I have a twin engine 89 Baja Sport 280, Brovo drives, 1.5 ratio. Boat ran 68 (GPS) with 'tired HP 400s, 5000 RPM, stock 23p mirage plus props turning in. Boat is listed as 6850 lbs dry, likely weighs 7400 with light load of fuel and two people.

I just finished rebuild of 1997 Generation VI 502s, to original specs, 540 horsepower injected Lingenfelters.

I installed Dart single plane intakes and 800 cfm holleys setup the same as HP500 mercs. I have EMI manifolds with stainless steel tails.

I assume about 500 horse power at the props, maybe a little more or less.

Looking for prop ideas.

Thanks

Labbed 26 Bravo 1 to the correct recipe post testing stock versions should be the right set up for all around performance.

I'd start by testing those. Let us know if you need some to test with.

Brett

We had one, and Bravos made a big difference in handling over the mirages.

Any Follow-up on this? I actually have the exact same boat...am swapping out the stock 330HP motors for 415 HP 502 MPI motors and have a 23P props.

Is 27P 4 blade hydromotive too much?? Was looking at those...

I have an 89 280 Sport also, the drives sit terribly low and the 3 blades (labbed by Brett) have worked the best for mine. Several years ago Brett got my Mirage+25's to 5300rpm's with the 365hp 454 Mags with EMI exhaust/Brodix intake/750 Holley and a retrofit roller cam from Crockett. I later had to jump up to 27's by Brett after doing more (lot lot more) upgrades from Crockett and started running boost. The 4 blades (Bravos) had a better hole shot, but they actually slowed the boat down a bit on the top end. Even after removing the hook in the hull, the 3 blades still worked the best. A pair of 2" shorties would probably work nice and require the 4 blades and run even faster, but I believe this hull was never designed to go as fast as I have it running now. It's very very unstable even with hydraulic steering to the helm, so I'm looking for a 32-35 fountain to put the drives/power in. Good luck and watch the chine walk.

What kind of speeds are running? So its that unstable eh?
Good to know...I dont have hydraulic steering and have yet to really open the boat up. How do you take the hook out of the hull? Does it help?

With a little chop on the water and on a cool day I see 94mph on the GPS. I only see 91-92 in July/Aug. The boat gets loose around 88 and sometimes I have to drive through a little chine walk, but with practice it gets somewhat easier, still not the best feeling. The hook at the rear was removed with a combination of some grinding and filling and then of course re-gelling. The strakes were sharpened also. I wouldn't recommend removing the hook unless you add a lot of power, it can ruin the handling at slower speeds. I started with an add-on hydraulic steering kit from CP Performance back when I was running in the high 70's and then later ran it to the helm.

you have 454's....mild build??with boost 92-94 mph......
seems kinda high to me...

No, I started with the mild build, a few bolt on parts (exhaust/intake/carb/cam) and ran the +25's at around 5300rpm's. Then a few years later went back to Tyler for more power. Added the TBS 250's with 2/750's, -8 fuel lines and better pumps, larger cams, Brodix BB2+ heads with CNC porting, inconel exhaust and stainless intakes w/titanium retainers, dry to the tip exhaust, MSD's, block stud kits, 12qt pans, Melling pumps, 3" coolers, -10 oil lines and did the hull work. That's when I needed the +27's and broke into the 90's. Last winter on the re-fresh I stroked them with 4.25 cranks, H-beam rod's, J&E pistons, floating pins and Total Seal rings. Balanced them internally and changed out the flywheels and balancers. They don't run bad for small engines. There was an old 280 Sport (in Nebraska I believe) that was going even faster than mine, but not sure what he had for power.

Sorry, forgot to mention I spin the +27's 6000rpm's and Back when Brett did them, he explained that they were higher in pitch than 27 to begin with and the 29's (if I wanted to jump up) are more like 30-31's, was something about the way they were cast from the factory. Anyway, BBlades did a great job for me and I hope the guy they put on the phones last summer who had a prop hit his foot is doing better, he was helpful. Was just trying to help a guy out who had the same boat. Have a nice Holiday.