I posted a similiar post on the Fountain site, but I'll try here to get more opinions. Increasing my 502's to 540's with anticipated 700 NA hp. I don't want to buy new drives unless I'm leaving mph on the table. I'm not sure if my Bravo's are too deep, besides being able to withstand the extra torque?

Anyone been down this road?

How big is the boat and how much does weigh? How much torque??

35' 2001 single step Fountain. The engines just came out so I won't know where the torque curve is for a little while. I do know we are using Dart Pro One aluminum heads with 310 runners.

Which Bravos do you have, XR, XZ????

Just have the Bravo 1's. I know I am on the edge of keeping them intact, but I thought through slow starts and keeping the boat in the water that I might have a fighting chance!

I am concerned about leaving any speed on the table by not going with a shorter drive? I know they changed the drive height in 2001 from 16 3/4 to 18, but since my boat was actually made in 2000 and came with hydromotives, I am not sure that I have the more aggressive height?

I have called Fountain and they don't have the x-dimension on my spec sheet.

You will be pushing your luck with those drives. 700 hp+ 35' boat + stock Bravo 1= trouble waiting to happen..

What would you recommend? At this point, I am open to suggestions.

I would say XR's for you... I have a 25' Convincor, n.a. 540, 680 h.p., 660 torque with an XR upper, Imco lower. I admit to beating it up pretty good. Broke am Imco vertical shaft this year and wore out the lower gears. However, the drive was used, dont know for sure how many hours were on it. I rebuilt it this winter. Hopefully will have better luck this season.

You would be right on the edge, depending on how you drive it.. you might be able to get by with the Bravo's you have with the added upgrade gear kit and a steel tower. Or you could go to the XR gears in your drives, but it is more feasable to just build new ones and sell your old ones. If you wanted to go to the XR upper and Imco Shortie lower, that would be your strongest bet in the Bravo family. I have both senarios on the table right now. Building two XR/Imco's and building two standard Bravo's with steel towers and XR gears.. If you want more info, give me a call, I will share my experince....

Dick
616-335-8446... before 9pm please...