I am in Folsom CA. Stellings started making that box in 2000 because I suggested it to Jack when I was rigging a cat for him at that time and I had a trs transom assembly that he borrowed to make it.
I will call there tomorrow and see if they will make some if they don't have any in stock
Talked to Randy at Stellings today, he sold his last trs/bravo boxes to Victory Marine (713)910-2000. I called them and Scott said they have 4 left for $2100.00 ea.I have 1.50 bravo's and transom assemblies.
I agree with these guys, the TRS will be a better drive in the long run.
I converted a TRS TG to Bravo a few years back using the Stellings box's. I got them from Randy but the castings I had where made after Jack passed. They needed a bit of massaging before they would work. After two seasons of eating up Bravos we changed it back to TRS. I think that boat now has Konrads on it.
I have a few TRS drives sitting around and I know guys are picking them up all over.
sac, where are you? You must know Garfinkle (Mr Big) and the whole crew?
Stay with the TRS. They will live forever behind 330's. Good drives up to about 500HP.
Bolt some drives on, trannies are a dime a dozen, and go boating. I wouldnt re-invent the wheel glassing the transom, measuring, cutting, etc, then mock up shift cable brackets, etc etc, just to go to a less reliable drive. Sure parts are available all day long for bravos, but TRS stuff is still very plentiful. And in a heavy boat like you have, the TRS will hold up better. Bill from ATECO engines has run 600+HP thru his TRS in his 377 scarab for many years.
Lot less money, lot less work, lot less headaches rigging it.
We are rerigging our boat, DAZZLEMENT, to 850 hp and Arneson ASD8 drives, so we'll have the staggard TRS parts available for sale very soon, if you're interested. They have worked very well for us for many years, but we just got a deal we couldn't refuse on the Arnesons and I'm building bigger engines for the boat, so I decided to upgrade the drives. Call me at the shop and we'll work a good deal for you. Bill.
I dont think anyone is knocking the bravo drives, but in this case, it just appears cost wise, reliability, and labor, to stick with TRS.
The only way I would replace a TRS boat with a different drive, is if one was planning to add big power, and then i would convert to Konrad. TRS parts are still around. You can still get gearsets from merc, and although some parts are discontinued, there is plentiful stuff on the boat forums, ebay, craigslist, etc. Hell, there are still new TRS drives in crates around.
It would be hard not to go to bravo's if you are going to stick with the 454's and pump them up a little. You will get better performance out of the boat. It sounds like the transom needs to be replaced anyway.
I am one of the few that is doing everything wrong and had 100+ hours of good luck.
My Heavy 40 Excalibur is running stellings boxes and IMCO (Bravo) drives with direct bolt drive shafts and 700HP 572's. I have no issues, especially when I run away from my friends 40with similar horsepower on Konrads. Just saying...
It all depends on whether or not you have a boat that needs to have all the transom and stringers replaced, or you have a boat that will run with a few missing TRS pieces. If I had it to do over again ( and the Konrads were available) I would have stuck with the TRS Rigging and run Konrads. Of course I would have had to have more power too.
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