Let me say first I'm a newb boater. This is my first boat and although having been around them I've never had my own. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all the concepts of what can be done and modified to these machines. So if I say something newb no need to flame me please

Just bought a 4800lb cat with a bravo 1.5 upper and xr lower w 3in spacer to lower the xr. Boat currently makes 510-550hp. I was thinking about bumping up the horse to around 650-700 with a mild blower upgrade. In talking with the shop he thought this was a terrible idea with the drive being the weak link and needing a major upgrade. They think nothing short of a total rerig with a $20 grand drive or so will provide me with ultimate reliability (he may be right). If it's going to cost that much to get the drive capable of me getting to the 90mph goal i have I will have to forget about it.

But if i can respect the throttle out of the whole and drive responsibly are there steps I can take to get to a point where I can rely on a drive for 150-200 hrs? Can I beef up the bravo one upper with new, heavier duty bearings, gears etc? Do people ever do this? what typically breaks on them anyway? Or would that even be cost prudent. Would an upgrade to an XR upper make more sense? I see them new on the classifieds here for 3000 or so. And just to throw it out there could I or would I want to throw a #6 on it? (no idea what's entailed with that but there is one reconditioned, wet sump, for 6k on the classifieds).

I guess depending on what you guys say I may have to drop the dreams of my blower and 90+, but even if I do have to he still thought that at present power levels my drive set up was unnacceptable. So I would still need to possibly beef it up (if guys do that or replace it with an xr if you guys think that's the only thing that will do it)

Thanks to all that can take the time to help a new boater out with some info

I have a 90+ mph 29 outlaw and I am rolling the dice and running my bravo drives. I figure that if I am easy on it out of the hole and don't jump it much it will work. Besides, I have spent enough money on the motors and figure I might as well run the drives that I have until I break them and then upgrade. Go for the blower!

I say go for your upgrade ,,like stated above ,,once u blow the drive u go and buy a used IMCO SC and be fine ,,since the boat does not weigh that much and its a cat !!!!

It actually should run 90ish the way it is now !!! Take the spacers out and try some diffrent props. Lot cheaper !!

I agree. If my heavy baja will hold up I am sure your cat will.

The XR should hold awhile on that boat (but will break eventually)......are you sure you NEED a 3 in spacer? Seems performance could be improved with changes to that setup.

Prices you quoted for drives can't be correct....$3K might get you a regular bravo. $6K #6 might be for the drive, but you'd need to replace everything from the motor back (including cutting out the transom) to switch to a #6.

well, the 3250 would be just for the xr upper. Again, for whatever reason the previous owner installed a 1.5 bravo 1upper with a xr lower. And yea, that #6 would require alot more as I've found out after writing that.


I may have found a few things after funneling through over 25 pages of archives in this forum. One thing people seem to agree upon is a good top cap will add longevity..... seems people speak highly of this one... http://www.maxmachineworx.com/upperTopCap.htm wonder how much it costs, I will probably call them on monday

any other little parts I can have the shop throw onto the bravo 1 upper that will help increase longevity without going overboard?

Also, I'm not quite clear on the difference between the different bravo uppers, specifically the Bravo 1 and XR. All the parts there on that machine worx website says the kits fit both of those bravo drives. So I'm guessing they are exactly the same casing just with different guts? Meaning If I were to hypthetically take an xr and brav 1 and installed one of their complete kits on the upper I'd have the exact same drive right?

Performance wise I think it may not be propped right, which is another reason I'm taking it to the shop. People with other awesome 26's swear by the spacer, not sure why, but I think I should probably ask. Also, this awesome isn't supposed to be the fastest cat, which is why I bought it. What it sacrifices in speed is supposed to be made up for in it ability to handle chop, by having a deep vee....the boat will see some lake michigan duty

I'm not sure why the awsome cat's need the drives deeper, but I do know I'm running a 12" standoff with a 3" rise and when I bought the boat it had a 1.5" spacer in it, 830hp at 3600ft elev. it only ran mid 80's, took out the spacer and jumped to mid to upper 90's, that spacer was like dragging a bucket. get rid of the spacer and run it you may be surprised.

P.S. If this is your first cat, go easy until you get the feel, It's a whole different ball game than a deep V.
Larry

man.......all you guys keep bringing up the spacer. I have no idea why guys with 26 awesomes are running the spacer but ALOT of them seem to be. The spacer was one of the first things that the guy at the performance shop brought up too, though at the same time he said he's never had access to an awesome 26. I have asked the question on the awesome forum because you guys have me questioning it. It's not very busy in there but hopefully I can get some answers. I would think there has to be an advantage to it with our boats or so many people wouldn't be running them.

Is it a big job to remove that spacer (i'm mechanically inclined, but have zero drive experience being this is my first boat)? were any of the guts changed (i'm assuming they were) to accomodate that extra length?

I'd still like to know though, any other small things I should look at other than the max worx top cap to help add a little longevity?

your going to need a stock shaft specer and stock studs, simple to change, unbolt lower remove 3" spacer and studs, install stock stuff, fill with oil.
Larry