Swap IMCO SCX for Bravo XR Upper
 

Hi Guys,

I have gone through 3 xr drives this year and have got no support at all from Merc. 2 were complete rebuilds and one brand new out of the box. Merc's response was driver abuse.

I am considering changing the Upper gearset from the Bravo XR to the IMCO SCX upper.

My current setup is Merc 600SCI Power, Latham Extension Boxes, XR Drive with Sportmaster lowers.

I'd like to know if ANYBODY has a similar setup and what kind of results they had with the IMCO's.

Also, If anyone has perfromed the swap, some pic's and insight would be great.

Thanks!

Have all 3 been the same side? What was breaking?

[QUOTE=MarkDonzi;3772276]Hi Guys,

I have gone through 3 xr drives this year and have got no support at all from Merc. 2 were complete rebuilds and one brand new out of the box. Merc's response was driver abuse.

I am considering changing the Upper gearset from the Bravo XR to the IMCO SCX upper.

My current setup is Merc 600SCI Power, Latham Extension Boxes, XR Drive with Sportmaster lowers.

I'd like to know if ANYBODY has a similar setup and what kind of results they had with the IMCO's.

Also, If anyone has perfromed the swap, some pic's and


insight would be great.


You may want to talk with Chattviper here on OSO. Mark had a 42 Poker Run Addition Fountain with 600's / XR's and went to an SCX setup, so it should be pretty similar. He did however go with the SCX lowers as well, but his 600's were jacked up a little.

With stock 600's, I would stay with SC lowers, the SCX lowers will rob you of some MPH unless you go with the surface SCX -4.

If I was in your shoes the SCX upper with your sportmaster lower would be a smart choice. You might lose 1 mph but it would be worth it.

If you start breaking lowers you could upgrade to the SCX lower called the #13. It looks like a SC or a SCX-4 lower but is actually a SCX lower. You might lose another 1mph with a lower but could gain that back with WCM blueprinting.

Sorry to hear about your problems. I have been in the same "boat" for years and can not stand the crappy XR gears that Mercury makes! (my Imco SC's eat XR gears)

You have a good running boat not sure the lengthy "dial in process" of the SCX-4 is worth it. The SCX-4 has not proved itself on V bottoms yet. Some boats have run slower, or equal. Thats a lot of prop testing and prop expense for the potential to lose speed or stay the same, and maybe gain strength. (scx-4 has not been out long enough to prove its strength swinging those huge 17" Dia props yet)

Good luck and happy boating

Save your self alot of money trouble and agervation. Call Reggie or Wyatt at FPM. They will steer you in the right direction. They installed and set up my Imco scx4's this spring. Been boating all summer no problems boat never ran or handled so good. I did have Craig Wilson blueprint the lowers. By the way I picked up 6 mph also. Attachment 481892

Attachment 481893

Have all 3 been the same side? What was breaking?

Broke Both sets of uppers at different time

Broke a gimbal housing which alsoallowed my Hering props to touch and junked n=boyth of them.

Have never had a problem with lower gearsets

I will be using the SCX upper with my sportmaster lower and keeping the same props, Will the IMCO sccx upper only change my prop RPM?, this is news to me.

You should be fine with the scx. The larger gears take more hp to turn but it wont be noticable. The lower gears also take more hp plus more drag through the water due to size. Again its very minor especially on a v bottom.

Good luck and please update us on results!

you can use your same lowers and just switch to the scx uppers, helmet and stainless gimbal ring.

Yeah its a good idea while your in there to upgrade to the stainless gimbal ring!

OK, The drives are finally installed. Had to custom make steering plates to replace the latham plates originally on the boat. They would not touch it. Shortened the tie bar and everything looks good. Next comes the water test.

Why they ever put XR's behind 600 SCi's was always a comical joke to me. Heck the 525 is already a mystery... Then the 600 and its torque curve - they had to be kidding.

Another bend over and take it situation. Thanks Mercury. You'd think by now, they'd friggin STOP offering the Bravo XR on anything but a black engine.

Nice work. Let us know how they turn out.

Yeah, Teague/Amsoil boat figured it out.

525 and #6's

That probably works pretty well! LOL

how many blades on the props?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]501255[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]501256[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]501257[/ATTACH]Got my SCXs mounted

And a couple more upgrades- O and don't forget the extra Hundie Ponies!!

Wow Quinlan, that looks awesome! I thought my bilge was going to look really nice until I saw yours.

Mark runs 5 blades with 600 SCI.

looks like Im in the same position accept with a single engine cat. I just granaded a Mercury XR. Im running around 850 hp on a 26 foot Eliminator Daytona. Thinking about The SCX myself. Should i run a SC lower or a SCX lower? And if I run SCX what kinda loss in drag should I expect? Running 110mph now. And tell me about blue printing Drive? Lower I assume?

Ok,
I've run the drives about 10 hours since the install dropped the oil and everything looked great Oil looked brand new, no metal. driving I have no difference from the XR's.

I'm running merc 5 blades that have been tweaked and Merc 600 SCI's. My boat has a relatively high x dimension that may have been contributing to the bravo problems.

Hopefully these things last, time will tell.

I have same set up, with 6 blades so far all okay.

Looks awesome man!

Splash Splash this Weekend!!

Sounds all to real , I have a 600sci single screw with a whipple stage 2 kit 740hp and just blew the top half of my xr into trash, took it real easy on lower 6 hours on lower since i did the kit from whipple . I am hearing the imco's are no better than the xr for this set up though. WTF

Which Imco are you referring to? An SCX upper is rated for well over 740HP.

Would you bolt an scx upper to an xr lower , rebuilding my xr but trying to figure where to go with this xr drive problem going fwrd.

Thats what I did, I have never broke a lower gearset with my current setup, hopefully that continues.

I went through 3 xr uppers last summer, no way they will survive that horsepower and torque.One of them lasted less than 10 hours for me and when it broke took out my bell housing and both props That was babying them all the time, easy on plane, easy on the sticks, easy everything.

I have 2 Sets of XRs for sale-- Just incase you want some spares one set with Teague uppers.

I put this set up on my Cigarette last season (Imco SCX uppers XR lowers) behind 2 Zul blower motors and have not had one issue. Last I knew Imco has not seen many if any SCX uppers fail.

So what about drive showers on the SCXs? I do not see where one can mount.

The new ones have internal water cooling with built in drive showers , check there website .

Mark

what oil are putting in the scx, just bought one putting on my boat this weekend , done with the xr drives . I

Torco RTF only.

thanks

Torco RTF, Recommended by IMCO, did first oil change after 7 hours and oil was like new. 25 hours till next one.

They have had at least one failure, there is a thread about it in this section. If I remember correctly, imco supplied the parts and the owner paid for labor.

Well, ran mine for the first time this past weekend.
How does everybody's shift? Some times is was smooth others the whole boat shook. At first it felt like it was hitting rev when I went to neutral hmmm

Mine shifts very smoothly! 36 hrs on it, oil looks like brand new.