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Thread: King Cobra

  1. #1
    707-CREW
    I have sweet 1987 rogers daycruiser that is a great boat for my family. The previous owner installed a 454 ho/king cobra (cone style) like the bravo. I rebuilt the drive last year. I need to get about 15 more mph out of the boat. It will go 60 all day and I have had it up to about 68 running light (fuel, icechest, ect.,) I get about 5400 rpm. What is the best bang for my buck? I wish it was a bravo....but i'm stuck with the king cobra....any formula's or info would be great....thanks

  2. #2
    BDMar
    68 plus 15 = 83. 588 CI BBC should do it...

  3. #3
    bocco
    I have a 91 King Cobra with a Chevy 350 on a houseboat. Ours went out due to poor cable adjustment not fully engaging the cone clutch. While it was apart in the shop the tech and I were comparing the gears and internals to a bravo. All much bigger and more heavy duty on the King Cobra. Not a bad drive to put horsepower to in my opinion.
    Mercruiser makes a hub adaptor for their props to fit on the King Cobra.

  4. #4
    gnarley
    707-CREW, nothing wrong with that King Cobra, if its a cone clutch!
    That drive will out last any stock bravo1 and most tricked out bravo drives. It has internal cooling unlike a bravo so it doesn't need a shower, it has big shafts and gears, the upper was designed by Volvo and the lower was OMC and together they had a joint venture in the development in that drive before OMC went belly up. After the bankruptcy Volvo acquired the stern drive factory from OMC and those drives are now Volvo's but they aren't marketed as performance units.
    I was told when I did research on my King Cobra that they were tested with 1000 HP, this was info from a shop in Wisconsin that stocks OMC parts and had a close relationship with OMC before they went under.
    I have a little Fourwinns Liberator 201 with the OMC 454 King Cobra and a Weiand 177 blower on it, it's been 75 MPH and I have never finished getting it dialed in. You can get your Rodgers going 80+ you just need the HP and a good prop, I run a Powertech OFX 4 blade, you can get props for your drive, you don't need to be envious because everyone has a bravo. Just because Merc has most of the performance marketing working for them doesn't mean its the best when it comes to standard drives, their high end stuff is another story. Who developed the cone Clutch? It wasn't Mercury....
    What prop :idea: do you have now? I have an OMC 14 3/4 x 28 SS 3 blade I'd sell if your interested.

  5. #5
    75spectra
    If your shift linkage is on the side its all OMC, if your linkage is on the back its the joint venture drive. The true kings were very stought. The joint venture drives started in 1994 and still had the cobra logo and in 96 it became all volvo or "vobra" as we call em.... The vobra's also took on a spline count change on the propshaft so watch out for that when buying props. Don't knock your king its a very good drive!

  6. #6
    707-CREW
    Gnarley....pm me with a price on the prop...Also after rebuild I filled it with redline heavy shockproof and I think it slowed it down being so thick....I think I will drain and go to a light shockproof???

  7. #7
    Outnumbered
    707-CREW, nothing wrong with that King Cobra, if its a cone clutch!
    That drive will out last any stock bravo1 and most tricked out bravo drives. It has internal cooling unlike a bravo so it doesn't need a shower, it has big shafts and gears, the upper was designed by Volvo and the lower was OMC and together they had a joint venture in the development in that drive before OMC went belly up. After the bankruptcy Volvo acquired the stern drive factory from OMC and those drives are now Volvo's but they aren't marketed as performance units.
    I was told when I did research on my King Cobra that they were tested with 1000 HP, this was info from a shop in Wisconsin that stocks OMC parts and had a close relationship with OMC before they went under.
    I have a little Fourwinns Liberator 201 with the OMC 454 King Cobra and a Weiand 177 blower on it, it's been 75 MPH and I have never finished getting it dialed in. You can get your Rodgers going 80+ you just need the HP and a good prop, I run a Powertech OFX 4 blade, you can get props for your drive, you don't need to be envious because everyone has a bravo. Just because Merc has most of the performance marketing working for them doesn't mean its the best when it comes to standard drives, their high end stuff is another story. Who developed the cone Clutch? It wasn't Mercury....
    What prop :idea: do you have now? I have an OMC 14 3/4 x 28 SS 3 blade I'd sell if your interested.
    You are still on here?
    Gnarly helped me out quite a bit when I used to be Old Lavey about 6-7 years ago. I had a BBF with the King Cobra drive for several seasons. I got the new design cables, Gaffrig twin-stick controls, etc and the drive was bullet proof running about 350 hp. There is nothing real bad about those drives when set-up correctly. You just need mo power I was real happy with mine.

  8. #8
    Stoker22
    Be very careful with your oil choice or it will start to slip the clutch. That drive is very strong as long as the shift is adjusted correctly.

  9. #9
    Nmocean
    mine was bullet proof it was behind a 383 on a 201 liberator unlike my bravo1, I would trade it for a king cobra anyday

  10. #10
    Outnumbered
    And you can't beat the impeller design. That was the best thing about the drive design from a maintenance stand point.

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