I switched my drive last nite on my eliminator cat. The old drive only had a low water pickup. I was told that was because it was a cat hull. The xr drive that I put on has dual water pick ups. Will that cause any problems?

If you loose water psi or see water temps climb at speed, then the upper holes are not getting water. You can plug a couple of them, but not too many. Compare the openings in the low water pickup to the dual unit..

Hope this helps
Dick

I don't have a water psi guage. The motor is a closed cooling 525. Will it be the oil temp guage to climb or will the water temp guage climb? What do you cover the holes with? Tape?

Bringing this one back to the top..

I'm converting from B1s to XRs. I bought a dwp XR, and am now looking at buying a lwp drive. Is one better than the other? Will it matter if I mix and match on my boat? Could the lwp drive be drilled out to make it a dwp drive?

I was told that the drive with the single low water pick up was used on cats and the duals water pickup was used on v bottoms.

Steve,
My 31 Formula had LWP only, the new 38 has DWP. Haven't had any problems with either (well, not water related anyway)

If you need to plug some off the best way is to thread the hole with a tap then put in a threaded allen head plug, then if you want to open back up just remove the plug. Little blue locktite is a good idea also.

If you start to overheat the water should go up first followed by the oil as well.

Theroy has it that any openings on the front of the bullet will cause problems with clean water to the prop. That being said, if you run a high X dimension, then you need a low water pick up to solve a problem. When they first came out with the LWP, people were having problems with plugging them. Too much time on the beach enjoying, or shallow water. The DWP helped in that area.
I have a higher X and run the side pickup, I have one or two holes plugged with the above mentioned process... Works for my boat.
In my opinion, I keep away from the holes in the front of the bullet, to help water to the prop to help lift the bow. If you run a cat, that isnt an issue the hull does it for you.
The warning signs that you have a problem are higher water temps at speed and then oil temps go up too. If you have closed cooling I would think the reaction would be much slower.. But once you slow down and start picking up more water the temp will come down..
Each boat will react differently, depending on the hull and setup..

Hope this helps..

Dick

Mr Gadgets, Just trying to follow your post, are you saying that cooling inlets on the front of the gearcase are detrimental unless absolutely needed such as a high X-Dimension ( cat hull). I'm running a DWP on an XZ ( V-bottom hull ) and wonder if a side water pick-up would be faster, I still have the standard Bravo with side inlets? Steve

Can' Yea or Nae on any of the above! I put a Bravo Diesel X on my 22 it has Hi/Lo pickups, what I experienced was higher water pressure at speed which caused my sea strainer to leak a little. A better gasket cured the leak. On the plus side both my Alpha and Blackhawk drives let a ton of lake weed get through into my strainer, with the dual pickups I hardly ever have to clean the strainer. I believe that is due to the pump being able to split the suction between the two pickups.