Drive recommendation
12-08-2016 | 10:09 PM
#21
Registered
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 68
Likes: 4
Had a customer two years ago with 700 hp in a 27' Fever. It had an SC drive on it. SC didn't hold up. Blew the upper and wasted the transom assembly at the same time.
I re-rigged him for a BMax 1.50 ratio. Boat didn't loose any speed and it's been two years since I did the job and no failures.
At the 700 hp level, you'll need to refresh the lowers every 3 seasons or so, depending how you drive it. Just change the oil every 10-15 hours and monitor the fluid. If you ever see a metal flake in the oil, keep a closer eye on it. If at the next 10-15 hour sevice there's more metal flake then the first time, it's time to tear the lower down and put a new gearset in.
I run 965HP on BMax HT's. My uppers were freshened after 300 hours with new pinion gears. The lowers I replace every other season. You gotta pay to play.... but I don't have any failures (knock on wood).
[ATTACH=CONFIG]562455[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]562456[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]562457[/ATTACH]
I re-rigged him for a BMax 1.50 ratio. Boat didn't loose any speed and it's been two years since I did the job and no failures.
At the 700 hp level, you'll need to refresh the lowers every 3 seasons or so, depending how you drive it. Just change the oil every 10-15 hours and monitor the fluid. If you ever see a metal flake in the oil, keep a closer eye on it. If at the next 10-15 hour sevice there's more metal flake then the first time, it's time to tear the lower down and put a new gearset in.
I run 965HP on BMax HT's. My uppers were freshened after 300 hours with new pinion gears. The lowers I replace every other season. You gotta pay to play.... but I don't have any failures (knock on wood).
[ATTACH=CONFIG]562455[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]562456[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]562457[/ATTACH]
i have a 540 being built right now for a 27 ft boat with a fresh imco sc upper from imco all new gears ect. ect.
the -2imco lower i have with it, is said to be good to go but with unknown amount of hours...
will no hear in a few more weeks what the 540 goes on the dyno....
im actually second guessing my purchase of the imco sc....
01-02-2017 | 11:18 PM
#24
Banned
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 9,594
Likes: 46
From: Ft. Worth TX
in 2007 that was the BMax out of Florida - correct ? So what changed currently for the BMax ? and the current offerings compared to the Florida based BMax ?
01-02-2017 | 11:19 PM
#25
Banned
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 9,594
Likes: 46
From: Ft. Worth TX
01-03-2017 | 01:32 AM
#26
Charter Member # 55
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 20,252
Likes: 2,500
From: Omaha/LOTO
01-03-2017 | 02:57 PM
#29
Registered
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 922
Likes: 54
From: Lago Vista TX
here is their "warranty"
** Two year Warranty is applicable on all stock horsepower applications and on selected custom build units up to 650 horsepower.
Last edited by Boatally Insane; 01-03-2017 at 03:28 PM.
01-03-2017 | 04:02 PM
#30
Frank's Marine Service
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 11,959
Likes: 142
From: Elkton, MD
The only was I was able to recover the lost speed was two part;
1. Swap out the SCX lower for a standard bravo lower and got back 8mph. I actually built and tested an SC lower and was still 5-6mph short. The standard Bravo lower was the only thing that worked on that boat.
2. Refreshed the engine and put a larger camshaft in it. That was good for getting him all his speed back plus an additional 2-3 mph.
There have been a lot of updates done by the new Bravo Shop which includes upgraded bearings, shiming proceedures, clutch stack height modifications etc. They also came out with a 1.50 ratio upper gearset which is probably the single biggest difference because the BMax drives I have only came with a 1.30 ratio back then. That change alone helped a lot with people no longer losing speed when making the change. The Fountain I did the conversion on had a 1.50 and he told me that he only lost 1 mph with the change. My Apache, even with the 1.30 only lost 1-2mph but gained 2-3 mph in cruise speed over the IMCO SC's.
