How much HP can a stock Bravo really handle?
 

I have a 35 Cafe Racer with 468's with small B&M blowers pushing out just over 625 hp. I haven't ran the boat yet and everyone is telling me I'm just going to blow the bravo's up and not even to run it this year. How much HP and torque can a stock bravo really handle and is there anything I can do to them to make them handle the new power. I don't have the $$ to put new XR's on at this point. Any thoughts??

Our Kevlar Gun ate stock Bravos for lunch with Merc 600SCs and that was being real light on the sticks.


The Xrs, Max Worx etc are safe up to 700hp in a heavy boat like yours, beyond that eventually they will also leave you running
on one engine.

You may get away with your Bravos for a while if your real carefull in and out of the water.

Good Luck!

Not enough.:p

Guys,what if he just changes the shafts to the hp units...I'm running 525sc's and I've turned the boost up to 7#'s(approx.625 hp)and have never had a problem yet w/250 hrs run time on stock bravo hp's.

light on the sticks in light chop waters will last awhile (plan on drives next winter though). If your running off-shore or in large lake chop.........lifespan will very short.

What year are your drives?
In like 2002 the drives were beefed up a bit.
I know a guy running 600HP through a stock 2003 Bravo 1 for 3 years and he does not baby it. It is on a much smaller boat though.

If I were in your shoes, I'd buy a spare drive. They can be had for $1500-$2000 and it's good insurance as to not loose much boating time.

With a heavy boat like yours, they will not last forever. Plan to have them rebuilt and upgraded in the off season.

I'm runnig a 27' Baja w/a 572 making over 1000hp thru a Bravo1. I made it thru the summer w/out blowing it up.....many 90+ mph runs.. It all depends on how you apply the power.....Even supprised
Mr. Gaggets, who built the drive....Though this year we are going to
a built up XZ. ....Planning on thing this one apart to see what it look like.

Good advice above. I've been running the same Bravo One drive unit since 1989 in a 24' and have serviced it yearly. I have done no upgrades and it has lasted through three 454's, 1-330HP, 1-500hp, 1-650hp and now I've blown a 498 @ 800 or so HP with a season 50 Hours or so, on the same drive, no work on it yet. Be nice to the drive, it's not a drag car or a stump puller and it will last you a very long time. I currently and in the past run my set ups at up to 6800 RPM for extended periods. Hope that helps.

In 01' the stock brovo 1 drive was fitted with the bravo X internals. If you drive serial # begins with "OM" you have the good stuff. That being said, it is still an aluminum tower etc and will bust with that much power and weight. Give billet marine a call and get one of their billet top caps and bearing upgrades. Ask them what some other weak links are.

HotCig,
There are many weak points to the standard Bravo 1. If you do have the OM drive with the X internals, you are a step ahead. I like to install a steel tower in the case and add the newer XR cap which has a steel tower in it. That helps keep the gear stack where it is suppose to be. I have found cracks under the aluminum towers that were not visible on the surface. After that, shafts are the next weak point. If your Bravo's are in good condition internally they can be upgraded to XR with steel towers. Then the lower needs to be addressed. Shafts and treated gears are the way to go. It maybe more cost effective to just have new drives built. I have a combination that I use when building a drive (parts and setup) that has worked very well. But as others have said, you can break anything if try hard enough. How long will the Bravo's last? If properly setup and babied, they may last for a while, but when you have a basket of parts, it is much more expensive to upgrade than to do it before they turn to mush..

If you would like more info and prices, give me a call. 616-335-8446. Cell.

Hope this helps.
D*ck

It also depends on the operator, boat weight, and prop bite...I know people that run 700HP and have 400 hours on the Bravo XR’s but they run light boats and know how to throttle. You never hear the props chirping.

The people that have a lot of problems run WOT 90% of the time and don’t know how to pull back when the boat comes out of the water. If you are that kind of operator then you should probaly go with a TRS, 6, Teague or Konrad...

I also have a very similar question. I have a 1995 Formula 336 (almost 9k lbs) with 525SC's (Innovation rebuilt to 560hp) with HP gimbals and brand new Bravo X's. I am about to install the motors, and have not run these drives yet. The boat originally came with standard bravos, and they lasted without fail for the previous owner. I replaced them because I knew I would get the power increase with the rebuild.

My question is - will the bravo X's be OK if treated carefully, or are they likely to fail. I have already installed Simrek drive showers. Is there anything else I can do to make these drives last??


HOTCIG - I didnt mean to run over your question. Take it easy on the drives...Maybe drive showers could help if you are not in the market for significant upgrades.

Above is a good idea...

Don't exceed 3000 rpms until on plane...

yup, no hole shots-ever. How about Konrads?

I want to thank everyone that replied. All good advice and I'll keep it in mind. I'll attempt one season on them and I'll see what happens. I hope to have the XR's on for next year but even with XR's I've heard a lot of bad stories. It's tough with a heavy boat with big power. Thanks again to all!! I'll keep you posted this season as to how they work out.

I ran 645 HP/600+ ft-lb Sterlings through standard Bravo 1's on my Formula 311 for 5 years without ANY drive issues. Easy out of the hole, good throttling technique, and change the lube every year.

Little different story with these engines in a 382. Have upgraded to Max Machine prepped XR's.

I have always kept a spare drive ready.

I had the same results with a 31'Cig Bullet with 625HP per side. No issues whatsoever in 3 years....and I didn't run it easy. But....never took it over 3000 rpm's getting on plane. I changed the fluids every 25 hours and was taught how to throttle by someone who really knew what they were doing!!