What's it take to push a 24 foot to 80 mph-ish, hp wise? That's my goal for this winter project. I don't think mines much more than the 330 stock or 350 depending on cam, carb, etc.. Also, can a stock bravo handle the hp required?
Thanks for the help.

Also, hesitate to ask this, cause this is going to show my ignorance... but can the bench seat be removed, extend the engine bay and stagger a pair of small blocks on a 24'??? Thought that would be sick.. with a 3 man race bolster. kind of a mini-old school race boat.

IMO where I am located it takes at least 550hp to run a consistant 80. I'm in freshwater and about 1300' altitude.

In salt water at sea level it would take less. And for some reason Jo always seems to squeek another 1-2mph out of them!

I guess with enough $$$ anything is possible! LOL

But I think a bad-azz BBC with a beefed up Bravo will put you faster than most care to go in a 24' boat!

Twins are kinda much for a 24.
You could just sqeeze that config in a 28.
BTW I had 560hp 550tq and best i saw was 75.
I believe ziemer is running it now damn close to 79.
Engine probably has 140-150hrs??? probably just breaking in.
I had the bravo 1 beefed up w/ XR internals.

Absolutely, no question, less cost, less maintenance, easier to do... i.e. no modification to the engine bay. It's just for conversation sake. I was thinking about it the other day and wondering if it was possible. I like the old school race boats, like the 41 Apache's, or 35 Pantera with the 6 man bolsters... and I unfortunately have offshore race boat tastes with a Bayliner budget.... if that even...

I tried to do a search on here to see if anyone else asked the question, but didn't find anything.

BTW didn't mean to bring up 41 Apache on here... seems like that is a sore spot.

Engine is right at 125 hours after this weekend.

I think 80 is possible with the current engine, but it won't be an everyday occurance. 75 is a solid number for how it sits. Earlier in the year it ran 77-78 with the wife, kid and I at around 5800 +/-. Right now in this hot a$$ weather it won't duplicate that number.

If it were me, and I were building a motor to take me to the 80 mph mark, I'd round it off to an even 600 HP.

BTW, mine is an SE model. The sport version is a little lighter and would most likely get there with less HP.

OK good stuff. What are we talkin money-wise for the XR internals? Trying to figure out a budget for this project.

I also plan to buy a new alum trailer too. My EZ loader is a POS.

BTW mine is a 1980 24' Sport

Damn dude, we've got a lot in common - right down to the same year 24 Pantera.
I just picked mine up a few months ago, and already working on freshening the motor. I'm not shooting for 80 though.
I've crawling around in the bilge for the past few weeks since the motors out. Sure, you could pull the back bench, but it's gonna be cutting and glassing - and a big project.

I plan to pull the motor in the next few weeks and give up on rushing to get the boat in the season since we are pretty much shot. Football season takes most of my time, but hopefully soon start digging. I finally completed my house so I have a large garage now to work in. If I new more about glassing I would be more apt to take on the staggered project, my knowledge is pretty limited. Engines I can do, but glass work, I need to learn a lot more. ...I just had visions of staggered small blocks with split engine hatch with scoops... center drive, 3 man bolster set up... but since I've already got a BBC to work with probably set those plans aside for another project.

I just bought the boat a year ago and I'm just now finding time to work on it. It looks like the engine has been pulled in and out several times and the rigging job by whoever is not up to my standards. I'm an engineer with a bit of an OCD problem... I like clean rigging jobs.