I found a bravo for sale for an extra but how do i tell the difference between new and old style? Anyone have pics comparing the two? I have 98 bravos. Also, what should i check for since its off the boat?

thanks

I know that the older drives had a shorter torpedo length which resulted in some cavitation problems at around 80mph. It also had the drain plug in the torpedo instead of behind the prop. The later drives had a oil passage added to help save the gears. The remote reservoir was also added. I'm not sure if the fitting for the reservoir is present on the older drives.

the whole for the fittings was present on SOME older drives but not drilled all the way through and no nipple installed, they are easily converted though, The oil passage between upper and lower was also moved so the uppers and lowers are not interchangable between old and new style, if you are buying it as a spare I would think it would be nice to be able to swap lowers and uppers if you wanted to. As siad previously the biggest diffrence is in torpedo length and drain?fill hole location. It's in the bullet on early model and in the carrier behind the prop on later model.

Ok, this brings up another question. I have old transom assemblies and did not have remote reservoirs but the drives have been updated to '97 models. What do I have to do to add the remote reservoirs?

I think it may be on some and not others, depending on how late the older drive was made. My older style, short bullet bravo used a resevior in the engine compartment - '89 drive I think...............Even with nose cone, it was "burning" the prop around 80mph..................

Ok I bought it last night. It was the new style. when did they start building those.

One other dumb question. it says bravo one, high performance on the back. is that standard or is it different?

thanks for the help.

I think in '90 or '91.

Nothing other than standard until the X series started afew years ago. Alot of Fountains used the 1:36 ratio drives in the early 90's.

Maybe when it says hi-performance it has something to do with a beefer gimble housing. Just a guess.

The "performance" bravo 1 had the
low water pick up lower.

I think that was the only difference.

It came out in 98'

The Hi Performance Bravo one had Diesel gears in them. That's what they called them anyway. They were suppose to be a bit stronger than the regular gears. Not much difference. The next best step is the X gears of today.. big improvement over the old ones.
Hope that helps.
Dick