What pitch are u running with the 4 blade 27 or 28 ??

26 stock

I have been told before that you will actually go slower if you switch from a standard to an XR due to how the uppers are setup. I was told that the XR has straight cut gears that actually take more effort to operate causing a looss in speed due to the power it takes to overcome the differennce in gears.

but like i said i have just been told this. i have not done this on my own account. i have been told by a drive guy and another marine tech.

Just for grins...2000 Tiger with 750hp, stock XR's and 5 blade Herrings spinning out...84mph.

thats some good numbers. I think my buddys are 650 hp and with his stock bravos with 5 blades his best was 76.5

Stock 540 Bulldogs with 8/71's @ 6 psi...we're just guessing at the 750hp figure.

straight hull? GLH had merc 600's in his with xrs and was at 82. Have you had any drive issues with the blowers and the amount of torque?

Yeah, its a straight bottom...If I remember, GLH's 600's were a bit warmed over also.

He keeps up on them rather well...as soon as a problem shows up he has it opened up and looked at. A few gear sets and vertical shafts over the years but other than that he's golden.

My experience backs this up. I switched from B1X to the IMCO SC (same gears as XR) and lost a couple MPH. I will add that I went from 1.65 gears to 1.5 and had to change props....not sure if that factors in or not. Props were all four blade and back to original rpm's now.

I always heard that sportsmaster lowers are for boats running 90 mph. plus.