Drive recommendations please
 

Have been combing through the internet and threads on here. Wow, how things and opinions change over the years lol. So first, the boat, 2000 Baja 342 HP500 EFI's, with extension boxes and Bravo 1s. With 650hrs it is time to freshen things up. Though I know twin engine boating is not for the fiscally challenged, I am a lowly diesel technician and finances are a concern. Love the boating life! and have given up most of my other hobbies so I can put max focus on the boat. The boat runs 80 with light fuel, 2 people, gear and a cooler, and have got a 82mph gps "glory run". Not bad for the old tired girl. For now a basic engine rebuild with some porting, tuning and really meticulous building practices. Flat tops will be used as a pair of whipples will be in the near future- hence the need for current advice. I am thinking a real 500hp for now and a conservative 675-700 when the blowers are installed. What drives will get me a nice happy boating future? I am easy on the sticks right now, and would be with the new power. I would like drives that can take a bit of abuse from time to time as I am not a super experienced throttle man, and I do enjoy this boat in the rough. Most of the stuff I read is not consistent from year to years. So what is today's recommendation? Drives need to fit my bravo transom assemblies, since they are bolted to my extension boxes. Thanks for any help

SCX or BMax uppers at the minimum….. you might get a third of
the hours you got on your bravos if you go with XR’s.

IMCO SCX uppers w/ SC lowers will give you reliability and performance.

Or leave it alone refresh what you have and go another 650 hours of Trouble Free boating. Speaking from experience but of course WE never listen :evilb:

Best advice ever given right there! I only wish it was in my nature to leave stuff alone lol.

I’d have to agree with Quinlan. Refresh what you have, if need be, and stay in the reliable bravo range. 82 is a very respectable speed and Bajas just weren’t designed to go much faster. Doesn’t matter what make it is, do you really want to dump $40k+/- on just drives on 22yr old boat?

So XR's are still on the bad list? There are a couple of 100mph cats on my lake that are running them, I know cats are a whole different game. One guy says the old XRs are better and the other guy says he used to blow up old ones, and the newest versions are the best. I have noticed most of the guys on here dont have very nice things to say about XR's, so unless something has recently changed, I kinda figured XR's would not be the choice. I would need standard length lowers, as the boat handles, planes and performs awesome right now. I have transom mount water pick ups and the drive pick ups are used for the IMCO showers, would this be a problem with your 2 suggested picks ?

Are those lowers standard length?

do this…more power in a flat bottom Baja will offer limited return on top end speed, yet will significantly impact reliability. it’s not worth the trade off. keep your hp to 500 or less and go boating. 80 mph is a respectable speed. enjoy the boat and water.

good luck

4 lengths available: std, -1, -2, -3

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.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...bab2ce71a.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...6d433bbe9.jpeg

This is the end result of a tooth breaking off

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...17045f220.jpeg

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.

Do it, you have two spare drives.....:D....Ive broke an XR with a carb'd 502 just crooozin along

lol, spares aren’t the problem. Installing the spare 50+ miles from the boat ramp is! Lol

While the Wife is *****ing "this GDam Cigarette Boat" the whole way lol Don't ask how I know.
and Yes I always carried a spare set of drives because they were different gear 1-36 and 1-50 so spare props too.

Went to SCXs and almost 800 HP-and No Problems.

I had my drive rebuilt by AADS and got a 24 month warranty. I had them cryo my gears as well. 3 years later my magnets are still clean. I have a built 524 that pushes my Velocity to 80+ with a full tank and 6 big guys.

Did you get a performance upgrade service? Or just the rebuild of the stock unit?

Reason I ask is I'm having a 502 built that I'm concerned with the stock Bravo I.

I had the performance upgrade. His price was extremely reasonable.

Boat is winterized, and end of the season comp test and leak down have been done. Both engines are still in great shape. They must have been rebuilt/overhauled/top ended at some point. I definitely have time to get the drive thing figured out. Now the figuring. I am going to replace the broken upper gearset in my extra B1, any suggestions on where to get parts? The OEM prices are insane, I can buy a low hour complete drive for the cost of the parts. I want to get into the drive to familiarize myself with the process.
The latest posts on this thread have also got me wondering if having my gears(in the installed drives ) cryo treated is worth it for insurance against expensive breakage? or is it better to use new gears for the process? In which case I would obviously wait until I have to replace gears. I really like the suggestion of just always having a spare drive(or two) ready to go.