esteinbrenner

Hello, long time lurker here,

I've done a lot of searching but nothing seems to answer my specific needs. (Which is rare because this site has everything for performance boating.) Anyway, boat is a 1995 Hallett 240, 525SC, Bravo drive. It's a 0F serial number, so near the end of the era for the "one size fits all" Bravos. 440 hours, engine is bone stock, drive too. I was planning on pulling the engine this winter to upgrade a little. I have a clean TBS 250 setup on the workbench now and lots of advice poached from Mr. MildThunder and the other 525SC guys on here. Aiming for ±650HP after 8.5:1 pistons, cam, maybe heads. No room for a chiller, so I'll just have to spin it slower. Anyway, last weekend I shifted the drive to reverse and it stayed there. Shift linkage is OK to the drive and moves freely. Pulled off the back cover on Monday to find the clutch components looking... well, "not parallel to one another" is how I'd describe it. Without pulling the drive, something definitely looks broken in there. So the questions are many: Did these parts fail from fatigue after 440 hours behind that (mild) blown BBC? I'm considering the Mercury Bravo XZ upgrade kit. It comes with a new clutch and gears, bearings, seals, pretty much everything up top except the U-Joint. Has anyone tried this setup? More importantly, will it take the upgraded motor? I really don't have $10K for an XR. My lower unit seems OK on my drive, almost no play last year when I had the units separated. I'm easy on the boat out of the hole; hammering the throttle just blows the prop out on this 5500lb deep vee. After much research on the evolution of Mercury's Bravo drive, it seems to me the XZ is a moderately stronger setup than what I have now, although I would still be using the old case, lower unit, 1" propshaft, etc, so I'm not sure if the $2000 or so rebuild will do much for me other than just send the next failure to a weaker, original component. Any ideas for a guy on a budget would be appreciated.

http://www.cpperformance.com/p-14466...150-ratio.aspx

Brian

airjunky

iTrader: (2)

Of case will prob be a basic upper steel insert and shimmed fact for the nla gearset. You wont get the twist resistant 1.25 propshaft either. would prob index pinion nut pull pinion n yoke out back pop gearset out top and see whats happening in there . If tower isnt tweaked i would prob plop some thick floors in it or pick up a $400 used replacement drop in set and motor on till you can get a upgraded drive.

endeavor1

iTrader: (3)

440 hours on a drive.... That's awesome.

offshorexcursion

iTrader: (5)

Sorry but there is no bravo based upgrade that will prevent the drive from prematurely wearing out. You might postpone part failures slightly with upgrades. With the modern Forged gears vs the better ones of your era, combined with more power, expect less then 100hrs before refreshing your newly upgraded drive, no matter what you do to upgrade it. With some parts just breaking even sooner then 100 hrs. 440hrs will never happen again even at your current power level.

My advice is find some used spare drives, go thru them stock or upgraded, and swap drives and freshen, repeat.

Enjoy

Knot 4 Me

I'd contact Teague since you are in CA.

t500hps

I thought the XZ was basically a regular bravo upper and a larger prop shaft XR lower?????

Several guys I know run the XR upper with the regular bravo lower (which you already have).....including a pair of 650hp motors in a 42 Sonic pig.

Donzi1979

iTrader: (1)

When I blew up my stock 99 bravo I had a similar drive built to what you are wanting. It's considered an XZ it's a stock X upper newer thicker upper gears and larger input shaft and I went with a XR bearing carrier lower which has the larger prop shaft. I had Victory marine in TX do it but any good drive guy can build you similar. I too have a heavy v bottom single hp 500 that used to be pro charged. It's not bullet proof but better than stock.

Griff

An XZ is basically a Bravo X upper with an XR lower.

airjunky

iTrader: (2)

The upper case is on ebay , but i do have i set of thick floor later style , no shims to retro , and a set or 2 of drop in for the early driveshaft housings. Get ya a pinion nut tool and yank that stuff out and see what the tower looks like may be a easy cheap fix

esteinbrenner

Thanks to everyone for the replies, even if the outlook is bleak... I'm not sure how this drive lasted 440 hours, but I can say there's no record of any major service in the enormous folder of receipts dating back to when the boat was new. I am sure however, that how the boat is driven plays a huge part in the longevity of these components. Funny, airjunky mentioned exactly what I'm doing; waiting on my new u-joint nut wrench, in the mail as I type. As soon as it arrives, I'll post some gory pics of the internals! Thanks again for all the advice!
Brian