Tkanks guys! Ya'll have been very helpful especially Rod ( rpm ) & Catmando. I appreciate your input. I will also let you know how this mess turns out. In the mean time I better watch what I say in a public forum because of the legal implications involved. Sorry I didn't reply sooner but I was gone all weekend. Also let me say that the Nor-Tech is the best build quality boat that I have ever owned & I have owned MANY boats. The damn thing doesn't fall apart like other boats that I have had. It makes a good condo because with all these drive & engine problems that is all I have been able to use it for! For the record the 575's smoke like crazy because Mercury builds them to run too RICH so they don't blow up. They replaced my EEC's, put new plugs in them & put some kind of extra breather deal on the back of each motor but they still smoke pretty bad! I think I leave more fuel in the water than burns through the engines. I mean I leave HUGE pools of black stuff ( unburned fuel ) every time I start this boat up & the longer I idle the worse the problem gets. I can't help it because there is such a thing as a no wake zone! MERCURY DEFINATELY has issues with the 575/xz package & I guess I am going to have to prove it. Again thanks to all you tech heads out there & Rod I will be calling you soon. Hope everybody has a great summer. Dennis
( Luna Sea )

Hey Catmando,
This is one thing that REALLY burns my ass about the new
OSO site the fn PM Message deal! You go there to erase
some pm and it says there isn't any WHAT THE F!!!! :mad: email me at the address in my profile.:cool:

:confused: How & was this issue ever resolved????????:confused:

Hey Blown Formula
Mercury sent there head tech down to work on my boat. Mind you it cost me $5000 ( attornies fees ) to get there attention. They went through many drives fixing my boat but I must give credit where credit is due. They did fix my problem by dropping the center drive down 2" & the outer drives down 1". I didn't have ANY problems for about 25 hours & I was sooo stoked until two weeks ago at the last Lake Travis Poker Run. My center drive fell OFF! Yes FELL off! Right below the spacer. I felt a vibration & a few seconds later the damn thing just left my boat. It looks like the bolts that hold the upper to the lower with the spacer in between just failed. I will let you know what they do to remedy this. It looks like an easy fix. My Summer is over. Hope you had a good one. Sea Ya Denohew ( Luna Sea )

denohew : sorry for you.....

I am confused !:!:!

I now definately think that '' drive is a problem if you are not running with arneson''


2x bravo Imco owner

WOW Denohew! Was the lost lower recovered? I hope you did not have a tremendously expensive prop like a cleaver on there.

Interesting, drives to high making them let loose? Could it be from the props not getting clean water??? Anyone want to speculate as to why this fixed (maybe, just slowed down) the problem.

WELCOME TO HIGH PERFORMANCE BOATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

575's w/ ITS - XR Drives
 

2002 38 Top Gun w/ 575's - 100 hrs - 4 hard races - lot's of Poker Run's - many hard hours of running time and 0 failures on the drives , engines, etc. We change the fluid every 20 hours and pull the drives after every race. Had a Formula customer that has had some problems and it may go back to rigging. Formula is building him a brand new boat for his troubles. I still say if it ain't black , send it back. Just my .02 worth - Sorry for your bad experience - must be frustrating.


Brian Hollis
PowerBoatTours.com # P3-96
TaLMarine.com

DENOHEW, its John from JAMMIN, the '02 43' NORTECH. We have run several Poker Runs together.
I'd like to weigh in on the B-MAX . You are right, NORTECH's did blow B-MAX's. I blew more than anybody but they were what I call Gen I & II drives. My boat is probably the toughest test platform a B-max was ever bolted to. The boat weighs about 14,000. It's powered with T/725 NORTECH motors that dynoed at 740ft-lb of torque. Thats about 7,000 lb/drive!
My failures were all in the drive shafts in the lower units. Very few people ever blew lower Bravo's because the high power never made it trough the Bravo uppers. Dean (Bravo Shop) solved the upper unit problem but used stock Bravo lowers. Then he beefed up the drive shafts to I believe 1 3/8" (Gen III). These have been working flawlessly for about 40hr and 2 Poker Runs. All drive changes were done at no cost to me under warranty by NORTECH and The Bravo Shop.
I would have no problem recommending the B_MAX's to you. Your boat would carry less than 6,000lb/drive with much less hp and torque.