Opinions Please. Mercury or Ilmor
 

OSO members I could use your help. I'd like you opinions and or experiences between Mercury and Ilmor if you were building a new boat today?

You really will not go wrong with either! I personally would love to own some ilmors! I also like how they are built in our home state.

Mercurys 525s and 700s are awesome engines, and I love both turbo motors. Anything 850-1075 just don't impress me enough to not look at custom engine builders.

I personally have over 160 trouble free hours at 9psi of boost so Mercury did something right!

What boat will they be going in makes a difference also?

Assuming that you're talking 600-700 hp, I'm a fan of the Ilmors in that power range, if for no other reason that they are not supercharged, and are therefore under less stress. Add in that the Ilmor combinations weigh less, the Indy drive and transmission are designed to handle 1000 hp versus 600 for the Bravo and 700 for the NXT, and I see the Ilmors as a clearly better package.

Ilmor is hungry to establish themselves and has gone out of their way to promote great customer satisfaction. So far, all of their customers (including me) are happy campers.

Ilmor is also making some pretty good deals on some of the older Gen 3 engines as well as some display versions of the Gen 4 engines. It's definitely worth a phone call to them.

What he said and more. Ilmor has been more than helpful with any questions or issues with anything. Can you call mercury on a Saturday and talk to someone? I'd highly doubt it. Ilmor all the way!

Ilmor

Michigan made, no blower, no blower maintenance, no intercooler, lighter, more unique, better MPG, INDY drive.

Prob a couple ticks faster in stock form. (Assuming 725/700)

If you're willing/looking just for top speed, merc with whipple upgrades is the way to go. Reliability goes down, maintenance goes up though.

Ilmor all the way. I could not be happier with my setup!

+1 on w-a-y better fuel burn numbers for Ilmor. The transom and tailpipes are always clean as a whistle.

Another plus is less driveline torque, as Ilmors turn higher rpm's to make their power.

Go with Merc, Better resale and easier to get rid of when you get ready to sell it.

Only because people dont know any better.

I dont know the reason.. I personaly dont have anything against the Ilmors, I was just stating a fact.:drink: