Question on Ford/Volvo/OMC collaboration

[cobra302]

Hi... I found a post from 2004 by TheBlacksmith where he said Volvo Penta entered into a joint venture with OMC and eventually took over the OMC Cobra plant. I would like to know if a 1995 Reinell with OMC Cobra sterndrive running a Cobra 302 engine was built during this joint venture - and if the Ford 302 V-8 engine is similar enough to the automotive model that it would accept finned aluminum valve covers. I'm talking about the ones which which read "Cobra - powered by Ford" as seen here:

http://www.rowenashores.com/pictures/cobra-valve-covers.jpg.

I put a set of those on a 68 Cougar XR-7 I had and it transformed the engine compartment... I'd love to do the same on my Reinell if the covers are a perfect fit as I suspect they might be. Any advice much appreciated, along with any other interesting bits of info on the Ford/Volvo/OMC collaboration.

 

[TheBlacksmith]

All the Ford marine engines used by the joint venture were "Windsor" (vice "Cleveland") engines, so if the valve covers fit a Windsor truck engine, they should fit. There was now such thing as a cobra engine, Cobra refered to the outdrive, the engine was designated by it's horsepower or metric displacement, i.e. 190 (hp) or 5.0 (liters). An "F" designated a Ford, with an "L" for carburated engines and an "i" for fuel injection. The hottest Ford ever produced was a 5.8FSi (5.8 liter, Superior output, fuel injected, more camshaft) at 275 hp. No high output 302s were used.

 

[cobra302]

Hi... thanks for the reply... glad to see The Blacksmith is still with us... I just joined. So the cobra designation applied to the outdrive which, in 1995. as I read it, was at the point where Volvo Penta had acquired OMC and was still putting the well known OMC moniker on their drives. Interesting coincidence then that Ford also had an automotive 302 ci engine which it called the cobra, or at least the cars themselves were called cobra and ran the high performance 302 as one option... hence the existence of those valve covers which I pointed to in my post. I don't really know if the words "Cobra - powered by Ford" mean "The cobra model car with Ford power" or whether it means a "cobra powered" Ford automobile... I always suspected the former because "Cobra" was first (or at least previously) used by AC Bristol with the AC Cobra sportscars of the mid 60's. But either way the moniker "cobra" kind of became all but synonymous with the ubiquitous Ford Mustangs. So now we have a boat which has a 302 Ford V-8 but runs a Cobra outdrive to add to the confusion. I suppose the question of the valve covers will only be finally answered by trial and error. My boat mechanic who has been in the biz a long time thinks they will - that the block and heads are pretty much identical with the automotive variety, so I guess it's worth picking up a set on ebay and giving it a try. I hope it works... they sure dress up the engine bay! You mention the 5.0 had 190 hp. Is that the standard 2 bbl carburetted model? Because I think there was also a 4 bbl as well as the fuel injected... I have seen figures in print all the way from 175 to 225 hp attributed to the Ford V-8