Bolt up Mercruiser 165 or 200 inline 6 to Bravo I sterndrive?

[Northwester]

I own a 25' Bertram with twin inline 6 165hp mercruiser inboard outboards. I'm considering changing out the original #1 drives to bravo I drives.

I plan to go to remote areas with the boat and I would like to increase the reliability of the propulsion system. By going to the heavier BI drive, there should be less stress placed upon the clutches, gears and bearings, thus increasing the reliability. The conversion would add about 100 lbs. to the boat due to increased weight of BI over AI drive unit.

The bolt pattern on the chevy inline 6 engine is the same as a small block chevy. Aside from trying to get the exhaust to line up, can I bolt them straight up to the drive using the appropriate SBC intermediate housing, coupling unit, Bravo transom shield assembly and drive?

Thanks in advance.

[steele m.a.]

Where on Vancouver Island - I'm in Victoria.
We've been wrestling with a similar problem in Saanich.
Our Campion 22 originally had a 302 on it's Bravo I , now it doesn't ,
so we've been trying to match an earlier 240 six with an older
Alpha.The old Alpha isn't worth saving - too much corrosion , but the
302/Bravo is a much improved system .
The Alpha is on an old (late sixties) Fibreform 19.
According to the Mercury factory , the 240 six simply is not the correct
engine for a Bravo , at least not for that year.
It boils down to spline count and diameter , and the bell housings not being interchangable between the 8 and the 6 .
markalfredsteele@yahoo.ca