sportmaster vs speedmaster

[quartershot]

OK guys lets see what you guys have to say about them both the pros and the cons. yes the sport does have rev. and more in the water that the speed. lets hear it.:)

[Hot Shot Merc]

I dont understand the last two sentences.:confused: Please try again.

[quartershot]

ok to put it into english the sportmaster has reverse gear and also has more mass for more drag. the speed is always in forward gear with alot less mass in the water. from there tell me what you think?

[Skittles]

It requires ALOT more maintenence. In my opinion for the speeds you are after the sportmaster is your best choice:cool:

[Hot Shot Merc]

There only good for one thing.RACING!Not drag racing cause there illegal for that.

[Tom Foley]

Rob , We will expect you at the Suwannee Aug 14-15 even though you will be Racing ! We need you there, ! make it happen no matter how much you must increase your customer price ! Hope you can make it , Tom Foley .

[Raceman]

Rob, have you ever driven a boat with a Speedmaster on it?

One other thing, they're not illegal in all drag race classes, but it's hard to make em competitive with a big gearcase from an acceleration standpoint.

Dan, I do agree that for you the big gearcase makes more sense.

[MARINER RACING]

my Speed master is a great lwr
i have almost no steering torque
the physics behind the speedmaster is that smaller parts will pass through water alot easier ...we all know that!
the maintainance really isnt that bad ...but it is a pain in the ass sometimes
and crashing into the dock all the time really sucks!
the speed master aint for everybody
if you have a boat that you can jump out of the seat and grab the dock quickly you will probably like it better than a guy like me that cant
there are certain classes in drag that you can run a speedmaster in and i see well known /winning drag guys on this board looking for speedmaster drives all the time
there must be a reason for that!
hope i helped! gimme a call if you have any questions
and ill do my best to help you...Jay 561 687 3636

[half fast]

Yea,Yea you tell em RM speedmasters suck.I'm gonna throw mine away.They are ugly too. hf...

[quartershot]

hf so anything new going on this week. by the way I talked Glenn seems like a very nice guy.

[MARINER RACING]

Hey if your gonna throw that ugly speedmaster out......
CAN I HAVE IT?
and any props you have laying around for it too?
:D :D :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :eek: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D :D

[half fast]

Ugh NO ,I got a pair of em.One left one right.Got two adapters also.The shafts are set up for 20 in mids.In this package I purchased a left flywheel and starter and right and left props.The previous owner had em on a 25 Talon.They will soon be on the 22 Talon I recently bought.Bought all this speedmaster stuff ,then had to go buy a boat to put it on.What a vicious cycle this disease is. hf...

[quartershot]

i really dont think that HF and Raceman have enough boats. one for everyday of the week, i think they need more like one for every day of the month:) Thats when i think it might start to be a problem.

[Hot Shot Merc]

No I have never driven a boat with one.So what.They still arent practical for everyday use like Dan would be useing it for.I stand corrected again please forgive me.SOME DRAG CLASS'S ALOW THEM NOT ALL.Dan go ahead and buy one you'll love it on lake tarpon.There great thats why everyone uses them.You would have no problem docking at your house on the canal.

[quartershot]

gee I was not trying to start you guys fighting I just thought it would be an intresting thread to heard what people thought.:eek:

[Hot Shot Merc]

Just agreeing cause my opinion was the wrong one again.Its easyer to just give in:rolleyes: I answered your question then got replys myself.Not trying to start any fights all though its been a while since I've thrown down maybe I should boe up.Just kidding guys,dont get all upset with me:D

[Mark75H]

Quarter, here's a little more of the skinny on Speedmasters ....... The heavier your boat is and the less power you have the less difference you are going to see with a Speedmaster; it has no magic installed at the factory.

A super light boat with a very high power motor will get the most speed increase over a shift LU. Problem with this definition is that everyone thinks their boat is very light and their motor has a lot of power and even the lightest rig may see only a marginal speed increase.


Going back to the early and mid 1970's OMC racers had a choice of racing lower units on their race motors .... a 2 1/4" inch Speedmaster-ish lower unit or a larger 3 inch (or so) "club foot" non-shifting racing lower unit. The thin unit had a marginal speed advantage (maybe 2 mph) but they had better handling results from the club foot, so the club foot was the lower unit of choice.

Another disadvantage of Speedmasters .... less choice of props, probably by a factor of 10 compared to shifties. You are a lot more likely to have to just live with whatever happens to happen with the first few used props you can wrangle or plop down $400 to $600 or more per custom prop to exactly dial-in your best setup.

[quartershot]

intresting, thanks for the input Mark.

[RNM018]

Also with the larger dia. shiftable cases , when run near even with the bottum of the boat help to provide some tail lift as the gear case trys to find the sufice of the water . To test this , try running a small xr6 case , then step up to a standard v6 case , now put your cle or sport master back on . Just remember to to reset yuor prop shaft height as the xr6 is a shorter gearcase .Rich Martin 018

[Techno]

If shifting wasn't a concern does the smaller case last as long or doo's it break?
Eventually I won't need the OB for shifting but do need an LU so got my choices.

Whats the deal with the props" does it have a smaller shaft? Can't any prop be rehubbed for them?

[crazy horse]

If this helps they count the life of a stock case in years. The life of a SSM in hours. If one of my speedmasters could be run as much as my stock case I'd never take it off .

[CALVIN]

What are the reasons the sm gearcases have such a short life?

[Raceman]

There's a lot of information as well as mis information on Speedmasters. First, my experience has been that they're fairly durable if cared for properly. There's little question that they're not as strong or durable as a full size gearcase, but they can be made to live. I'd guess I've got about as much speedmaster experience on NON-raceboats as anybody on the planet. My first 15 Ally had both SSM and an MC1 Speedmasters on both inline 6's, a cut down 1750 (probably the first one in the world, done in 76, soon after the motors came out) and finally on a champ mid on that same boat with first a 2 liter, then 2.4 liter powerhead. All of these old gearcases had the small propshaft. The #6, which is the small unit currently available, is very similar internally to the old SSM, but it has a larger propshaft and of course some larger bearings. The #6 and larger #4 both have the same propshaft spline as the big gearcases (excluding the fatshafts) to directly answer Techno's question. One of the hardest thing done to any gearcase is exiting/re-entering the water under full power. The way the F1 boats are set up this is continuous and greatly compromises the Speedmaster's life and reliability. On a non race boat, such as a V bottom or tunnel with a center pod, the engine isn't operated as much in these conditions as the true tunnel, so the life is better, even though the boats tend to be heavier. I also try not to "slam" mine from a slow roll for the same reasons. I've never lost a gearcase in all these years of running a speedmaster. Consider it luck, care, treatment, the fact that I don't run a lot of hours, or whatever, they've been good to me.

One of the other obvious perils of foolin' with em is the fact that most people buy em used because of the expense of buying new, together with the usual availability of used ones. The units require special tools and knowledge to service properly because there are two driveshafts and pinion gears and if they're not shimmed properly the load is not equal on the two pinions and because of the small size failure will occur. It's always best to have someone who's familiar with the cases to go through any unit bought used. I know that Steckbauer is excellent, Eagle one has all the tools also, and there are probably others, but in any case a Speedmster guy should go through em.

[T2x]

This thing never blew a unit....... and was easily 10 mph faster with SSM's than with stock units.

T2x

[mendo]

Would like to see more of that boat T2X.

Got any more pics?

[schiadart]

I have not viewed many for sale on scream and fly. Does anyone have any Idea what a used one will run me?

[Fish]

sportmaster or speedmaster?