Need some input..considering a 292..
 

So Im looking at a new to me boat. Its a 89 292 SR1. It has been upgraded with 502 mpi motors. I drove the boat Saturday. It runs good, has a slight vibration in one of the drives. It also has imco hydro steering added. What issues should I be looking for in the boat?
One thing is its just way to quiet for me. It has the silent thunder installed still. Im coming from a single engine boat with headers and a mild cam, my current boat is a lot louder, which I love. Can you remove the silent thunder without loosing the swim platform?
Another thing is, I feel when Im driving the formula I feel like the throttles are too far back, for my liking. Is there anyway to move them forward in the dash like where the drive and plane switches are??

the silent thunder box is the swim platform so you can not remove the silent thunder without losing the platform. You do have options. If your not familiar with the design of the platform, inside are chambers which fill up with water and act as muffler for the exhaust as it flows through and out the tip. In between both chambers is a baffle that many have cut out and removed in an attempt to improve the sound. There are many threads on this so just do a search in this forum, so that is one option. As mentioned the design of the platform is that it fills with water. So if the water doesn't or can't collect in the chambers then that must make it louder. With this mindset I have known some to drill holes in the underside of the platform with a 2-4" hole saw to prevent the chambers from filling with water thus enhancing the sound. At idle you probably won't notice a difference since the underside of the platform will be submerged. So you'll be back to a low rumble again, but while running with the platform out of the water you should be able to notice a difference. It's not going to be ear deafening but will make it a little more throatier when running.

As for the throttles I'm sure you could move them forward with a little customizing and creativity on your end. If you end up with the boat, I'd give them at least a season to see if they grow on you in their current location. My friends like to refer to Formula's as the gentlemen's speedboat, and we've found that over the years Formula puts a lot of thought and consideration into the ergonomics of their boats. Not saying they are perfect to everyone how they are, it's not always one size fits all but coming from another brand before creating a headache for yourself it might be worth just trying it out for awhile. As we all have experienced any project on a boat is never easy or cheap.

I owned a 90 292 SR1 with 365 hp 454 mag motors and bravo drives for about 7 years. Loved the boat. Hydraulic steering is a must for that boat with those engines, don't buy one without hydraulic steering. If you open the rubber flap (also, you can remove it and keep the cool looking rectangular exhaust pieces), you will see a baffle glued into the inside of the platform. I took a paddle bit and drilled that thing out of there, don't need it. Then, you would only need to drill a single hole in the bottom the platform, one under each exhaust pipe running through the transom. I would cut a 6" or 8" hole and trim it out with a screw in inspection plate. Then you could always just insert the plate if you boated where there were noise ordinances. You may also find that by cutting out the bottom of the platform under each exhaust pipe, you may pick up a mph or two. I had a buddy with a 90 311 that enhanced the engines to about 500 hp and the boat was faster with the bottom opened up. Also, if you have 89 bravo 1 lower units, you may want to add Bob's nose cones. I was getting blow out at 70 mph (which was about my max speed with the 365's), and the bob's nose cones steadied the boat at top mph. Good luck!

Does anyone have pics of what you did to the platform on the underside of it? Is there any other issues I should look for on the boat itself? Does it have any "common" rot locations?