I have an 88 eliminator Daytona 23. Merc 454 330 with an alpha one drive. I havnt messed with the prop yet I’m pretty sure it’s a 23 or 24. Seems to hit max RPM fine might be a little room for adjustment with a prop change. Boat runs around 65 in the perfect chop. As far as changing gear ratios, what can I go to get some more speed up top? I’m not too familiar with changing gears on boats. Any links or “how to”s would be great. Is it worth doing?

Id leave the gearing alone and step up in prop pitch

I would just count your blessings that your alpha 1 is still handling the big block power

Very cool boat and IMO way ahead of it's time...that must have missed the Bravo into by a couple months...if the brain cells I have left are correct think Merc introduced the Bravo in 88 or 89?

We were briefly an Eliminator dealer in the late 80s / early 90s...we dropped them after only a few boats because being in MI, we were getting our Eliminators from the group they licensed to build them in Shawano, WI and we had several gel and rigging issues; they were NOT the same quality boats as the CA builds..

I know I don't have any of the rigging/propping notes anymore, and Harold Nauss (Nauss Propellors) who helped us with propping has passed away, so I can't be any help there.

However, I'd check the bottom, because every Eliminator we got out of Shawano had a pretty serious hook in it. I dunno if they were pulling them too early, or pulling them incorrectly, but the hook needs trim angle to overcome, which means an inefficient thrust angle and all sorts of physics problems.

I'm NOT an expert in rigging etc, but before I spent a lot of $$ chasing props, gearing, or engine mods I'd make sure the hull is able to perform as it was designed.

Good Luck

d

I also had a 454 "mag" / 330 alpha setup when I first purchased. Switched it to a bravo first thing!

I believe yours would be 2:1. Any other ratio and it would most likely put even more stress on your alpha. I would look to step up in prop size or move to a bravo drive where you're in the 1.5 ratio range

I think the big block alphas were 1.36 ratio. The small block v8 alpha 1's were 1.5

I would think a little of the slip is keeping the Alpha together. If you lessen the slip, you may grenade the drive. Just 2 cents.

1.32:1 to be accurate I think.

That is possible, if that's the case then my previous owner swapped his. I turned mine by hand and it came out to 2:1

I should add I never actually ran mine in water. On the hose I made sure everything was on good condition before I pulled the engine and swapped to a bravo