Which Outdrive Do I Need: Gen-1 or Gen-2?

Trying to figure out which outdrive to buy when it's time to replace your current one is really a lot less complicated than it sounds. You really only need to know the YEAR and ENGINE SIZE or HORSEPOWER for your boat. It's a pretty easy thing to figue out from there.

The vast majority of Mercruiser-style outdrives for 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder and small block V-8 applications fall into two categories - Alpha One or Alpha One Gen 2. Now, you may have heard of Alpha One Gen 1. Don't let that confuse you. Gen 1 and Alpha One refer to the same outdrive.

Here's the relatively simple way to determine whether you have an Alpha One or and Alpha One Gen 2 outdrive:

If your boat was built between 1973 and 1990 and has an engine that falls into one of the categories above, an Alpha One drive will almost certainly fit. Alpha One is a direct replacement for R and MR drives, too, as well as most MC-I drives.
If your boat was built between 1991 and today and has an engine that falls into one of the categories above, an Alpha One Gen 2 outdrive will almost certainly fit.

Be aware that some 1991 boats have outdrives and transom assemblies that are Alpha One and NOT Gen 2.

Another way to tell which type of drive you have is to look at the area where the upper half and the lower half of your outdrive are joined together. Gen 2 drives will have several bolts that go all the way through, so you can see the head of the bolt and the nut on the end. Alpha One drives, on the other hand, use internally-mounted studs with nuts on the end to join the two halves. You cannot see most of the bolt heads on Alpha One drives.

Of course, if all else fails and you're still not sure which type of drive you have, write down the serial number from your outdrive and call us at (919) 247-0928 and we'll try to determine your drive type that way.