ITS and extension boxes
 

Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is an ITS Bravo drive. Is it worth the extra money? Can you have extension boxes with it? Will the extension boxes make the drives deeper in the water? What increases in speed and stability will be seen with the extension boxes? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

ITS is a drive with a small 8'' box ,when people use a box there getting the drive in cleaner water which means you can go up in height which gives you less drag and more speed also makes the boat thinks it a foot longer with handling. me I am looking at a box with 3'' rise in it plus I have a 2''shortie drive already. the way itis now I picked up better handling and 4mph with the 2''imco shortie, so if I went with a reg box which is 12''' long I would lose one '' drive height handling so I WPOLD BE BETTER TO GO TO THE 3'' BOX AND MAYBE NEED A 1''SPACER TO BE AT 4'' UP AND 12'' BACK. If I lost you I'll try again.:D art

do you have the 29 and are thinking about trying stuff?? art

The ITS(Integrated Transom System) is basically a short extension box with integrated hydraulic steering.

http://mercuryracing.com/products/ac...nsomsystem.php

actually, I was looking at a 353. One of the options is the ITS.

Can the ITS be purchased separately and installed on a boat that has a 496 HO and XR, or do you have to purchase the whole drive and all? I'm thinking you would have to purchase everything from the transum back...

I t is possible to do that, but you will end up swapping so many parts for expensive money. Also, you need to raise your drive (as Art explained), as you go back to attain any sort of speed improvement. You would need to order a sportmaster shorty with your ITS to get the drive height up!
I looked at the ITS option when ordering my retrofit 525/XR last year, but realising that I would not be able to raise the x dimension using the original Bravo transom mounting holes on my boat, I looked for an alternative.

I have to add here that there is there is a speed dynasty that you may have to respect, and it goes something like this.
Extension boxes start to work at mid 70´s, shorty´s work nearer to 80 and above and Sportmasters need to be running over ninety. If you haven´t got the power to put the drive system in the ballpark it will not reward you with anything at all.

I went with the Imco extension box in front of my stock XR drive. The box raised the x dimension by 3" and makes my boat really fly.

ITS does clean up the transom nice! No hyd. rams and mounts and hoses, etc!