353 Ext. Boxes & 502's w/ Shorty lowers Qstn.
 

Hello Everyone,
Just bought a 353 w/ 502's and stelling ext. boxes. My mechanic was looking at the X-Dimension and said that I could probably gain alot with the addition of Shorty lower units. He said that with the standard lowers that they looked to be pretty far down because Formula mounted the Ext. Boxes right where normal bravo's would be instead of raising them up. Has anyone switched over and is it a big gain in performance?

Anyone out there tried Short lowers with their Formula's w/ Extension Boxes? Do you lose handling, is it worth the performance gain? Any feedback would be great!
Thanks,
Kris

Probably worth it, my friend has a 98 353 with carbed 509 with pro chargers, Imco boxes and Imco shorties, runs 97 on GPS.

Bad Azz Lake Effect!!

Seen it, trying catch it!

Dave

whats up dave?

You going to make a trip to Kelleys again this year?

Unless I'm mistaken, the Stellings boxes can be raised and lowered on the transom, because of the internal CV joint driveshaft in the box. Maybe there isn't sufficient room under the bottom of the platform to raise the box anymore, in which case the shorty lower would be your only alternative.

we use ITS and shorties on our 353

ITS is alrady installed at higher X Dimension than stock drives

gained 3 MPH with shorties - most important - we use a 15 1/4 Maximus prop - Boat did not plane easyly with a 15 5/8 prop

Thank you all for the replies, my mechanic thought it would gain me approx. 5mph. I have plenty of room to move them up under the platform but I thought they were thru-bolted in the bravo pre-cut holes. Does anyone know if the Stellings can be adjusted up and down?

Stellings boxes come in 2 flavors.

1) One set of mounting holes. You have to redrill to move it.
2) Three sets of mounting holes - neutral, plus 1, minus 1. Just move the box, as the Ujoints will easily accomodate the difference.

If you have the one-hole boxes, you can have the other holes added. Or you can send em to me and I can add them.

1 inch isn't a lot of range, though.

If you want to, you can swap to Imco boxes, and use the +3 boxes. You have to raise the motors, but it is just a matter of spacers under the FRONT motor mounts, since the rear mounts are part of the transom plate. Tailpipe mods also to use the same transom holes.

I happen to have some +3 boxes if somebody were to want them...

mc