JBravo

Alittle help....... A buddy of mine is building a 600+hp. out of a 540 blk. He had a 500HP Bulldog 525HP before teamed up with a Bravo1 XR drive. Will the XR hold up with the new HP?
What r the XR drives rated at? Been reading and seeing that anything 600 or more can run the #6 dry sump drives better with that HP.
Any thoughts guys............

PS. the boat is a 1996 253 Checkmate Convincer

magnum27

I would say the XR would be OK for that size of boat. The Number 6 would be overkill for a checkmate that size, if he wanted to go up from an XR, I would say go with a Max Machine Works drive, or above that a Konrad

hillbilly24

If i he treats it right it will live, an XR can hold 800HP with the right man at the throttles, or you can blow it up with 300HP if you try. The 6 drive would be way to much for that boat, although the spec sheet calls for it for 600HP plus applications you don't ussualy start seeing them till atleast 800HP and it's not uncommon to see bravos behind 1000 HP (an ill concieved idea but finacially understandable) Konrada are another great alternantive but they require a transmission and that probably isn't an option in a small boat like that, unless he wants to go with race stly 3 man bolsters with no back seat.

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

I ran a standard bravo 1 on my 272 baja w/around 650hp for over 100 hours before breaking it. It was fine with a 26 pitch prop,added headers(25 hp or so) and went to a 28 pitch,broke almost immediately. Other than xr's wear out in 1/2-1/4 the time of a std bravo it should last seasons in such a small boat as long as idle isn't too high and it isn't revved to moon while airborn. I been running upgraded max xr'ssince,something seems to wear out or break every 50-100 hours but i'm running more hp and torque than your buddy and i don't always let off when i'm catching a little air,Smitty
Something I believe in too is if your running a msd put a pill in that's 1 or 2 hundred rpm's higher than your max rpm's so if you catch air motor touches rev limiter instantly to limit shock when you re-enter water.Max makes best upgraded xr in my opinion too but your buddy will probably have failure from xr parts wearing before he does from too much power so its probably overkill.

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

J bravo,i see your only 15 miles from me,pm me with some contact info,I'd like to meet you and your bud. I have a outdrive jack and alignment tool if you need to pull a drive that you can use at my shop with no charge too,Smitty

Vinny P

I have a '99 259 Convincor. I am running 680 hp 660 torque through a stock XR upper and Imco Lower. I broke the vertical shaft in the lower a few weeks ago. However, I don't think I did all the damage. I got the drive used from a boat with big power. Treated correctly, you will be fine with the XR. BTW, the new Imco shafts dont have that senseless oil hole where it broke.

Downtown42

yep..

Vyper340

#6 is probably overkill for a 25-27' boat. Should be ok with an XR.

RJBBC

Your experience is discouraging us from repowering our Checkmate. It appears more power hands you more problems.

Payton

Yep. You just keep breaking more expensive parts.

Are we haveing fun yet?