Thanks for the update.

Are the drives holding up OK?

The owner understands the possible drive issues and intends to be very careful with them,about 25 hours only so far,no problems.In spite of all the negative comments with such an application I really believeii f he takes it easy as he understands the limitations that the drives will live.I guess the only bad thing is that this is an issue that shouldn't be an issue,Mercruiser should be able to build a Bravo drive that can handle today's available horsepower.I can only imagine if Carl Kiekhaefer was still alive what his reaction would be to possible drive failures that shoudn't happen.He would tell his engineers to fix it or be fired,and they would fix it. Things are diferent today,the engineers say buy #6 drives,Carl would have fired them.

Could Merc's approach have anything to do with the fact that Fred was the developer on the 6 drive? In fact, it's because of it that he's the pres of Merc HiPerf today. Perhaps a little bias there?

ApachePete: Bingo!! You win the cookie. Think about this, too - #6's are about 15 years old. Think there's been any new technology since then? (Other than Weismann forcing Merc to go to dry-sump by doing it first.)

Time for an update, he has pumped in more boost and a few other mods and claims 98 on GPS. I'm going to run it Sat and see. Problem now is he is now running 36 Merc labs( built from 36's). andwith so much pitch it very hard to get on plane cause of cavitation. I suggested 1.36 gears and smaller props. Am I on the right track?

Try a set of 32 or 33 pitch 5 blades with the diffuser rings or roll a bunch of cup into the 36's. I had the same problem with my 36's.

Just talked to my 382 customer, he just bought a 400SS from me w/500efi's that I will get in late July. He plans to ProCharge it when it comes in and wants me to sell the 382 for him. He has maybe $240,000 in it, it could be bought very reasonably,he normally dumps his stuff cheap. If anyone is interested,give me a call.

That guy sounds like a nut!!!! Too much money! The 400SS is a nice boat!

He is a really,really nice guy that recently made a lot of money in the synfuel business. The money he is making hasn't changed him at all,that's why I like the guy. He just became my neighbor,bought 3 adjoining lake homes right down from me for himself and family.Big profits ruin a lot of people,he hasn't changed a bit. He only drinks beer, so he has to be a good guy

That is GOOD news to hear. I'm happy for him! Very cool!