460 omc

[eagle21]

just got a 88 4 winns liberator with a 460 omc and has a omc outdrive wondering if i can swap engines do to its hard to find 460s and if so what would bolt up to the outdrive

[flabum1017]

nothing on the 460 will work with a GM motor, if you go with a 350 or 454, you will need evrything to mount it up too, i'd leave the 460 in it,,,,,,good power. too bad the drive sucks

[Jim Bob]

I don't remember (newer generation) OMC using GM blocks on many, if any V-8 applications. If you can find an OMC bell housing for a GM, like a 3.0 or 4.3 V-6 that bolts up to your internal transom assembly, then you have the beginings of a conversion. If you change to GM (454/502) you would need a complete engine, exhaust manifolds, alt, etc. All the GMs use the same bell housing bolt pattern, so that's why finding that would be a big step. I've converted a boat with Yamaha outdrives to Mercs, which is reverse of your needs, but it is possible. I'm just not sure it would be worth the time & money. I also agree with Flabum1017, the OMC drives aren't much.

[Capt.Insane-o]

Nothing wrong with cobra drives. Parts are getting tough to score for king cobras tho.

[Forkin' Crazy]

I retro fitted a Volvo replacement drive in place of Cobra, if that helps. It bolts right up. Volvo bought them out.

[Instigator]

Most people instantly delete everything Cobra in a performance boat but I'm not sure that's mandatory of you're careful. I sold boats in a dealer during the Cobra hey day and we only had one King Cobra issue on a fast/light boat and the shop owner was sure it was operator error. They did have some good ideas.
I believe the big blocks all ran the V-8 O/B case which is OK if solid to begin with. If so, I'd pin the carrier as a start and run synthetic fluid and watch your hole shots. Similar to Mercs pre-Bravo days with big block Alpha's. Knew lots of guys that ran them hard w/no issues if they were smart.
Keeping the OMC in a Liberator would be way up on the fun factor and be different than all the cookie cutter 454/502's.
As far as the motor itself, research a guy named John Kasse (sp?). He is the king of the big block Ford and has won the annual "Engine Masters" dyno shoot out w/Ford power multiple times. They also did a recent article where he made more power w/less money w/a big block Ford than what you could w/a GM based block. Pretty cool stuff.

[eagle21]

thanks guys

[Mr.Rude]

460s hard to find??? They are as common as sand. Why would you go backward to a chevy, when you have all the parts to run what is there. What are your intentions that a 460 cant do?

[flabum1017]

The clutch dog cobras were junk....a pita to keep adjusted and could not carry a big block well, the later omc/volvo cone clutch drives were the ticket,,,, if it says "Cobra SX" on the side of it, then you got the Volvo drive which is good.....

[coupe]

Bigblockford.com is your friend! Anything you need for a 460 is there.

[Dcramer]

Pre 1996 most of the OMC V8-s were Ford. 96 offered both ford and chevy. 97 was pretty much all chevy. The early volvo SX-Cobra and SX were very similar to the OMC.The main difference is the cone clutch in the drive.