Skater 30 / Ilmor Indy Upgrade

[NASCAT]

Skater & ILMOR have been working together closely on upgrading my boat to ILMOR's new Indy drive. The retrofit is the first for ILMOR as the other boats with Indy drives were sold as Gen 4 engine / drive packages. I have Gen3 engines which has required a team effort from all parties involved in order to see this retrofit project thru. Luckily both companies are located only a few hrs apart from one another. Ultimately it should pave the way for other ILMOR owners to upgrade to the Indy drive resulting in an even more reliable turnkey package.

The Skater is my 2nd ILMOR powered boat & they've been an excellent option for me. Over the past 5yrs I've received unmatched sales, service & support from the folks at ILMOR.

Skater has been working their magic as well. There were lots of options when it came to retrofitting the new drives but Peter & his staff aren't taking any shortcuts and there have been several instances where they have taken it upon themselves to go the extra mile which is the reputation Skater is known for.

While I've missed several of my favorite poker runs to date I consider it a small sacrifice in the big scheme of things. Allowing Skater & ILMOR the time they require to engineer the upfit will ultimately pay dividends in the end.

My goal being a well rounded turnkey, reliable, bulletproof package.

 

[Big Time]

That is a great set up you are going to have there when its all said and done!!

Just curios, are you expecting any gains (be it speed or handling) with the new drives?

 

[Bobcat]

That's pretty cool!

 

[NASCAT]

That is a great set up you are going to have there when its all said and done!!

Just curios, are you expecting any gains (be it speed or handling) with the new drives?

BT,

While I've ridden in #6 boats I have ZERO seat time so I'm not sure what to expect but here are some things to consider.

Peter doesn't think I gained more than 200lbs between the packages so overall weight will be up & CG will be slightly affected.

The Indy drives will be mounted 1" higher & there will be less drive in the water at speed since the prop is a surface type prop so that means less drag & my understanding less slip & better efficiency.

I'm now spinning a transmission but it's almost a direct drive so I lost the 18" of driveline I used to spin.

Lastly I hear the cleaver type props have more bite & a more hooked up feel so I'm hoping for good things overall.

Original owner saw 137mph w/ 5 blade 34 Herings. He sold those for a pair of 35's which I got w/ the boat but they were way too big. I've personally seen 135 w/ my 5 blade 33's.

Stay tuned!

 

[fantastixvoyage]

Looking great and they should perform quite well! I'll be putting in about 800hp and tossing around what drives to use as there are a bunch to handle that (Imco, wet or dry 6's, Konrad, etc). Let us all know how you make out :cheers2:

 

[fantastixvoyage]

Also did you suffer any drive breakage with your Imcos?

 

[NASCAT]

Also did you suffer any drive breakage with your Imcos?

My setup was hard on gears & while I never had a catastrophic failure I'd see the metal chips in the oil & new it was time to tear them down & have a loosee! Made it difficult to boat w/ any confidence especially considering the time effort & expense that goes into attending a poker run.

Lets face it they're based on the Merc Bravo XR & simply not well suited for all the unloading & loading they see on a high X cat. Not the drives fault but what real choices did the original owner have. NXT's were just coming out & no way they were going to allow it to be mated to an Ilmor, #6's would sink it & the new IMCO's hadn't been released it.

I strongly considered the IMCO SCX but the lower design that allows you to use the cleaver props isn't a good match for my but providing too much stern lift. The recommendation was new SCX uppers w/ my std IMCO 2" shorty lowers leaving the lowers w/ the small gears as the weak link. I know others w/ the IMCO SCX's who are having good success.

I had to wait for ILMOR to engineer the retrofit necessary to mate my GEN 3 engine to the drive. The Gen 4 is all drive by wire & communicates w/ the drive thru the ECM. My engines didn't have such options / software so an upgrade had to be developed. Once they told me it was available I jumped on it.

 

[RPM]

Very nice equipment! Will you be making it to Skaterfest at LOTO..Shoot-out weekend?

 

[NASCAT]

Not likely too far a tow for me based on available time off.

 

[Donskihp]

That looks like thats gonna be a sweet setup. Was there any transome glass work done?

 

[NASCAT]

That looks like thats gonna be a sweet setup. Was there any transome glass work done?

Indy Drive transom assy covers all the IMCO Ext box holes but Skater being first class filled them in & touched up just so there wouldn't be an exposed wood.

 

[NASCAT]

A few pics of the tedius work that goes into mocking up the engine & drive in order to get the proper driveline angle & alignment resulting in the fabbing up of new motor mounts

 

[NASCAT]

Motor Mount Fabrication

 

[Pete B]

as always Skater is TOP Notch, as always you will have a top notch ride!

 

[stainless]

as always Skater is TOP Notch, as always you will have a top notch ride!

+1!:cheers2:

 

[ILMORdude]

Wow! Serious mounting hardware. I cant wait to see this finished product. I love michigan companies......

 

[NASCAT]

This project is NOT for the faint hearted or "do it yourselfer" unless you are very organized, multi talented & can stomach seeing your perfectly good paint work & rigging spread out like a 1000pc puzzle.:huh:

Engine relocation affected header clearance which required new scoops. Bilges were touched up while the engines are out.

 

[NASCAT]

I believe I mentioned the fact that my application won't accomodate plug ins & is too tight for a driveline.

Skater custom assembled a flange/flange u-joint which is why engine-drive alignment is so critical.

Port drive is on for good & expect the remainder of the transom to be final assembled by mid week.

 

[NASCAT]

Todays progress!

I followed C-Sprays lead in matching my swim platform & trim tabs color to the Indy drives! Can't take any credit for that idea.

 

[Wahoo 214]

Very nice job.