Looks great! I have a 292 as well!

Welcome to the Formula family. I love my 292 fastech. I did full hydraulic steering last year. I went with IMCO kit Helm to Stern. It was not cheap but the quality and customer service is unbeatable. I upgraded my exhaust to IMCO powerflow with stainless tails while I did the steering. The aluminum manifolds took about 250 pounds off the stern and the boat planes and gets out of the whole quicker, mid range feels stronger too. My next upgrade will be stroker small blocks and K planes. Other upgrades I did are LED bilge, cockpit and cabin lights, LED transom lights and silent thunder delete.

I saw your post about your hydro steering upgrade when researching for my new boat! Looks like a really clean install. As soon as I sell my old boat that is the first thing on my list to purchase. If all goes as planned I will hopefully net enough from the sale of my old boat to purchase the hydro steering, K Planes, and manifold. Who did you purchase your hydro steering from?

Why did you remove the silent thunder? I currently have that on my boat and compared to my old boat its much quieter and the wife and kids like that. How much louder is your boat with it removed? What is involved in the removal? Also what did you use for led lighting on the interior of the boat? I would love to see some pictures of that too. I notice last night while cleaning the cabin lights get extremely hot when on for a few mins! Love to replace them with led to keep it cooler and safer.

Howard

I recommend super bright LEDs for the lighting. They do very well for those of us that have them.

I purchased the steering directly from IMCO. Without the silent thunder it is definitely louder but not unbearable. Between idle and 1200 rpm, I can still have conversations with passengers using outdoor voices. Throttles down, it sounds great and gives the boat more attitude. I get compliments from fellow boaters how it sounds wide open, but the IMCO manifolds definitely give it more bark and roar.. There are only 4 bolts holding it on, it weighs about 75 pounds and its very awkward, so if you're gonna take it off, get some help! I deleted it because it was going to be in the way of my steering and I hated the way it looked. Not to mention the weight reduction. The flappers were dry rotting and curling also. It ended up going in the garbage. The only picture I have of my LED's atm, the cabin LED's look very nice and are natural sunlight color, I will post more pics of my lights soon.

unreal

Nice job Frank! Love the steering. I was looking at the same setup. My 292 is the exact same color scheme as yours.

So the Imco steering won't fit with the Silent Thunder exhaust?

There are two different kinds. There is the individual ram mounts and thru hull fittings for the hoses or the universal mounting bracket, which everything is integrated to give a easier install and cleaner look. The Universal bracket is a triangular shape and IMCO told me it would not clear the silent thunder. I still have the normal individual mounting bracket kit because I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep the S.T. or not, but I decided to permanently delete the S.T.

Ok thanks for the info. I really like the look of the triangular bracket like on your boat. It is a much cleaner looking install. I guess I need to pull the silent thunder off and see what it sounds like. I know I will like it but the wife and kids may not!

Did you have those drive coolers on with the silent thunder? I was considering purchasing those very soon... I doubt I will do the steering this summer as I want to keep the boat on the water as much as possible.

Howard