The weak link is the XR upper gears, the’ll chunk out or in some cases,
break a tooth off and that loose tooth will try to make its way between
the drive and driven gears, then something has to move to allow that to
happen, and it’s generally the case snout right behind the pinion retainer nut, when that happens, you’re replacing the upper.

The 1st set of gears I bought were $1400 in 05’. now they’re $2500
thats about all the “improvement” I’ve witnessed.

Several years ago I sent several failed sets to BUP (that use to be on here)
he had a a gear guru he knew and his findings were that they were getting hot.

I had the same set up as yours ( boxes , external pick ups)

I also did mods to dump a lot of water to the top of the drives,
but ended up selling the boat later in the year, so I really don’t
have any results if it helped that much.

This is the end result of a tooth breaking off

Get a spare set of bravos of whatever variation, swap when it's time to rebuild yours, and repeat. Less downtime and cheaper boating. Don't go crazy with upgrades cause you will never be happy. Try your best to just be happy with what you have and spend your money on using the boat more, and maintaining it.

Too much to explain but there's no drive upgrade that makes financial sense.

Nice boat though 342 run good and have a nice cabin and cockpit. Enjoy!

It does seem somewhat at odds with having made a statement about finances being limited (or at least that is how I took it) and then considering a series of upgrades that are very expensive...and likely far less reliable. Yes, it is hard to "leave things alone", lol...but there is the point of diminishing returns to consider, too. You never did say what sort of speed gains you're looking for? I am no expert but it seems a 400 - 500 hp increase from where you are at now, running 80 mph, might only yield another 12 - 15 mph? Just curious. There have been a lot of threads over the years where people spent big money on power upgrades yet didn't see anywhere near the expected results.

That 342 is a great boat, I'll bet it's a blast!

Nice! what power were you pushing through them? out of curiosity.

Indeed and thanks. The short term plan, is just to refresh and with some inexpensive upgrades, get to a reliable 500hp to the props. The drive upgrades are for right now reliability, and for future serious upgrade in power. The boat is awesome, and in immaculate condition, I can see spending most of my discretionary income on it in the future. I am done with hot rods and hot bikes, but still have the need for speed. Low 90's on an occasional glory run, and around 85 with a weekend load out would satiate the thirst. Sometimes just knowing that you have it, is half the fun. I hear that Baja's are not made for that kind of speed, and I wonder why that is the consensus. At 82 that boat felt tight, and stable and I did not have any of the huge Kplanes in the water. It felt like it wanted more. I do have a B1 drive that I blew the upper gears out, when I was trying to push my 272 to speeds it wasnt designed for lol. maybe I should have learned from that huge expensive mistake. The 272 now has a brand new B1 and a very reliable 468. It will be for sale soon to help this new boat along. The damaged drive is rebuildable, and I have been holding off to see what I decide on the drive choice for the 342. After looking at SCX and Bmax total pricing, it is looking more and more like blowers are not in my future. I may not be in the right tax bracket for twins at that level.

Thanks, I may do just that. I really wish Baja would have put stronger drives in this boat, its the only complaint I have with it. The drives dont match(different graphics) so at least one has been replaced.

You hit that number on point! I really dont want to spend that. The boat is in near perfect shape, and most people cant believe it's a 2000, Boat cost, + engine refresh, + engine upgrades, + drives ? that is just silly. glad I started this thread lol.

They started out as 575SCi’s, ended up doing Dart iron eagle heads and
HR cams, guessing they were 650-675. when done

I’d love to add whipples to my boat and get it well past 100, but right now it runs great, pretty fast, and doesn’t break. If I spend 25k putting whipples on I’ll need to spend another 35+ for imco scx drives. At that point I’d just sell it and buy a 700/nxt boat.