Rik

It is just funny that everyone wants a Bravo to stand up to the abuse of the power and weight of the boat along with a warranty and for little cost.

There are alternatives, and the economics of the Bravo make others very viable.

You are right, most read the hype, especially on OSO and believe it. The ones that sign the checks know what reality is.

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

I have roughly725 hp/800 ft lbs torque(only made 630 hp/697 ft lbs torque on dyno BUT turned up timing and boost since and picked up 9 mph so my guess is the 725/800). I spin a single 30 pitch 4 blade w 1.50 gears at 5400rpm's at 85 mph(yes,i know its about 20 % slip).When i'm racing someone,its sometimes for 4 or 5 miles and I DON"T LET OFF,EVEN IN THE AIR. Alot of our racing locally is also rolloffs from 20 or 30 mph,my prop doesn't blowout or cavitate and i just wince thinking that the drives going to blow but it doesn't. I have sheared the floor in a set of xr upper gears,sheared off one max machine worx billet vert shaft and found some pretty sick looking bearings and upper shaft ends tore up in caged bearing. I change the drive oil every 25 hours,its never burnt. A full out done max machine upgraded drive outright is about 10k and to me well worth it. I believe in tearing drive down every year and replacing bearings,inspecting parts for wear/brinnelling if your running a blower motor. I don't kid myself about how i drive,i run hard on my drive and if it fails i know its my fault . I will continue to praise max machine worx because in my opinion they have the best upgrades out there for xr's,Smitty

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

2000 baja 272 w/540 m-3 running 9 psi boost,headers

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

RHC,i was in cedar point harbor last june (around 2nd or 3rd wk) ,saw a LOUD boat with big'ol cams,could that have been you?

KAAMA

iTrader: (1)

Even though we all know that anything can and will eventually break, it's still good to see some of the heavier boats with twin engine applications running some decent power with their Bravo XR drives modified with the Max Machine Worx products and live. I enjoy reading about some of the higher horsepower to weight ratio testimonies given here (as stated in other posts above) with drives modified by Max Machine. Sounds like they make a decent product.

The Menace

After several dozen phone calls with some very patient expertise, I made a decision as to which drives would be best for my application and situation. I would especially like to thank all who put up with my unintelligent phone calls.

Major factors considered: 1.)Performance required 2)History/experience of others 3)input from the best in the business.

TNT is building a set of drives that will be comprised of a Merc XR uppers, Imco extreme lowers and basically the premium Imco Extreme parts from that point on. 1.25 inch shaft and shortening the length by 1 inch.

Imco, Max Marine, a couple Merc Dealers, the key players at TNT and the OSO board members input certainly helped the decision.

The lead time at Max marine was long, Imco had the Extreme drives in stock and they did have a couple cheescake features that were attractive, straight up XR sportmaster series had very respectable reviews but the consistent factor was everybody agreed on the other drives are stronger with more beefier parts all around.

Even though Imco's were my first and foremost choice, the election to go with TNT building the drives with Merc/Imco parts was based on the work they have done for me in the past.
Matt knows the boat, engines, engine builder, the application and will make sure the best work that can be done will be done.

As they say the proof is in the pudding. I have another thread that many have followed regarding the building of the engines. I will update this from time to time concerning prop selection and overall performance of the final package.

ONESICKGLADIATOR

Going with TNT is the way to go they did mine and they work just fine for me. I run zul 800+ hp with herring 6 blade on my gladiator


Rick OSG