jayhawk261

According to my drive serial number looked up on mercury parts express it is a "Performance Drive". It is a 2000 model Bravo 1 and it has a sticker that says "Performance" on it. is this infact an early XR? If so, anyone know what the HP rating was on the earlier models?

Griff

I'm sure its the standard Bravo, but some of the newer ones are a liitle better than the older ones. All the X, XZ, and XR drives are stickered accordingly.

X's have a stronger upper
XZ's have helical cut gears the same size as XR's
XR's have square cut gears

XZ & XR's use the same lower and have a 1 1/4" propshaft.

I think that the regular Bravo's started using a larger propshaft in the last couple years also.

Mbam

What's the serial? Is it a low water pickup?

See below for some info:
http://go-fast.com/mercruiser_bravo_sterndrives.htm

Griff

Correction--looks like its a 1 1/4" vertical shaft, not propshaft.

Mr Gadgets

Jayhawk,
What does the serial number start with?? If it is before OM as I suspect then you have a standard Bravo 1 with thin floored gears and nothing special. If it starts with OM then the newer X gears are involved, but you more than likely have a aluminum tower. First weak point is the floor of the gears. If you do a gear kit upgrade the next weak point is the tower, in my opinion. After that the lower shafts are next.. What size boat and power are you running.

The rating on your drive would fall into the low end of the scale, but depending on driver capabilities.. and proper set up it can live. If you are planning on upping your power I would suggest a gear upgrade and a steel tower and new cap. I have done this for others and it makes a decent drive. If you are going to big power then you can upgrade to XR gears. If you fly the boat, then the lower needs to be addressed.. XR propshaft and Imco vertical shafts have been working for my customers..

Hope this helps.. If you would like more info.. feel free to call or pm me.

Dick

creeper

Checking out old threads for info I have the same Bravo Performance drive it has low water pickups (on torpeto) and it seems beefyer than most Bravos I have seen.I was told by someone these drives were tougher/Beefyer. Is what I was told correct ???? I think I'll ck but I think ser#starts w/OL18**** Its set up w/Merc 525sc factory.

jayhawk261

Hey Creeper, thanks for bringing this thread back up. I forgot to post my serial numbers to know what it is for sure. They are:

Drive - Serial: OL749013
Model: 5C31200LS

Anybody know from that? As Griff said, it is probably just a standard bravo 1, but I'd just like to know for sure. I am not planning anything at the moment power wise as she's runnin 72 gps right now. I'm still learning to drive her. My mods this year will be to complete the hydraulic steering and have the prop tweaked a little.

Thanks for the help guys!

creeper

jayhawk what boat and motor are you running.

Mr Gadgets

jayhawk,
The OL drive has the thin floored gears in them, just a regular Bravo. If it says Performance on it, it may have Diesel gears in it. At one point the Bravo was offered behind a diesel motor. They did some slight upgrades to the drive. I think the gears were slightly better, but not up to the X gears standards. Then merc offered the diesel gears in the standard Bravo and called it Hi Perf.. It may have a larger lower vertical shaft, but I am not sure.
Basically, you have a standard Bravo outdrive. There are several routes to go with upgrades, depending on what your intentions for the future are.

Hope this helps.

Dick

creeper

Mr Gadets then whats up with the water pickup ,there not standard,and why in the rack next to a standard bravo 1 mine looks to be beefy from top cap to lower?????