I need some advise on my cooling system setup. I put IMCO 2" shorter Lowers (low water pickup) on my 89 272 SR1 and now I am busting water hoses almost everytime I make a run up around 70mph. I noticed that my boat doesn't have sea strainers which most of the other boats this size seem to have and I plan to get a set but I don't think this will solve my problem.

Am I supposed to have some sort of regulator in the inlet hose?

Ian T.

I just dump the excess water. The question is what did the IMCO do for you. mine arrive this week.

The IMCO's gave me another couple of MPH, at least 4 but I can't say exactly because I went from a 3 blade to a 4 blade prop. I can still plane with the 3 blades but it cavitates a lot, but I was hitting the rev limiters. I went from a best of 66-67 with Mirage 23p to 70 with Hydromotive Quad 4s.

I tried a set of Mirage Plus 25p but these props were terrible getting on plane and my know sensor was giving me trouble so I need to try them again for top speed. I think a set of Labbed Mirage Plus 27p will be the ultimate for top speed on my rig (assuming I don't have to get towed on plane). BTW the Hydros are not that great at getting on plane, Bravos work much better for me.

When you say you dump the excess water, how are you doing this?

I have the older style thermostat housings so I run the hoses that used to go to the riser ells out the transom and spray it on the outdrive. I install a bypass from the fresh water hose to the area above the thermostat to make sure that water is going to the exhaust when the thermostat is closed.