Would neutral stand off boxes and -2 short lowers be the same or similar to -3 boxes and standard lowers?

The Imco boxes are the neutral and -3" you are referring to.
When using the -3" you raise your motor by 3" and the X dimision is shorted by 3". It allows you to use the stock holes in the transom.
Using the neutral with a -2" would raise your X by 2". If you mounted the box in the stock location.
In order to match the -3" box you would have to move the motor and box up by 1".
Any time you move the motor, there are alot of things that have to change. So avoiding that is a good thing. Although the -2" isnt quite as high (not getting as much advantage) as the -3", it is a whole lot simpler to just put the box on and install the Shortie lower.
Would you go faster with the -3", maybe? But it would be a lot of work to do all that and have to install 1" spacer to get you back to where you would have been with the simple setup.

One thing I like to do is look for others that have done the swap and see what works on your hull, before committing to more of a major project than is needed..

Hope this helps.
Dick

I would get stelling boxes ,you dont have to play with the motor, put it all the way up and use a 2" shorty.
If the X-dimension is to high now ,.......you can lower the box 1" or 2" back down.
+ you are running a driveshaft with a bearing carier which is much more reliable then the torsion shaft on the imco aplication.

Thats a good point daredevil, I forgot to mention the Stellings, it is adjustable, but drive shaft angle is limited.
And I have been running an Imco torsional shaft for 9 yrs without any problems.
I just figured rbr was talking about the Imco..

I had the stellings on my Powerplay, since the adjestment is only 1" up ,level ,or 1" down ,the ange for the driveshaft is not a problem at all. Thats wy a 2" shorty comes in play .
So its either 3" up 2" or 1" up.
I ran my PP with twin 650HP and about 620torque.
Never a problem. A little more greasing to do ,but very,very handy.
You can change engine without taking the drive of ,you can lower the X-dimension by just losening 8 bolts and they look more like they are made for the bravo then the IMCO's.
Plus you keep the engines as far down as you can, which is a good thing in a V-bottom !
With the IMCO i have seen that torsionshaft rip of the gimbal many times. Put it depends on what HP and luck, but who whants to press his luck ?!
Think about how limited your driveshaft on a truck is !
And here you only go 1" either way .

I have seen guys try to leave the motor down low and lift the box to the highest and then have problems with too much angle on the drive shaft. Not that I have experienced it, but just hear say in the area. The Stellings is a good box, dont get me wrong. I dont care for the lack of the rubber coupler, but in most cases it isnt a problem. I am running some where close to 800hp, I feel, no dyno papers to prove it. But I opted for the Imco because of the shock value to the drive.
I havent seen any Imco's fail, so your are more experienced than I in that respect. I just havent had a problem as of yet..
The adjustability of the Stellings is great! and would work in rbr's case. I was just lending my experience to the mix..

I have been told to go with imco neutrals and 2" shorties so I guess that is the only way to obtain that.

Where i seen it fail is on a 27foot activator raceboat it happend twice in one season . With a stock 525 and a very light boat.
I have never seen a stelling setup fail !?
Ofcorse you need to make shure the oil level is right in the bearing carier and also grease the driveshaft , but you should do that on any thing that has oil or greasefittings !
I quess just some people forget. LOL
But i also would say that it is the best setup for him.
once he goes with IMCO neutral and a 2" shorty well then you can go down but never up!
With the stelings like i said the angle should not be a problem at all. Driveshaft is about 15" long and 1" up or down on that length is nothing.
You got to realiese that with the (what ever drive you have)as soon as you trim or steer that angle is much more on that U-joint from the drive then it would ever be on that driveshaft.
And the driveshaft u-joints are greasable the ones on the drives are mostly not. THINK ABOUT IT !?
I loved my stellings. Actually i checked it again and it has a built in 1" raise from center hole of the 3 holes. So level would be top hole and 2" raise would be bottom hole + 2" shorty would give you 4" higher X-dimension !!!!! COOL.
With the Imco ,..... i dont know it just seems that they are not worth it. I mean the boxes theyr Bravo stuff is great ,but i think they be better of drilling some more holes in the boxes and come up with a carier. Lot easyer to play around with.

You know that you then only raised your X-dimension by 1" .
Because for every 12" you go back you need to automaticly go up 1" anyways.
So you 2" shorty will not be enuff.
I hope you will not find out the expensive way and then buy STELLINGS .
Just trying to help !

PS.: I wish someone would had helped me with all my problems i had in the past ,but the only one who did was my wallet.
Think about it !

What i was trying to do with -3 boxes is use stock lowers and not need the lowers.