Advice.. Cobra inboard engines?

[blackrandomapple]

Hi all,

I am currently looking at a boat to buy, it has a cobra 4.3L V6 135hp engine that needs a little work, Says it need the timing setup.

Im just after some advice on these engines, Are they ok? reliable and are the parts easy to find?

Obviosly if i did go ahead and buy it there could be more things wrong than just the timing but i wont know that untill i bought it?!? some may say leave it but im a bit of a risk taker and believe i may have a bargain if i can get it to work perfect!

Any help on this would be apprieciated!

Regards

James

 

[tinkicker0]

OMC Cobra 4.3 is based on the Ford 4.3 V8 as fitted to the ford mustang ect I believe. They tend to be reliable if looked after.

 

[Beamishken]

Its quite a while since OMC went out of business & ceased making the cobra engines & drives. the legs were taken over by volvo penta & became the basis for the SX range of drives so some parts will be available from vp

they ditched the cobra engines & continued with there own base engines so some stuff wil be no longer available however I'm fairly sure the base is the gm4.3 engine that volvo & mercruiser use so engine bits shouldnt be too much of a problem

manifolds might be a problem but I think there are aftermarket replacements about

base engine & drive are fairly robust but you may need to mix & match with some vp bits or even mercruiser service parts shouldnt be a problem

the hp seems low for a v6 I thought the smalest was 160 hp even on the very oldest units? id double chack that

fairly low technology by todays standards so shouldnt take too much sorting if your handy

best of luck!