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bravo upgrades

Old 03-14-2002 | 09:01 AM
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Thumbs up bravo upgrades

just bought a 1998 388 slingshot with uprgraded motors, and stock bravos, I KNOW its probably beaten to death whats a good upgraDE without spending a ton of money?
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Old 03-14-2002 | 09:03 AM
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Congrats slingshot. We need some more information. What motor and drives do you have? Where in New Jersey do you do your boating?
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Old 03-14-2002 | 09:33 AM
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Default MIKE1978

620HP EACH, DELEWARE AND CHESAPEAKE, 1.5 RATIO. I IMAGINE STANDARD BRAVE PERFORMANCE?
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Old 03-14-2002 | 10:12 AM
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Slingshot, the most bang for the buck would be to put the latest factory gears in the upper, as that is the most common failure.
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Old 03-14-2002 | 10:39 AM
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sling,
way to go .......cool boat.................

ive got the same problem ............688 hp ea on 35 beak..... stock bravo ones........

its usually not the hp so much as the torque...............it twists the spindly little shafts like a dish rag then the clearance goes away.........instant failure

if you are REAL careful...........you can get away with it for a long time...............when getting on plane..........BABY IT

jump it out of the water at full blast......... dont even think about it...........

Im going to drive mine till they fail then go to XR s.........


ez
 
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Old 03-14-2002 | 12:27 PM
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Spend the money and get the IMCO SC and be worry free. Otherwise, unless you're real careful, somethin' in there is gonna break, and it'll always be on your mind.
 
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Old 03-14-2002 | 04:11 PM
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Not pushing quite the 600+ hp but I've been pondering the same.

Am I right to assume IMCO SC is the 2" Imco shorter gearcase?
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Old 03-14-2002 | 04:29 PM
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Hi Slingshot.

In my opinion, you can upgrade the portside upper gear set and top cap with Teague or many other companies out there. A set of drive showers will help "Halo". Just make sure that drive(port) never goes on the starboard side and you wont need to upgrade both(I'm sure you knew that).

Good luck with your new vessel!!!!!!


zzie
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Old 03-14-2002 | 04:34 PM
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Kook is 100% right!
You can do all the upgrades you want the weakest link is your stock Bravo upper housing. Trade your running Bravo I's in on a couple of Bravo I XR drives and keep the pleasure in pleasure boating
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Old 03-14-2002 | 04:49 PM
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SLINGSHOT,
One option you might want to look into is L&L Tech. Lenard's number is 520-669-5729. He was one of the first to do the XR upgrade to a regular Bravo. He holds the patent on the SS tower that everyone is using. The XR upper case is, in my opinion, no stronger than the regular one except for the SS tower.
Call all the vendors and see what they offer. I have used Imco's gears a couple of years ago and they failed without cause after 10hrs of use. So they wont get anymore of my money. Others have had good sucess with them. But call them all and then make your decision.
Lenard took good care of me when I had him do the XR upgrade. I havent run the boat since because of motor issues.
One of the best options I have seen is the Bmax.. more money, but more stronger too!!

Good luck..

Dick
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