Livewire,
I agree with what Air Time has stated! If you dont have enough power to knock the teeth off the X gears, they last a long time, driven with respect. How big is that Sunsation, weight??
The 525hp you are looking at should be fine with that B1-X..

Enjoy!
Dick

hey, what a great thread I have a sea ray 240 bowrider with a standard b1 that just went from a 330 to a 489ci rectangle port 10-1 comp 525-540 lift roller and revolution manifolds engine and was wondering if and how long the drive will last.

another quick question, can I put the x gears in my drive?

I appreciate everyone's input on my upgrades in my quest of the 80 mph bowrider. My final decision for the upgrades will be the 525 Raylar kit,Partial Dual Hyd. steering,BBlades prop,Garmin chart plotter and a thumpin system.Thanks Kevin

I did the test with a simrex drive shower. I'm sorry you can;t see how they don't help that much, I am only reporting test results in my combination. Here are some pics I took with my camera, some at speed so sorry for the quality.

First pic is of the shower on the drive.
The second pic is temp reading just on plane.
The thrid is one the boat cruising aporx 55 or so

These pictures are from the boat running around 70, to 75.

No difference with the shower, or without at either speed.

I didn't take a picture at WOT cause I was busy driving. But the temp almost read to the end of the gage. It was still climbing when I let off, running over 85 mph.

So those are my results. Like I stsed, maybe I am not the best test platform for a shower with a 288 and lots of hp running to a single drive.

But for all those guys who say they work, go get a drive temp gage and give us some ACTUAL results please.

Jeff, those are interesting results. Formula worked with Simrek a few years back when they had problems burning up Bravo III drives on their 400 SS's with 500 EFI's. Formula began installing Simrek Halo showers on these boats as standard equipment after testing them. I've not seen any detailed test results related to Formula's working with Simrek, but one would have to assume the showers made a difference or else Formula would not have installed them at the factory. The final solution to Formula's problem ended up being the Bravo III XR drive. My guess is running an external drive shower is better than running no shower at all, but internally cooled drives are the real answer to folks running big HP through Bravo-style drives.

searaycer,
You can put X gears in your B1, there are several kits available. I would suggest a steel tower and a good top cap. I have an upper, built ready to go, sell yours or keep it for a spare. Check my add in the Classifieds, add #27. Any ??? shoot me a pm..

Dick

Sounds like the real fix for Formula was the XR upper for the B3. I am only reporting my test results. I would love someone with a standard stock set, say a 496HO and a bravo, buy a drive temp gage and do some test with a shower and without. That would be a great test. Not from a shower supplier, but a real boater who runs the boat like an average owner.