How many hours on your 525's? All OEM oils, filters, etc?

If your question is for me.

Valvoline VR-1 Racing 25-50, Merc Racing filters every 25Hours give or take a bit. Gear lube was always the Aimsoil in the original drives, new drives are on the new and latest version Merc Racing due to warranty. I have been a fan of the VR-1 for almost 30 years, have never had an oil based issue with many different boats. Those that have been opened up were clean and showed very little wear.

Aint that a kick right between the wheels.....Mercury strikes again.

Our boat ran pretty good with the 625 Ilmor power; when we wounded one I had them freshened and breathed on Alexi @ by BoostPower. Then we had small issues with the drives (Bravo) - nothing catastrophic but now it's a trust issue - so, since we really like the boat, we decided to re-power and add amenities. We use her like a "cruiser with a little bark" and decided the "musts" included reliability and local warranty & serviceability. We originally intended to do Merc 600s with a Whipple upgrade and M6 drives. We found out we couldn't get the 6 with the 600s. Merc was discontinuing the 700 so we pulled the trigger on 860s because they were the "smallest" power available with the M6.

I'd like to think we'd make the same decision now because we have a very sanitary engine bay and blower belt dust is a PITA...but it would've been nice to have had the option to save some $$'s and Whipple the 700s later.

I'll post up a real world review on the 860s when we get her back from surgery; target date was "before it gets warm here in MI" so based on the current weather we're experiencing I figure we don't need her home until sometime in July ( we had a foot of snow a couple weeks ago and had flurries again this morning lol ).

cheers

d

That's so badass man! Very excited for you. Looking forward to seeing you in the water soon. It would be cool if you started a build thread about your boat from the beginning! We need more good interesting content on this forum. People will really enjoy reading about something different and unique.

Thanks.

We've got reservations up there this summer but I'm not exactly sure when..early August I believe I'll make sure to drop you a line if we don't make it before then...

I'll post the whole "down the rabbit hole" adventure one of these days...it would make a great winter story.

On the other hand, it looked a lot like winter here yesterday morning with the flurries we had.

Be careful what you wish for though, I am incapable of telling a short story....

I hate to pour salt on a Slippery" wound but I understand the new 700's will have Whipples on them.

LOL.

Of course they do...and with their ECU upgrade able to make a reliable 850 + HP, and 860s with factory hair dryers making a reliable 1100HP , Merc will no doubt drop the 860, making it a hardcore baller collectors item.

So, in the immortal words of my hero, Carl Spackler, "I've got that going for me".

LOL - So now you've received total consciousness about Mercury!.

Yes, painfully achieved but I'm drinking my way through it.

"Monopoly is, what "M" stands for"

- Yoda