One of the five becomes a Six
 

I consider it an honor to own Lock & Load, one of the five 90 MPH Top Guns. Over the past two years, with the supervision expertise of Zero Patience, the boat has had many upgrades and updates. I'm equally proud of the boat and to be a part of the ZP pack of Cigarettes. Here's a shot arriving at the Galleon from Key West 2014.

I have to confess that I have had a bad case of drive envy since last year when Zero Patience upgraded to Dry Sump SSM Six drives.

Lock & Load was built with SSM V drives. While perfectly functional, the 5's ate lots of HP on its way to the props and looked like a young Forrest Gump (with all that hardware) compared to the sleek appearance of the Six drives on Zero Patience.

Sooooo....while visiting friends on the docks at the Galleon, a trade was negotiated and "one of the five" started on its way to "becoming a Six". As always is the case, it was Zero Patience's confidence that "we can do that" combined with his "if you can afford it" challenge that inspired me. So it was get home, clean it all up and get started.

In almost every transaction, a trusted broker makes all the difference. I was fortunate to have Craig Colabella, THE MAN, when it comes to Mercury SSM out drives agree to broker our transaction. Specifically, Craig inspected and assured me that the drives I was buying were "all there". The removal of the 5's got started right away. Having ZP's Six drives parked next to me was a constant inspiration.

Drives came off easily with the overhead crane. Extension boxes were quite a bit tougher and knuckles were sacrificed, but they were soon ready to go.

I was so confused till I realized this should have been one single post lol.

I`d be really interested in the results, we all know them SSM drives eat up some HP
Congrats

In a Five to Six transformation, we wanted to keep the engine in its original location. This was opposite the usual method of new mounts, rebuilt tail pipes and hatch modifications that are generally required. With input and advice from Tommy Hofstetter at Chief Performance and John Pompei at Marine Performance, it was determined that Sixes on 12" extension boxes would give us the necessary X dimension and stay within required driveshaft angle limits. After all the geometry homework and with the help of Cigarette brother First Gun, the transom modification began. He filled all the holes for the external steering that wouldn't be needed as well as the mounting holes for the 5's.

Next it was off to paint to get the "blank canvas" ready to redrill the mounting holes.

The next step in the transformation was to mount the template for the six drives, drill new mounting holes and enlarge the drive cut out. Mods completed, First Gun glassed everything up and renovated the inner transom by filling holes and reapplying white Awl-Grip.