Ok like the title I am contemplating updating my drives on my 2001 TS Cigarette Tiger. The motors are out at Richie Zuls and should come back 800hp. The boat has XR's and has blown a couple of drives in 10 years. The motors the boat came with where 675hp. Keith Eickerts. Teague sells their Platinum upper for $6200 and they claim it is designed for up to 900hp. Imco and Bmax sell their uppers for $9500. What experiences have you guys had? I will run a standard length lower as I believe the X dimmesion on the early twin step boats was pretty aggressive. The Teague has my attention because of price. I have always heard good things about the IMCO SCX's. I was thinking I could run these drives until one goes and then update. I see quite a few Cig's running 750hp on XR's but just not sure how long.

I see your just asking about uppers, what do you plan to run for lowers ? With BMax I'm almost sure you can't use anything but the Bmax lower (vertical shaft is larger). With that being said I'd still buy shortys and space them down to where you want them. That will leave you options should you choose to use them. I have Bmaxs and love them, you can call the Bravo Shop (waconda) and he'll give you the straight scope on his drives. The new Bmaxs with his updates and improvements are WAY better than the old ones. JMO

Wow. 800 hp Zuls, Bravo style drives and a 42 Cig, Keep lots'n'lots of spares on hand no matter which one of the Bravo upgrades you choose. The Konrad is your best bet, if you fell you must stay with a B1 style drive. The Cig will run very well with ASDs and quite a bit faster than with any of the Bravo style counterparts. Also don't forget that the SCX lower will also slow you down considerably because of the increased drag. What kind of power did you run before?

Just thoughts

well forget about the teagues just a xr with a band-aid.. same gears as a xr.. i would go with imco scx

Same basically goes for the rest of the Bravo style upgrades except the the Konrad ACE and complete SCX. They all use xr gears at some point and those are the really weak points, some, inluding the teague also uses some xr shafts,

There is no miracle cure for the bravos, they are just not build for big high performance boating.

They where 675hp. The previous owner has three failures in 440 hours of run time which is not terrible. I also see that Mad Max drive deal I just have not heard anything good or bad about them. I have been boating for 14 years and came out of Cig Cafe with 550hp per side on Bravo 1's and never had an issue. I am extremely easy on getting on plane and feel that I throttle pretty well. With that being said I am only worried about running at higher speeds and having the props air out a little wih all the torque I am sure that will be area of concern.

Arneson ...... proven strength and speed

Imxo SCX upper and new lower (that looks like the scx-4 but is not).....proven strength

New Imco SCX -4 surface style drive (has not been proven yet but maybe...)

Teague Bmax imco SC and konrad will NOT last long at 800+ hp!

Sell your XR's while they are in good shape and get you a pair of B MAX's.
Dont't overlook the possible speed loss with some of the other drives as well.

call konrad...........

This sounds like an awesome project. Can you show us before/after pics?

Would luv to see those Zuls along with removal and install pics.