Bearpaw, thanks for the info. I have taken the engine down all the way to the cam this spring, wanted to see if I could get a different one for it, but without knowing what is got in it I was too afraid to take it all the way out , have problems, and miss boating season. I dressed it up quite a bit, rerigged quite a bit in the engine compartment, and got a few new parts. I did get a good deal on a set of Arneson rocker plates and put them on. Your're right I would like to take it down farther this winter and put a new cam lifter etc.. in, any suggestions? I did look up the block numbers on the internet and results came back 502 genV. I do know that. Bill told me it's a 94' engine. It looks like the same engine in the earlier forums posted. It doesn't leak any oil or use any, No other leaks either. I am pretty happy with the boat and I have had people offer me considerably more than I paid for it. It's gotten a lot of TLC from me and it shows. It needed work when I got it and still needs engine/ drive problems figured out, but I am not going to give up. I will make this a fast boat one way or the other.Well,,,,,, hopefully faster than it is now. Thank You guys for all your input!

Theres no doubt, its a great boat. And from what you have posted, you take care of it. Keep goin, straightening things out. My advice to you is to pull the motor off season and have it upgraded or freshened. A couple thousand bucks and you'll be runnin 75 or better. Are you sure its a 502? It may only be a 454.

Good luck

Bruce, I'll double check the engine numbers again, and see what I can find out. If I happen to find out that it is not a 502, I will probably won't be real happy, and will be on the phone to Bill about this. He advertised this boat as having a 502. If not, there will be some problems(false advertising).

I hope Im wrong, but i have seen and heard this scenerio in the past. people can tell you anything they want bout a motor. and, until you pull it and take it apart, you have no idea what you really have. As i stated in my previous post, with a fresh 500hp/470hp, you'de be hitting 70-72. A stock 502 with a good set of heads, and exhaust, it should be at least 500 hp. Thats what leads me to think its a 454 or possibly, a 468. which would put you in the low 60s. I had a 454 in my 28 with a good set of Merlin heads and CMI tubes, and the boat hit 62/64, and that was in a race hull.

Wow, It sounds like thats possibly what I have. I sure hope not. Anyway Bruce, I am getting ready to get my new bravo x drive earlier this week. It's not brand new, got it off OSO in the classifieds. I broke my vertical shaft in my upper gear case in the Ozarks July 4th weekend. My old bravo 1 had a 1 1/2" spacer(cause engine was mounted too high). I checked the X a while back and forgot what exactly it was, but I remember with the drive all the way down, prop shaft center is only 3 1/2" below the running suface/bottom of boat. Remember I have an extension box as well. That should make it 4 1/2 inches when it sits in the water.(i was told 1" deeper per 1ft. back). My question is , when I get my new drive, I thought about trying it without a spacer at all. I called and talked to Imco, and thats what they suggested. I was going to try to buy a 2 1/2 or 3" spacer. I think I need to be deeper. What do you think?

sounds like you have a 3" raised box. originally, I had a box on my boat and had the same problem. I broke the verical shaft on a regular basis. Until I upgraded to the Bravo shop's shaft. It never broke again. I also played around with drive heights and found the best place for the prop shaft is around 4.5 to 4.75 below the bottom. 3.5 is ok if you have more power and a bigger prop. I have since removed my box and the boat runs great. Panteras dont like boxes because of the different transom angle.
The vertical shaft in the bravo 1 is easy and relatively inexpensive to replace. Dont trash the drive just because of that. keep it as a spare.

if you cant turn a 26 pitch prop at 5000-5200, you are way down on power.

does your current drive have a standard lower or a shorty?

If i recall, with my 3 " raised box, I ran a standard length lower which put the prop shaft at around 4 1/2 inches. I think thats the best location. We have had several threads regarding x dims in the past and i think that most guys were in that general area.

the first thing you really need to do is find out what power you have. otherwise, you will beat your head against the wall trying to figure out what the problem is. Once you know the power, you can set the boat up.

just for reference, a merc 500hp will push a full pleasure setup at around 70-72. max

525 will put you at around 73-75

a 600 will push a full pleasure setup at around 75-77

a 650 will be around 79-82

these numbers are based on other Pantera owners with dynoed power.

Thanks Bruce for the info. I'll be working on that. Damn this is frustrating! Thanks again!

been there done that ...glad to help

taking the box off is a huge undertaking. you will most likely pull off some of your gelcoat and have to repair. thats if 5200 was used. May not be so bad if silicon was used. if your box is 3" raised, then youll have to patch the exhaust holes, lower the motor, and steering rams and start from scratch. if your box is nuetral, your exhaust and motor may still need to be realigned. Im not sure. Before you go through all that, I would pull the motor and dyno it and have it checked out. from that point you'll know what you need to do and if its worth it.