Going through boat with new transom assemblies, painted bilge, new kplanes, engine dynos, and it doesn’t seem to end LOL! Now I’m onto drives. Have a pile of em for sure - 5 Bravos to be exact. One is good, one is marginal and three are beat up pretty good (cases still good on all). Over the years i’ve Bought used junk on the cheap.

Question is this... I’m keeping the good one as a spare. Do I need to get wild upgrades and spend $12k for a couple rebuilds with larger bearings, different cap, etc. or will my 1990 311 treat me nice with QUALITY stock rebuilds. I keep hearing, “GO BIG” with the upgrades or get XR’s because it’s a heavy boat. Though I love the boat I’m trying not to get into crazy money with a boat that realistically isn’t worth that much.

BTW... Motors are 502 MPI dynoed at 460.

What drives are you running on your 311’s and have they held up with less than crazed driving habits?

I don’t have a 311 but I just did a complete refit similar to yours. I went with the bravo X seacore. It has a lot of great corrosion resistance options, dual water pick up and a 3 year warranty. The X was designed for the Cummins diesel package and beafed gears were added to take the torque demands. The shop I bought it from told me not to bother with an XR and gave up money by talking me out of it. I’m happy so far but I only have about 20 hours on it .

Thanks for responses.
Pay... I was sort of thinking that. I’m looking at $7k for 2 stock rebuilds and about $12k for upgrades (again from a reputable shop). Like to go fast, but not a racer and don’t beat on my stuff. Don’t want to keep dinging checkbook if I don’t really have to. Any other feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Bro, if you’re easy on the sticks and keep the drives stuck in the water you’ll be good.

I agree. At the power level you’re at, the stock Bravo drives will be fine. Get the two rebuilt, and keep the other one handy in the event one goes.

On a separate subject, what was done to your 502 MPIs to make 460 HP? Are they new? rebuilt? Dynoed with or without accessories?

Thanks again for the feedback guys. TomZ... I know there’s always a lot of questions about how to get more power from the MPI’s with stock intake, but I don’t know what was done to mine. Bought them from a friend and don’t know their origin or what was done (if anything) to them. They were dynoed with racing headers so maybe that’s why they ran higher numbers than the 415 HP that they’re supposed to put out.

And all accessories were on motors for dyno

I am in the process of swapping my TRS over to bravo. I’m replacing the transom so I’m figuring it’s the best time to do it. Could you measure the x dimension or cut out height for the bravo? I plan on raising the x 1” but would need to know where to start.