Wild

I am up on the bravo 1s, and #6 but don't know much about the #3 speepmaster drives, I am looking at an older 38cig with a pair of 525hps and it has #3s on it. Can anyone tell me good or bad about these drive. Please be honest, I don't want to by some junk, or start blowing drives because of to much motor.

Thanks

Randy Wild

DanL

just curious, where is this boat? is it a '90? All 3's were rigged with external steering. But I'm suspicious of something. Dan

Gary Anderson

Older cig will have probably have SSM 3s on it, not the 3a's. That drive should be more than strong enough for a 525SC, they're rated for over 700hp. They have not been made for a few years but parts are still plentiful, no problem there. The early style gimbal housings had a habit of cracking and were later changed. But that usually only happened with BIG power.
Sounds like a good package to me. I would take the 3s over a bravo in a heavy boat with supercharged power any day.
Gary

Wild

it is a 91, the engines are ZUL, they look to 525s but they are not in the boat, so they will be gone threw an will be whatever I want them to be. Please give me some info. I really don't want to say where it is, I know how these OSO guys are, it will be gone before I get done typing

Thanks

Randy Wild

Griff

I don't know much about the SSM #3's, but they are a lot stronger than Bravos and I think are good for 650-700hp. There are 2 types of #3's also. A SSM #3 and a SSM #3A. I think the 3A's have bigger/stronger prop shafts.
I don't think you will have any problem with them and 525hp as long as they are in good condition.

Dueclaws

I've never broken a #3: using supercharged engines that dyno'd around 775 hp. I recently inspected the drives and everything looked great. My boat (cat) weighs 8,500#.

I also have a friend that runs over 1,000 hp through each of his #3 drives, but his ratio is 1-1 (that is unusual and adds to the gear strength). His boat weighs about 6,500# (cat). He has broken original (19 spline) prop shafts (spins them at up to 7000 rpm) , but he has since changed to custom "monster" prop shafts and had no further problems.

Note: I now use the "monster" prop shafts, but changed as insurance rather than necessity. We both use Amsoil.

IMHO , at 500-600 hp and if the #3's are in good condition, you should be good to go, even at your boat's higher weight.

Advantage_Rob

My good friend has an 87 cafe racer with 3a's on it, He has a set of 540's that are being re-done as we speak, but he has owned the boat for 6 years and has never had a drive problem that wasn't related to running aground which would break anything at 5500rpm's. They seem to be a really strong drive, and the trans is probably the weakest link, but he has borg warners I belive and hasn't had a problem with them, but he had them rebuilt also when the grounding happened two years ago. He guesstimates the old HP at around 600, now he is changing pistons, going with aluminum heads, fully porting them and bigger cams to bump closer to 7-800HP, but the dyno will tell that story. He's confident the drives will be good with the power they make, and your 91 will be alot lighter than his 87 cafe. His is a very heavy boat for some reason, but great in the rough stuff.

joe900sc

I'm have SSM3's on my 35' Fountain with Keith Eickert 800SCs. I have over 200 hours on this set-up with no problems. I was amzed at how much better the boat handles when I went from Bravo drives and props to the SSM 161/2" cleavers. I doubt I'll ever own a performance boat with bravos again.

DanL

Randy, last year I sold my 90 Platinum Top Gun, 525's and #2 drives, which is a married trs drive to a speedmaster lower.. No external steering. The new owner was advertising it all over the place as having #3's. Only reason for the question. White with new cabin and cockpit, purple Hawk on the sides.