bravo nose cone good or bad
 

i have been researching this and decided i would stir up a little ruckus, this is one of those subjects... a little background on my boat, i have a 1989 baja sport 250, 27' with the palteform. i am running a very modified 1998 330 base motor that is guessed to be around 450hp. the previous owner said the boat ran 60ish at 5000 rpm with the stock 1989 330. with all of teh performance stuff i have added i am still running 5000rpm and 60ish on gps with the same 23 pitch mirage prop. i repalced teh old lower unit that had corrosion issues with a newer style lower that happened to come with a nose cone already attached to it. i am not too worried about speed gains with the nose cone, im wondering if it may play a factor in why i am not gaining speed and rpms. i would like to keep it on there if it is not hurting anything but if it is dragging my speed down then its coming off.

There is no way the boat ran 60mph with a 330hp to start with. More like 56-57. My 24 Outlaw ran 60-61 with a stock 454mag and labbed 23 Mirage plus.
Nose cones really don't help anything until you are over 80. You may have the older style lower, so it may help at 70+.
Nose cones can also slow you down when not needed. I took one off my 28 Pantera and got better bow lift.

well considering it had a good ol water pick up speedo i am assuming a few mph off is a safe assumption. most people dont have gps speedos in their boats. my question is should i bust the thing off of there or is it not hurting me? hopefully by this time next year i am building my 540 so if it is gonna benifit me in the future then i will leave it on.

Griff is right, nosecones are usually adding drag. They are only usefull with high x-dim drives and on fast boats where the standard lower is experiencing blow out, due to speed. Why would you leave it on? Looks? There is a big chance that it scrubs speed and mess with the handeling of the boat. Personally I'd remove it, clean up, prime and paint the lower. The Bravo lowers are not a bad design, so usually nosecones are only needed for the before mentioned reasons. This is also why I'd like it if you cuold buy a shortie with standard shape lower. You could buy a used one without it, and sell the one that works the worst.

What kind of exhaust are you running. If your running the stock junk, there is your speed issue!

honeslty i am not argueing either to keep it or not keep it. if it is not hurting me i see no reason to remove it, if it is i am taking it off.

i have gils with hp500 pipes on them, crane 731 cam, air gap performaer intake 750 pro form carb. just to name a little bit of it

Is that enough carb for that motor? Did you dyno the engine?

no dyno. i called barry grant and holley and they both recomended a 750, a hp500 which is a 502 runs a 800 so it seems right.

If it were me I would knock off the nose cone. If its doing anything, its slowing you down. Then I would try a 21 pitch Mirage Plus. Your set up sounds similar to my Formula 242. I think you're out of the RPM range of your cam. Try and get it closer to 54-5500 WTO. What do you think Griff, I think your familiar with this cam. As far as the Carb goes, I think an 800 would be better but the 750 will work. Remember the HP 500 uses a single plane and your using a dual plane. Dual Planes require a larger carb.

Damn wish i would have known nose cones no good before i had my trs's painted. i would have had them remove.

Do you have external hydraulic steering? If No.....Take it off.

i have full hydraulic latham steering that will be installed before it is on the water this year. 280 k planes also

If your drive is an 89', you may want to leave it on.

The pre 90's bravo lowers had a shorter( front to back)
gearcase and would blow out once you get past the low
70's.

If you have a 90' or up lower, the nose cone isnt doing you any good.

im not sure what year the lower is but its the newer one with the fluid port in it, the gimbal is newer and i am not sure on the upper, it appears to be original but i am not 100% sure.

im not really worried about it doing me good, im more worried about it hurting me. if it is not bringing down my top end then i have no reason to remove it

i have a 1990 250 es stock it ran 56 gps with a 365hp 454 mag, now runs 72 gps with 650hp stock bravo hope that helps.

what props were you running on both combos? my next engine build goal is 650hp with a 540. im worried about drive upgrades already

Added a nose cone to my 88 Scarab and it slowed it down and messed with the handling. Busted it back off:lolhit:

472 hp dyno with marine gear on, bravo one 23 mirage

mine seemed to handle ok but i never ran the boat before hand so i couldnt tell you the difference.

Wow... I have never seen a negative word said about a nosecone. They are designed to improve prop bite and reduce blowout by reducing turbulance, improve efficiency (speed) with better hydrodynamics, and allow trimmed up power through corners. On every application I have seen, it was always a very noticeable improvement for one reason or another. Based on the design itself and physics in general I can't imagine any drawback... If it works at 70+, 80+, 90+, how can it not work at 60+? Just curious, I really can't imagine a negative influence a nosecone could have...?

Increased surface area ( drag) at slower speeds ( less than 80)

The 90' and up bravo gearcase was reported to be good
up to 95 mph before blowout.

I agree with this. I ran a year with them on my scarab panther and last year without. I lost 3mph without them so they are going back on. I can't envision them doing anything but good due to the sharper lead into the water. You just may need to try some different props due to more/less bow lift and different slip number to get it optimal. If you have it on I'd leave it on and work on the setup.

Lots of people have lost MPH adding a nose cone. I lost 4 MPH adding one to my Hammer running a 25 pitch labbed Mirage prop and a 468 allegedly putting out about 500 HP. It ran 78 without the nose cone. I always heard that over 80 it would probably help. I thought I was only 2 MPH off and wanted bragging rights of 80. This is based on GPS rather than the happy meter. I couldn't get the bow lift I was able to previously. Result was 4 MPH lost. It really looked cool out of the water on the trailer, but I couldn't give up the 4 MPH. I am confident nothing is being gained and are likely MPH is being lost.

Yes, that's the marketing hype behind them. It all sounds good doesn't it? Of course so does the marketing hype behind Fuel Line Magnets, Tornado Intake Air Scramblers, Fish Carburetors, liberal politics, etc, etc.

Did you try any other props to see if you could get the speed back and then more? To make a change such as a nosecone and expect to not have to adjust other setup parameters is asking for a lot in a boat. Setting up a vee bottom boat for max speed is a bit more complicated than this. You need to understand the variables and how each effect the others.