New Drive from Imco....
 

Looks like Imco could have a winner on their hands. The new SCX drive looks like a new sheet of paper. There is an article in the new Powerboat and Hot boat mags..
I was told the upper has 5" gears and they are straight tooth, I assume similar to XR gears but larger.. The lower gears are larger also.

It is priced right and includes a new heavy gimble and helmet and propshaft hub for the 1 7/16" propshaft.
I am looking forward to offering this drive to some of my customers.. Hoping it is the answer to the next step of performance..
Thanks Imco for heading in the right direction..

Dick

How will this compair to Konrad ace or Merc nxt?

I saw that article and that drive looks good. I wonder if the Cryo treat on the gears would help even more. I don't necessarily believe that size is the only factor in the gears, but how good the material is and what loads it can withstand. They said in the article that they have yet to break a drive , but have broken a few diesel motors !!!

Hard to say how it will compare to the others. I know by price is it a smidgen more than the SC, but includes a new gimble and helmet, so that puts it at almost half the price of the Konrad. And way way.. cheaper than the NXT. And no transmission to mess with. I am thinking B-max with finess, something that shifts and has larger lower gears. I was told that 750 ft/lbs is what it is rated for. But it all depends on boat weight and driver and torque curve of the motor. I was told there are some test boats that are running much more power, just dont have specifics on it..

I think cryo would help, but we have to see how it fairs out in real world, to see if we really need to go the extra step. I think the diesel test boat is loading it pretty good with 1.25 ratio and 34" prop.. thats quite a load. I can't imagine how long an XR would hold up to that.. :) :)
Looking at the pieces and the info so far.. I am anxious to try one.

I talked to Imco today and the helmet and prop hub come with it, but not the gimble. But I think it would be a good idea to upgrade the gimble at the same time..

I wonder why only 750 hp, people are already getting the bravos to live with 700 or less. The Extreme SC was rated to 800 hp....

I've heard some horror stories about the 1000 sc drive as well....

The SC 1000 had some gear problems right off the bat. They made some changes in the gears and I dont think they have re-released it yet.
My thought is the 750 rating would be a point at which they could offer a warrantee. But that is speculation on my part. I find that it is very early in the evolution on this new one. So it may take a while. I think B-max went thru it's growing pains also.
I have had pretty good results with XR's over 700hp and up to 1400hp, but they dont last forever. The thing I like about this new drive, is the larger gears!! That is the weak point for the XR now and the lower gears for the B-max. If this SCX works.. it will be a reasonable cost replacement for the XR. Even if you add in the cost of the Imco Gimble (that I thought was included) you are at about $14k. That is close to what a B-max goes for, isnt it?
Time will tell. And they are not available as of yet. Still in the development stage. Look how long Merc tested the NXT before it became fact and we still cant get our hands on them.. And the one place that is selling the package wants $37.5k for that.
I have to give Imco credit for spending the time and money to develop a drive that could fill the bill between XR and NXT/#6. I just hope it is sucessfull...

Dick

Nice to see another option out there. Does it use a bravo transom assembly?

Yes it does, but the Helmet needs to be changed out.. Still dont have the particulars on if that Helmet fits the Merc gimble, but I suspect it does fit the Merc HP unit.. I will check with them again on that..
Dick

I haven't seen the article, what's the warranty on this new drive?

Can you purchase an extended warranty?

Larger doesn't make it any stronger it's all in the material, heat treating and hardness specs.

[QUOTE=Panther;2396916] The Extreme SC was rated to 800 hp....
But it did'nt like it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

They have not made any decisions yet as to warranty. This drive is in the first stages of development. I know the SC is not the strongest drive on the planet, but it has the same internals as the Merc XR but with improvements. I know there are SC's out there that havent broken. Which takes us to the Fact that anyone can break anything if they try.

And yes you are correct John, bigger isnt always stronger!! I was just excited that the gears arent smaller.
The way I see it, Imco's main purpose in building this drive is to make a stronger unit, so that they could warranty it to some extent. I suspect they did some home work before forging gears.
Only time will tell, but the B-max has been out for long time and still has some issues. I am hopeful that this new drive will be an alternative for people that break the XR and SC's. And dont want to upgrade to a transmission/drive combination.
I give Imco credit for going out on a limb to offer an alternative!! It isnt cheap to build a drive from scratch.
Just my .02

Dick

I am running alot of hp, and before I go to a B Max (which I think is the best for me so far) I hope this comes to market. I like the fact that this drive is going to have larger lower gears.

this intrigues me Dick, I have a 42 tiger and will be pushing about 625 per side with xrs. in your experience if I was to go to 750-800, what could I expect from them. I have never had a drive failure in any of my boats, I am easy out of the hole and watch the throttling when re-entering...Rob

With that size of boat, and the good luck you are having.. My thought is that your drive life will shorten.
I built some drives for a 50' Hustler, actually I have built a lot of them. He was getting 20hrs out of an XR, then with proper setup, and scabbing parts from broken drives, (customers wishes) I managed to get that to about 80hrs. A new set of XRs and he managed to keep it around 60hrs. I freshened the drives and installed cryo'd gears and the motors were freshened. Bumped the power from 575hp SC to 650hp. Boat ran 85mph with 575hp, now runs 93mph with new motors. An I am told it idles and goes 93, not much time spent in between on a 20 mile run. Lifited an aftermarket cap on the LH drive, it broke, switched it to an XR ribbed cap, new gears. So far about 60hrs on drives, except the one that was rebuilt after the cap lifted.. and no metal on the magnets. It is an extremely have boat.. so I think it is holding up well.

So it comes down to acceptable hrs of life. With the increased power you are thinking.. I would suspect you could see them live 100hrs, maybe more. Will this be NA or blown. Will it be Procharged or Roots type blower. Depending on mid range torque, gear life decreases.. I can build the best XR I can and it may not be close to as good as the SCX. The B-max and this new SCX are headed in the right direction. But as always, we are chasing the weakest link. After it is fixed, we bump up the power to find the next one.. :)

Hope this helps..
Dick

yes id does help, it will be all NA, JC took them up to about 575, and no drive problems at all, now I am putting on alum heads and changing some fuel ratios, nothing severe. i'm est tq to be about 650. Just changed drive oil at end of season and it was clean as a whistle, I have simrek drive showers as well and I honestly swear by them to keep temps down.

The only thing a drive shower is good for is to keep the outside clean. Buy yourself a drive temp gage and go do some tests with the shower, and without. Thats what I did, and seen NO difference.

One thing that the SCX has is internal cooling. I was told that after a long hard run at 6000rpm.. drive temp would not go past 200*...
I have set up an external pump, cooler and filter on one drive with the 1400hp motor. Never did have any temp gauges on it, but the metal that was in the filter was unreal. When I tore it down.. everything looked great. It only had three weekends of run time, but I was told 15 hard passes. I was impressed myself. :)

Are they telling you when the SCX will become available?... I mean really available:cool-smiley-011:

Sounds like the Drew Marine system. I want this system for my drive this summer. I really feel if I can keep temps down, then the Bravo has a chance for a decient life.

Dick,
By" unreal" I asume you mean very little? If not when you tore it down where did all the metal come from?

There was a lot of metal in the filter, showing that the gears were breaking in and a lot of yellow metal from the bump rings, I suspect.

Jeff the Drew system is a nice system. I bit pricey and the input and output points are differnt on my setup.. also I have a better pump, other than that, yes they are the same.. Oh and the filter that is different also...
And yes you are correct, I believe low oil temps help promote better lubrication and longer life...

2112,
I can get your name on one today if you like.. More will be built as soon as expected parts arrive, hopefully end of Feb, first part of March.
As I said, it is very early in the deployment of this new drive. If all goes well, there should be some available this spring.. Of course it all depends on how things work out as more get into customer's hands..

What about drive heights and ITS?

I currently have 2" shorties on ITS.

I'd wait a couple years (2-3) and see what the results are...

The 1000 drive was a big hoopla and that didn't go so well, neither did the Extreme SC.

If you do decide to go with IMCO....Make sure you get them though a Dealer that does alot of business with them so they have them/IMCO stand behind their workmanship.

Mr Gadgets - Can you give us a bit more info about your drive cooling system for XR's. Any pirctures, pricing, lead time?

Thanks,
Jeff

That's my question too. I figure at some point I am going to need to do something with the XRs behind the 600s on a Sunsation F4. I am just over 100 hours and have not had any problems. I'm very easy on them out of the hole and re-entry, but I figure in time I will have to do something...

I like the ITS setup and am wondering what changes I would need to make, if any?

sell the boat, build another with 700/NXT's....problem solved:p:cool-smiley-011:

We will see if it sells over the next couple months. I thought my new one was part of your avatar!:p By the way - go change the oil again for me will you?:D

2112,
At present the SCX is only offered in a -2", but a 1" spacer is available. I did not ask the question, if a -2" SC is the same as -2" SCX. I assume they would have mentioned it, but I will be happy to ask that question.

jbrauer
I have only set up one cooler to date and was not able to get testing info from the customer. I am going to install one on my next drive and see what info I can record. At that time, I will offer more info. Sorry I cant be more specific at this time..

I thought Illmor was developing a new cone clutch drive for their motors, any oneelse heard this?

later

I heard Ilmor is working on their own drive as well. Don't know any details on it but for a time they were looking at using the Weissman but decided to go at it in-house.

I called lastnight and inquired about a price. Roughly $13000.00 with new helmet.

Pump and filter for XR
 

Any pics of the installed system?? Very interested

What kind of shower and pickup were you running? There is a big difference in effectiveness depending on the type you are running.

Ilmor is definitely dveloping a drive but I believe it's more of an NXT competitor meaning it will have a trans but be a feasible Merc XR replacement. I know that it's being tested as we speak but been kept under close wraps, why I don't know. Anticipating an announcement later this year but no availability until 2009. If you know anything about Roger Penske & his companies he only does things first class. Coupling Penske & Ilmor technology together should produce a very nice piece.

I did my test with a simrex. What tests have you done?

Pickup your latest Powerboat magazine, some pictures in there.