Mercury 700sci vs Ilmor 725
 

Hi guys, my wife and I are considering buying a 29sv Outerlimits. What would you recommend for power Mercury 700sci or Ilmor 725. Please share your thoughts about your pick.

Thanks, Michael

Ilmor 725. Read too many positives about their service.

From what I know of the SV29 with the merc and the one with the Ilmore. I would go with the Merc. The Ilmore is super cool and they are a great company but the merc just went in and worked. I was in the SV29 with the 700 for Desert Storm and that boat was absolutely amazing. Mike spent a lot of time in that boat with that setup and got it dialed in.

Either way you will be happy.

MP

Considering a 525efi will push the boat to 95+ mph, I think I would go with the newer Merc 565 at most.

The acceleration in that boat with the 700 was so much fun. That boat was literally like driving a Ferrari.

Yes a top speed of 95 is great but 110 is better LOL

MP

Both a great motors. The ilmor is a sweet motor and light weight with great customer service and no blower to worry about. The merc on the other hand can be serviced at more places and what I find most important is the fact a quick pulley change and reflash and the merc can make much more power. If you select a drive that can take it.

Ive ridden in the 29sv with the 600 sci and it was a great handling boat. Ilmors are sweet but you can play with and tune the Mercs. Btw the 29 with the 600sci is for sale used through Pbc

I'm obviously an ILMOR fan for obvious reasons but you also can't ignore the superior trans / drive package in comparison to the cone clutch NXT. You certainly can opt for a #6 to compete w/ the ILMOR pkg but I don't think the Merc pkg will be as competitively priced.

As the others have mentioned weight savings, no blower, fuel efficiency, service & support after that it's simply personal preference. You won't go wrong if you go ILMOR & you definitely will be a priority customer should you have any service needs.

The 700's work well, had them in a 38 Fountain, they are upgradable, Whipple has multiple packages should you get bored and want more power. As Said the NXT Transmission, was the weak link in that package, although I never experienced problems with mine. They were a awesome trouble free package. Their is the header issue with the CMI's leaking. Not sure if Mercury upgraded the headers or they are still saying their is no problem with them. Do a search, plenty of disappointed 700 owners with broken motors due to header leaks.
Mercury 700's also have that annoying Torque Management System programed into them. When you push the throttles from an idle to get on plan, the motors do not spool up like a normal motor they take their time and eventually reach the rpms you are trying to get too. Maybe on a smaller lighter boat it wouldn't be as much as a problem, but on a bigger boat loaded down with fuel and people, spinning big props, they were a pain in the butt. Mercury programed that in the ECM's to protect something, the transmission I suspect. It only effects the motors from an idle, below a certain rpm, once up and running the acceleration from those blower motors was a real rush. Dustin Whipple has a fix for that also, If you chose to go that route.
Don't know much about Ilmor except what I read, seem to be a great package also. I do like the fact they are N/A and don't use a blower, less to worry about. No header problem that I have heard of. Their isn't too much you can do to them to upgrade them If you want more power at some point Ilmors drive package seems solid. I always wondered about Ilmors service, their are Mercury dealers at every marina almost, not a lot of Ilmors dealers around, not nocking their product just thinking out loud. Then again, a lot of the Mercury dealers haven't got a clue about Mercurys Blue motors when they see them.
Lastly, don't know if its a consideration or not, but most Insurance Company's set insurance rates by speed and hull value, a few don't like the words boats and blowers in the same sentence, you might check on that also. If everything else is even you maybe save a few bucks on insurance with the N/A motor.
Mike builds a beautiful boat, I am sure you will be happy with what ever you choose. Good Luck.

+1

I'm going to doubt that the merc "just worked" Im sure OL took the time to dial it with a bravo and maximus prop, (original plug was set with a 525 and bravo) then after that is was just "rinse and repeat" The ilmore boat was the first one and it seems that the owner wanted to dial it him self, modified the drive before it was in the boat etc. given proper set up I think the 725 indy would be faster than a 700nxt combo but the upgrade path is harder.

+1

I WISH this was something I was realistically pondering!

29 foot boat/112 MPH... Upgrade? Seriously?

Hi All,
As lots of you already know i am the owner of the SV29 with the Ilmor package and for me it is no contest.... Ilmor all the way::D lightweight fuel efficient engine with a very well engineered outdrive, design and development drawing from their race car engineering involvement plus all the Ilmor staff are absolutely fantastic to deal with customer service is second to none. As i wanted to dial in and set up myself living in England most of the time means that we can only have relatively short dialling in times as we come to the states for a holiday so i can't spend our whole vacation on the setup, so it is a few modifications each time we come out. First mod was to change the 280 tabs for the 380's with stroke limiters on their droop side so you can't accidentally apply too much tab, also fitted restrictors in the cylinders so they can't move too fast as it was previously very difficult to find the sweet spot, i fitted restrictors in the drive trim cylinders for the same reason,Tabs and drive are now half the speed they used to be.Fuel consumption is amazing 3mpg at 75 mph 2.8mpg at 95mph, cheaper to run than our diesel boat back in the UK.Drive is currently back at Ilmor having a vent tube fitted to the cav plate as it has always been difficult to get it to plane without one. I am also changing the helm unit to reduce the number of turns lock to lock on the steering, at the same time i will be installing a much higher pressure relief valve in the power steering pump as it currently doesn't have enough power to overcome the torque applied by the surfacing propeller which means i only have power assistance with the rotation against the rotation it is manual, pretty tricky in the kind of waters we tend to run in.
We are back on the 20th October for 6 weeks so should give us plenty of time for more development, but i will only shoot for the big numbers once i am totally satisfied with the setup. All in all a fantastic package.:Score-101010:

All The Best
Peter

Good stuff Peter, great to hear from you as well as the progress you've made.

Peter, You should get in touch with Steve at Revolution Performance Marine, he has a lot of experience with torque steer and has an interesting solution that is cost effective and fixes the problem. Everything he makes is a HIGH horsepower, high speed single and has been dealing with the issue for a long time. He is a really good, knowledgeable guy too. http://www.rpmpowerboats.com/

Ilmor!!:coolcowboy:

Hi guys, thank you for your advise, it's been so helpful.

Thanks, Michael

PBC has an SV29 with a 600sci in it, it runs 103. It is an awesome boat, very fun and handles the waves here at LOTO very well for a 29. The 600 is easily upgraded if you wish in the future, but pretty sure you would be pleased with its performance.

Haha, that was my reaction too. I like going as fast as anyone...but I think 112 in a 29 foot boat would be good enough :)

For the same reason Lambo owners drop their cars off at Underground Racing for upgrades. If real fast is good, then ridiculously fast is even better :D

I race this OL 29 hull, with Merc powerpackage,,,,
You will not go wrong with Merc,

Good Luck and be Safe

....until a Pontoon passes you at 114. :whistle:

Haha true!

With shrimp on the barbi. :)