Which outdrive
 

Out of all the bravo style drives out there which one would you use if you could choose and cost was not a issue.

And why would you choose it or why not. like who has the strongest upper, best case for strength and speed, best gears if not using merc parts and what ever else you can come up with.

Here are the one's I can think of feel free to add any I missed.

Imco sc
Imco scx
Max machine worx
Bmax
Bravo xr
Konard Ace
Ilmor

IMCO SCX upper... SC lower.

I did a lot of research...

Chris

Don't the sc use bravo parts? I thought the scx lower has better gears.

When your saying Bravo style you mean no trans right? Just a bolt on the gimbal and go?

Waconda.
With your heavy boat and any power, the SC lowers will be the weak point. They use the Merc lower gears. So does the B-max I believe.
I have been doing some testing on the lower gears lately with the Rockwell tester and find the pinions are soft and the driven gears are harder. But not as hard as the SCX gears. I have more testing to do, looking at some old gears to see if they used to be any good. One set of lower gears failed in 10hrs.. The pinion gear has just started to give up metal and the driven gear has very little wear. That is what prompted me to take alook at hardness.
But I talked to Imco last week and so far they have not had any gear failures to date with the SCX. All things aside, it would be nice to bolt on a pair and never look back. I have a friend with two on his boat and 150hrs in first season and no failures.. He would go through a couple of XR's a season, at least. Now he has time to wax the boat, if you know what I mean.
That Black Thunder is a heavy boat.. I believe the SC gears would fail sooner than later.
If I can find a set of lower gears that match in hardness, then I could agree that the SC lower would be a choice. At this point I would say no.

Hope that helps.
Dick

There ya go...Keep up the Hunt for the ultimate combo Mr. Gadgets.

I think the SCX is a great drive...
But at this point, the lower is definately slower than a SC lower. The SCX lower has bigger gears than the SC, but the SCX lower shape needs some improvement. Even IMCO runs SC lowers with SCX uppers on their 1000hp per side Nordic cat, because the SCX lower scrubbed to much speed.

It is my understanding that IMCO is in the process of re-designing the shape of the SCX lower to make it more hydronamically efficient.

Until then.. my SCX upper, mated to my SC lower has been just as fast as when I had a complete SC. I have had no problems with this combo to date.

Chris

Correct.

The lowers are the weak link in the Bmax and Imco for sure.
I have had no complaints with the Bmax upper at all but I'm always looking for something to hold up better for a lower.

The Konrad Ace was mentioned, however it does have a transmission, it just is in the extension box. Good for heavier boat application.