Results of my Bravo conversion

[Donzi Matt]

Hi guys,

I just put my boat back in the water after having the bravo conversion completed. My boat is an 87 classic with a 454. With my alpha I was turning 63 mph on a GPS with a 23 pitch mirage plus revving at 5300. Way too high, I know. My motor isn't stock. It has an edelbrock intake, full MSD ignition, Holley marine double pumper, and I think a true 454 mag cam. I am not sure of my heads. Anyways, my new drive has a low water pickup and a nosecone. I picked up a 25 pitch mirage to try. My first run brought me 69.8 on a gps with just me and a half tank of gas at 4700 rpms. Needless to say I am thrilled. The boat didn't feel like it lost any acceleration as the holeshot was brutal. I also carried 65.6 mph with 4 people on the boat. This boat is a blast now and I feel much more confident with this setup. I am sure I will tap that magic 70 mark and can't wait to get more seat time. I will let you guys know if I run into any pitfalls but as of now, I consider it money well spent.


Matt Burns

87 22 Classic

[Walt. H.]

Wow Matt,

Congrat's!! on Money well spent! :)

Back in the 70's we had a phrase in Drag Racing,

"Speed cost money, How fast do you want to Go?" :rolleyes:
One day I hope to do the same when I find the correct parts and a honest seller that plays fair!

Walt.......

[Ed Donnelly]

was this a alfa to bravo or trs to bravo? dumb people ask dumb questions..Ed

[Donzi Matt]

This was an alpha to a bravo conversion. I new my boat was over the stock 330 horse so I wanted to upgrade before I grenaded on the lake. Doing the math with the speeds I am turning I must be in the 400 ish area. I am going to try and take some pics of the outdrive when I pull the boat this weekend to do some cleaning. It's kind of cool to have an 87 boat with 2003 merc decals on the drive and gimble. Actually, the only thing I bought new was the gimble and transom assembly. The drive was rebuilt with a 1 year warranty and was substantially cheaper. I also had a wishbone installed in case the noise boys of lake winni invite me to take the sunday morning decible test. I am not going to kid you, it was expensive as hell, but this is by far my favorite boat of many over the years, so I don't see me getting rid of it any time soon. The way I rationalized it is if I blew it up I would have to do the conversion then, but if I did it now I can sell my old drive, which happened to be brand new from quicksilver repower.

Matt Burns

87 22 classic now with bravo reliability

[Ranman]

Bravo to the Bravo! Nice job Matt. I personally think you made a good choice. Your 22 has gone up a considerable notch in value by my opinion. Also a nice touch by pawning the ALpha hardware prior to catastrophic failure. So what is a ballpark estimate of $$$ for the Bravo minus the Alpha returns?

[Donzi Matt]

Well, I have to tell you, the conversion was not cheap. In fact, I have more in my boat than I could ever recover selling it, but that's not the point I guess. i bought a new gimble and transom assembly since I couldn't get them used in good shape. I also bought a new circulation pump and bracket assembly as I couldn't get a used setup quickly and I only wanted to miss one week of boating. The out drive was rebuilt and it has either the speedmaster or sportmaster (I can't remember which) with the low water pickups and nosecone built in. the rebuilt drive was two grand. I also had a drive shower put on, stern drive lock, wishbone pipe, remote reservoir, new coupler. Now here is the kicker. I hope your sitting down. 7400 with labor and everything. I am expecting to fetch 2000 for my old parts. So my total outlay was 5400 and I only missed one weekend of boating which I was going to have to miss anyways for family committments. I guess it's also another way for me to never justify selling my boat. But the thing shifts like butter, goes like hell, and this drive seems te be able to handle much more positive trim than my old drive. Not too mention I have gained almost 7 mph after the swap. I would never have even attempted to stress my old drive with a prop 2 sizes over what I had.

Matt Burns

87 22 Classic