How Much power to a #3 Speedmaster?
 

Hello,

Does anybody know how power a # 3 speedmaster is rated for?

Whats the max that can be put to it daily and keep it together?

Thanks for all your help

Cougarman

Hey Cougerman!
Cresent or non Cresent?
Non Cresent will hold approx 800 HP
Cresent will hold approx 900 HP:cool:

# 3 Drives
 

It's cresent, what is the difference?

Why a 100 hp difference?

Is there any reason to stay away from a # 3?

Thanks again

Cougarman

repairs are going to be big $$$

that would seem to be the only drawback. and you might wnat high perf trannies from BAM. www.go-fast.com

What's the cresent mean? My friend has a set of 540's and ssm3a's on his 87 35 cig cafe racer, he is getting ready to dyno the motors in the next few weeks. He was pushing about 600-650 estimated before, but never dynoed the old ones. he never had any problems with the drive's, and runs trs tranny's, which weren't a problem either, but he had both of them re-done along with the drives from an impact. Both drives were replaced, and both tranny's rebuilt, the drive's were outrageous prices, but the tranny rebuilds were not too bad, if I remember correctly, aroung 5-600 each. The insurance picked up everything for him, along with fixing the scrapes on the bottom, thru a dock at 3am, onto a beach, oops, read the gps upside down, went left, should have went right, got some good air though. He's putting new merlin blocks, new heads all ported, biger cams, all new valvetrain and everything re-done internally. he's hoping for 700+, I'll post it when the dyno sheets come out.

We are using supercharged 572s with Crescent #3s and have had no problems.
Keith, owner of Hot Pursuit Shadow Cat runs about 1,100. hp each thru his non- crescent 3's. Only mods are custom prop shaft because he runs 1-1 ratio at 6,000 rpm: "prop" rpm is way up there. I think he uses Amsoil also, but don't know if that makes any difference.:D

The difference is:
Non Cresent #3 SSM are the first generation #3, the lower unit does not come to a point it looks almost like a torpedo. Very weak gears and shafts all parts are no longer available. Cresent is the newer version has a very sharp arrow like tip on lower unit gears are alot stronger than the Non Crsent. A #3A SSM is the latest and greatest #3 speedmaster all gears and shafts are bullet proof up to 1000 HP. :cool: Hey Advantage Rob how is my
2004 C-6 Z06 coming!

Ahhh, he's got the pointy nose for sure, 3A's is what was on the bill.

That Z-06 is a big pain in my ass, Its so different than the standard vette it's making my job even more fun:rolleyes:
I got to go in the SLR the other day, WOW!!

Not so sure about the crescent being stronger than the regular 3, same part numbers for shafts and gears. Primary difference is the shape of the lower. The very early 3 straight cut upper gears are generally stronger than the newer spiral gears. If you are lucky, either 3 drive could have the vertical shafts that were made by Kiekahefer. They are thicker than the stock Mercury pieces. If I remember correctly the 3 was rated for 600 HP and we used to break them pretty regularly with 700 HP even though that is with some pretty rough usage. In any case the parts are NLA.

I don't know about bullet proof, but we do put 1000 HP through the 3a's and 5's without much trouble as long as they have the net forged upper gears as are used in the current models.

Bam-
We recently purchased a new set of upper gears, seals, etc. from Merc for a ratio change, so not all parts are NLA. There seems to be a good supply of used parts available.

3A's Rule! They are like the HP500's of the drive world:D Just put power to them and they keep going and going and going. My buddy has them on his 38 scarab with teague 800's has over 200 hours and no problem what so ever.

Tank

Dueclaws, sorry you are correct. Some of the parts are still available, especially bearings and seals. And yes there are lots of used parts around, we have a few around here. It's just that you can't always find them when you need them. They are just getting harder and harder to support.

how much power have you seen put through a big shaft #4 like the ones on my 32 skater will they hold 1000hp or not:D

Merlin-
I'll bet BAM knows. I have no personal experience, but seem to remember that the 4's were rated similar to the 3s.

Bob Nordskog used to break them regularly behind his twin-turbo BBCFountain, but the boat was probably heavier than your Skater and Bob drove pretty aggressively. Plus he was on and off the throttles constantly.

Katdrvr told me he had a friend with a pair behind 900 (?) horsepower engines and the drives have never failed. He can add more info to this.

Maybe it "depends": weight of the boat, how you drive it, etc.

PS Have you run the Skater yet?

Well, yes there are a number of factors. But I can tell you from personal experience that I had 850 HP @6200 carbureted engines in my old Cigarette with #4's, pretty reliable. Put blower motors in, 1000 HP @6000. The 4's did not last 1/2 hour. Boat weighs 12K. Went to 5's that had the early spiral gears and got another 100 hours or so before the upper gear set failed. Put in the new net forged uppers and went another 300 hours or so with no further trouble. All the drives are more sensitive to torque than RPM, so 1000 HP @5500 is going to be harder on the drive than 1000 hp @6000

The 3 and 4 have basically the same upper, but the 4 had the benefit of much beefier vertical shafts. A 4 with the older straight cut gears is actually pretty good.

750 ft lbs of torque @5500 is about the limit. I don't know who came up with that but it is what I read today on a military quote.
pat W

# 3 Speedmasters
 

Just wanted to thank everybody for your help and Knowledge.


Thanks

Cougarman

thanks guys i will be testing soon i will post the out come soon.thanks again:D

Maby i can shed some light on this. I ran 1100
hp, on #3'S for 7 yrs and broke once, still running them
but have changed to 1.22 gears with 17/26 props
and turn the engines 6100 rpm. The red 10 meter
Fountain
Loy

That must be a screaming 10 Meter! How fast does it run?:cool:

Blown 1100
 

I would have to agree, screamin.

Do you know what your 10 meter weighs with fuel.

Thanks

Cougarman

DueClaws & Cougarman
It has been radared at 114 under perfect
conditions.It will run 105 to 110 any time.
It ran104 at LOTTO Shootout last year.
I have no idea what the weight is.
Loy

:cool: :D