So an interesting situation has arisen in the past few hours. I got a call from a guy i went to school with. His older brother (who i was also good friends with) passed away last month. The family has this 28SS Cig that they have owned for as long as i can remember knowing them. About 20-25 years ago i helped the older brother redo the boat....new gauges, cut two hatches into the deck, got it painted and graphics put on etc....Since he is alone now (Dad died a number of years back) and he is more into cars than boats he wants me to have the boat.
Not free, but too good to pass up i think.....
She has always been stored indoors in a factory out of the elements...
The boat has twin SBC's that in its day were pushing around 400hp (dynoed at 396hp and 403hp)
it has the MercII trans and TRS drives
right now the boat needs a real good cleaning as its been sitting for the past 15+ years
Needs both drives rebuilt as one had water in it last time out...
and one motor got the milkshake last time out as well...
So at a min it would need both drives gone through and one motor rebuilt assuming the other is still good.

So my dilemma is do i get the boat and just fix what it needs at a min to get her going and cross my fingers the trannies are still good and the other motor is solid....
Or do i got rebuild both motors(or buy two running motors) and go through the drives and cross fingers the trannies are good...
Or do i scrap all of it and maybe build some stand off box's to adapt from the TRS to a bravo drive and ditch the trannies? Which leads to me another question....has anyone built their own stand off boxes? I have drawn something up on CAD and its easily doable...currently drawn up for a 12" setback with a 1" rise and the TRS side has +/- 1" of adjustment up/down if needed... I may just start a separate thread on this question...

So i am a glutten for punishment and i have a soft spot for this boat since ive worked on it before....the question is should I? And which route would be best?

I would have to pull the drivetrain apart to make a determination but I would lean towards the stand-off boxes and the Bravos to free up some room in that tight azz engine room.

Also we need pics.

Why stand off boxes?

id pull the motors and rebuild them, then at least you know for sure they’re fresh and healthy vs buying unknowns. Yank the TRS stuff and trans out and slap a couple bravos on it and call
it a day.

and yeah, post some pics!!!

also, buddy CNC’d billet stand off boxes on his 38 scarab with Teague 800 SC’s and 3A’s. The trannies sat in the boxes so the motors were so far forward.

But like I said Id yank everything and pit standard bravos / no boxes.

Those engine compartments in the 28 are tight! I did impellers on one and pretty much did the entire job on both motors by feel only cause you can't see anything. I would definitely wait to make the call on what you do until you start tearing it apart, and then consider your long term goals.

We restored the Jesse James 28SS a few years ago. Do not put boxes on that boat...the last thing it needs is more bow lift. We mounted bravos on it as high as we could get them. 385hp small blocks, Rev 4 props, runs low 70s over anything. Great boat.
The merctrans are a time bomb...the trs are sturdy but obsolete. If putting bravos on it is in the budget or skill set, its worth it.

Wally,,
all I can tell you is, the boat is sitting on top of a hell of a trailer

My friend Peter's 28. Started life as a Volvo boat. We converted his boat and my 27 Magnum to TRS & Merctrans late 70's. Put the drives into the rub rail. He had 400 cu in small blocks 400 hp and his boat would run 80. Back then the fastest props were the cleavers.
They are great boats. I think I agree with Team Saris. No box, move the drives up.

My only reason for thinking about boxes is it would be easy to not have to fill the transom up and re-cut for the bravos...The box would be an adapter per-say....less fiberglass work to do.
Ive seen another local 28 cig that had 500efi's and boxes (not sure what drives were on it though) that was pushing in to the 90's...but he said it gets hairy at those speeds

Heres some before/during/and after pics of her
that pic of it running was her last time out during a local run here in Chicago with the older brother running her

Its a 1976 bicentennial edition....it has a 3-man bolster in front right now. Thats how it came stock from the factory. In those pics she had two bolsters in front that were removed for another project and the 3-man was put back in...