X Power outdrive
 

I was in Lake Havasu and saw that new X Power Drive running around. The boat was a Conquest deckboat with a Pfaff 1250hp twin whipple motor. It looked awesome. The guy driving the boat said it makes 18 lbs of boost on 110 race gas. We watched the guy get on plane probably 20 times at full throttle it looked crazy. Then I was in Copper Canyon later that day and watched the boat go by at full speed over and over, and it was throwing a huge rooster tail. I met the owner later that night at the Naked Turtle and talked with him for a while. He said that drive on the boat just passed the 375 hour mark without one problem he also said that they will be available in about 6 weeks. Does anybody know what this is and does it work as well as it seems, because I am on my fourth drive and this is a nightmare. I took a look at their website xpowerdrive.com and I saw the deckboat video on it and it was the same boat.

I heard 35k and it will botl to the bravo gimbal.

I really like what I see there...just not much mention of gears and shafts.
Dry sump and cooling the oil is key.
Is the upper case made of SS or Alum?

I believe the whole drive is billet ....Story I got was they had to keep making the oil cooler smaller because they could not get the oil hot enough ... I believe they ended up eliminating the cooler ....

http://xpowerdrive.com/vids/video3.mpg

I heard 30 k , but have'nt been able to speak with the rep at the co yet.. Still waiting for a call back.:rolleyes:

I spoke with the owner today. I think his name was Bill. He was very helpful and answered any questions I had. I asked him about what was inside the drive and he said that they are just about finished with a few patents and then he will put all the schematics on the site. It sounds like they have been testing on quite a few boats for a very long time, and it also sounds like they have solved the problem with the failing drives. Just sounds like big money, but it costs less than my four broken bravo drives. Could it be the Holy Grail?

They have thier website updated thats for sure.

The thing I find incredible is the fact he has 375 hours on a 1250 hp motor,I wonder how often he freshens it,Smitty

so what happens when the oil pump drive belt breaks on your $35k drive.

Wasn't it direct drive off the gears?






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drive belt
 

Its a small toothed gilmer belt (like a blower belt) that is under the carbon fiber cover. The oil pump is external as I remember. It should be pretty tough.

Is all this stuff under the cover sealed off to outside water?

If it isn't you will be replacing that belt all the time in salt water.

Wonder what type of clutch
mechanism they're using ?

Their site doesn't say much about the rest of the internals.

From the shape of the gearcase, looks
like SSM props will be in order.

Looks like a neat piece though

This drive and information pertaining to it is as elusive as SASQUATCH! If customer service post release is as good as pre release....they won't even need a phone.

This drive is highly proprietary, Bill has invested several million $'s developing this drive, It is close to it's release, and all testing has shown no failures. Benefits are huge, Drive weighs just over 200 lbs, bolts to stock bravo gimbal, a speedmaster 6 gimbal hook up is already in the works, there is virtually no power loss thru sump system on the X. It's skeg design is very efficient. It requires no transmission, so that failure will not exist, takes a speedmaster prop, or Bravo. X dimensions variations of 5 ". the retail price will go down as r and d costs are recupped, but how much is it worth to gain 10 or more mph with reliability, add up the costs of breaking down on a long trip poker run, last I checked a merc 6 with tranny was over $70k.

I saw Sasquatch the other day. He was in a Stryker:party-smiley-004:

Considering how weak the bravo is, I am anxious to see new players and hope these guys can pull it off. I also hope it is priced so that it is worth it. Imco has their new drive out too. Competition is good. Maybe Merc will make their NXT drive available as a stand alone package??

keep in mind the Imco and Nxt will only hold around 800hp and torque, the X will hold 1500 of each, different animal .

I really wish them all the best. The more competition the better for all of us.




Darrell.

I hope its as good as it looks...it would be the "wonder drive" setting new standards.:cool:
Go man go.

If the price is stratospheric, most will go with a known entity in the #6

Those #s sound too good to be true, don't get me wrong, I hope they are correct but wow.



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You still have a weak link in the Bravo gimbal. They DO have a tendency to break.

The oil pump and belt is not sealed but just under a carbon fiber cover. When the boat is on plane it is above the water.

They said they broke gimbles, so they already are in the process of building a stainless gimble ring to be finished soon. They said it is a direct replacement for the stock ring and it should be over three times stronger. That was a question I already asked them. Also I spoke with Bill yesterday about the belt in the water, and he said on early versions it was sealed but then they checked with Gates the belt manufacturer and they said salt water has very little effect on the degradation of rubber, ie your rubber gimble bellows last a long time. Also he said that most cars have rubber timing belts and they can go 50 thousand miles with no problems. He also said their is very little load on that belt, to turn that oil pump at speed takes under 1hp so the belt has no stress on it. Also people say they have a hard time getting a hold of Bill, I can get through every time. Call him on this number, 805-320-5631 and see.
I am getting more and more sold on it. Time to bite the bullet and open my check book...

Bad idea letting water under the cover. Corrosion will be a big problem unless every single part is stainless.

The evasive and elusive "Bilgesquatch".....he seemed to be intriged and anoyed by the camera.

I agree! Also the fittings looks like Russel type fittings ant they dissapear very fast in salt water. My guess is though that the picture might not be of the finished product and with all the money and recearch that went into this drive I am sure they have already solved theese problems. Lookong forward to hearing the answer to this.

I wonder what kind of warrenty they will offer? Depending on final priceing I will deffentely consider buying if they live up to what the promise.

I am starting to feel like I am bugging Bill, but I would like the answers if I am about to shell out that kind of money. As far as the fittings corroding out, well we are all looking at the prototype on his web site. He said if you look at the web site you can see pictures where all the lines are gone, no more fittings at all, all the oil now travels inside. He said on the prototype drives the lines were all on the outside for pressure testing. The final oil tank is now taller and bolts onto the back of the oil pump. The oil tank somehow directs the oil to the areas that need it. He said nothing will corrode because everything is either stainless, or treated with a very special aerospace coating. Even all the seals are specially coated. He also said their is a removable plug for flushing under the top cover.

I looked at the website but could only find computer drawings. I am guessing that this is what he is talking about?
http://www.xpowerdrive.com/images/dr...unclothed2.htm

Did he happen to mention anything about pricing? What about when they will be avaliable?

Anybody using these yet? And any pricing?

Thanks
Don

I'm curious about this myself. I haven't heard much about these drives since last winter.

x drive
 

nothing is unbreakable beleive me.my buddy broke his drive just after abont 10 hours or less (not sure) it hit neutral and then locked solid running almost wide open(not to good on engine) as it broke the inner transom plate ripped the coupler apart.took it off and the drive shafy assemblt shot out forward and snapped the front bearing are off the drive.sent it back i think they said that it broke a gear from pinion and locked up oil pump and so on.sent it back and they did repair and sent it back it has only been out once since then and did work fine. the bad thing it took six weeks to get it back and it came back with some back scratches and dings not good when it has a clear coat like powder coat.you will probally ask so he is running a monster 700 + with big 7 littre whipple but iy is a mild tune/boost running only around 1400 hp. not bad in a little velocity 280 HOLD ON !

I believe even a # 6 can break when abused.

I think the most impressive part here is that they actually warrantied it with that horsepower.
.

I second that. Sounds like a great warantee.
I have a few calls and e-mails in to the factory and no returns. are they that busy or out of business??

bump?

Don, one of your first calls should be to "Kap" he bought and ran one and did a full write up on it.

Kappys got a 1000 horse deck boat that the millennium falcon couldnt catch.

Needless to say the X power is NOT on the boat. He did a full write up on all the good bad and customer service.


Uncle Dave

Can you say "broken" they all have seemed to have failed. There was nothing more then false promises and unsubstantiated claims about these drives with an exorbitantly high price tag. I don't think they are even in business today. It is more sad that people actually were willing to shell out $35K each for these and then had deal with fact that the company folded. Should have been named "Gone In a Flash"

I decided on the IMCO SCX upper on mine and the SC lower because I wanted to beep the high prop shaft height. Still testing and practicing putting the motor in and out of the boat.... cam change and ceramic coating on top of the pistons this time....
I wonder how much HP/TQ the new Indy drive can handle, if its anything like there motors is should be everything they say it is. I might call them