and have learned quite a bit. What I have heard is pretty consistent with what you are saying. The Cobra seems to have somewhat of a tarnished reputation but this is mainly due to problems with the design of the cables and linkages. There is a copy of an actual OMC memo circulating out there which confirms that OMC actually recalled the control cables and linkage in the late 80s. Appraently if it wasn't for this problem the drive would be just as reliable as the Mercs. You mentioned that you replaced the cables twice and the gearset once. How much did this cost and was it a problem to get the proper parts? Was finding a qualified OMC mechanic a problem? I'm in the SoCal area so any recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks,
John
Did you buy the boat? There are only a few of these left in the world. They have the most efficient hull design I have ever seen. I purchased a 1988 18' with a 150hp outboard new in 89. I was able to get it up to 83mph with minor engine mods. I sold the boat last year and picked up a 20'2" sebring modified tunnel, probably just like you are looking at for 10K. It has a 454 that I am modifying a little this year. Last year I put rewarder headers on it and a manifold, which it sounds like you already have a great manifold. The boat went around 85. I hoping to reach 95 this year. It is a fabulous hull. Get the boat, you will not be sorry. It is very stable and fun.
Originally posted by johnc:
I have a chance to buy a buddy's boat. Its a 1988 Laveycraft 21-22 foot (length?). The boat is clean. I am just leary about the power. It is a stock 460 OMC King Cobra with a Cobra outdrive. The boat has 260 hrs and the outdrive was re-buit by a local marine shop last season. I am not looking to do major power mods. My main concern is reliablity and the availability of minor power upgrades. The price is under $10k and seems to be a bargain to me. Any input??? Thanks in advance for your help!