New Aritcle - thoughts on a Mercury Racing 3.4-liter R-series engine

[river rocket]

Last comment as I didn't pay attention which thread this was. Been following another 2 Stroke thread as well. No glitter on my bass rig. Flat gray. Sold an older Bullet with worked 225 promax so that probably set my expectations a little off. Bullet was smaller and way lighter. Clearly didn't ride as well in rough water. I've run a 26 and 27 bravo on it so far. It's fine, I just thought acceleration would be better. I'm in NC. Back on topic of 200R.

I would say your post is on topic from a performance expectation perspective. The new 200R has to be put on the right boat or the boat owner is going to walk away feeling like you do with the 250. If you look at the current bass boat market, the Allison XB21 and 20' Bullets are probably the two lightest production boats made. The 200R isn't going to get the results the heavier V8 gets despite having similar top end numbers. Your point about acceleration is spot on. If you look at the Allison XB21 as an example, Fastbass Marine has tested the new 200R against the 250R and 300R on several boats and while the top end number is within 4-8mph of either of those motors the time it takes to get to speed is significantly different. Which is the same thing you see with the 250. The early data logging I did on the 250R vs the 300R on the XB21 showed that clearly. With a typical fishing load, in day to day conditions, the top end numbers are around 4-5mph difference. The time it took to go from 5-90 however was significantly different and the time it took to get to top speed was much different as well. The 200 on the same boat sees the same issue.

[Greg G]

So the new V6 200R digital scale weight is 514 lbs and the V8 300R tallboy is 561 lbs. Is it accurate that Mercury only offers the 200R in DTS so that you can not plug it into any older rigging?

That is correct. DTS only. It requires new rigging. I called around to a few dealers. You cannot rig yourself. You must pay the dealer to rig it for you.

I would say your post is on topic from a performance expectation perspective. The new 200R has to be put on the right boat

Good point RR. I also wonder how much "taller" the 300 R V8 is physically as compared to the 200R V6

[river rocket]

Height difference is about 3". The motors are identical from the lower cover down.

[NCKH]

I have been trying for a year to find someone who may have solid knowledge on a 300R vs 300 Pro XS on a setup like mine. Currently i have a 2022 Blazer 675 Ultimate Bay flats boat. It has a hull wt of 1800lbs and im running the 2022 300 PXS at 14" of setback with a hyd Bob's plate. I have tried a bunch of props and right now the best one is a 24p Hydromotive Quad IV-X. 70.2mph @6000 rpm. I have a MG Tour Pro 109 and 2 Lowrance HDS 12's on the bow. It is a fishing setup with average amount of rods and tackle. It needs bow lift and a prop doesnt exist that will do it with my current motor. What is anyone's semi-expert opinion about how much of an upgrade a 300R with TM gearcase would do for this rig? I would have to switch to DTS too im sure. I have already verified full throttle and have years of experience driving HP hulls. Had multiple Bullets since 1996 over the years. Is it worth approx 20 grand more after selling my motor to get the 300R?

[Greg G]

Better to delete your post and repost it as a new thread, this is for the V6 race motor

[NCKH]

Better to delete your post and repost it as a new thread, this is for the V6 race motor

So all the comments about 300R's and 450R's are all V6 Race motor related? thanks

[aj06bolt12r]

I have been trying for a year to find someone who may have solid knowledge on a 300R vs 300 Pro XS on a setup like mine. Currently i have a 2022 Blazer 675 Ultimate Bay flats boat. It has a hull wt of 1800lbs and im running the 2022 300 PXS at 14" of setback with a hyd Bob's plate. I have tried a bunch of props and right now the best one is a Hydromotive Quad IV-X. 70.2mph @6000 rpm. I have a MG Tour Pro 109 and 2 Lowrance HDS 12's on the bow. It is a fishing setup with average amount of rods and tackle. It needs bow lift and a prop doesnt exist that will do it with my current motor. What is anyone's semi-expert opinion about how much of an upgrade a 300R with TM gearcase would do for this rig? I would have to switch to DTS too im sure. I have already verified full throttle and have years of experience driving HP hulls. Had multiple Bullets since 1996 over the years. Is it worth approx 20 grand more after selling my motor to get the 300R?

Look up Jason Rench on the book of faces. He has the same boat as you with tuned Yamaha SHO and a Merc Sportmaster LU and that thing ROLLS OUT. Send him a message. He's a nice guy Im sure he would talk to you.

[skialot2]

Does anyone
other than Joe and me actually own one of these motors? Attachment 541490


bought it last June with 15 hours on the clock. Has over 170 now, less than a year into it. The most effortless, quiet, smooth, easy on gas, outboard I’ve ever had.

That looks like a regular Fourstroke series Merc. I can see you have a jackplate but you do not have low water pickups. You must be running with the motor buried in the water. If you add low water pickups and a good surfacing prop, you will probably pickup close to 10 mph.

[NCKH]

Look up Jason Rench on the book of faces. He has the same boat as you with tuned Yamaha SHO and a Merc Sportmaster LU and that thing ROLLS OUT. Send him a message. He's a nice guy Im sure he would talk to you.

Yes, i know him. His setup is not at all similar to mine. He runs a stripped boat with modified hull, 22" setback, different motor and modified console. Doesnt fish so his boat is usually empty as well.

Thanks

[river rocket]

I have been trying for a year to find someone who may have solid knowledge on a 300R vs 300 Pro XS on a setup like mine. Currently i have a 2022 Blazer 675 Ultimate Bay flats boat. It has a hull wt of 1800lbs and im running the 2022 300 PXS at 14" of setback with a hyd Bob's plate. I have tried a bunch of props and right now the best one is a Hydromotive Quad IV-X. 70.2mph @6000 rpm. I have a MG Tour Pro 109 and 2 Lowrance HDS 12's on the bow. It is a fishing setup with average amount of rods and tackle. It needs bow lift and a prop doesnt exist that will do it with my current motor. What is anyone's semi-expert opinion about how much of an upgrade a 300R with TM gearcase would do for this rig? I would have to switch to DTS too im sure. I have already verified full throttle and have years of experience driving HP hulls. Had multiple Bullets since 1996 over the years. Is it worth approx 20 grand more after selling my motor to get the 300R?

I will assist, for those that don't want to reed scroll right past this. Feel free to reach out via PM as well.

Worth it depends on what your goal is and what you are willing to spend to achieve it. You are on a forum where many of us go to great lengths and spend obscene amounts of money to gain a few mph. In my opinion, I would save your money and tackle a few other areas first. Weight robs speed, are your running lithium in your entire boat? Weigh your troller, if its over 60-90lbs sell it and get a PP move zr. The ZR is 50lbs. Nose weight robs speed. You have a huge boat, can you move gear to the back of the boat? If so move it. I think your rpm are too low for the motor. I would spin it higher. Finally, tons of compaines out of the USA are tuning these motors now. You can tune your motor to 300R close specs.

A 300R isn't going to bring you much more than what ya got. You will see 1-2, ideally, and maybe a bit more on a good day. Not sure it will cost you $20k to switch, that seems high but I don't know what your trade looks like. You won't need DTS; it is a motor-to-motor swap. They make the 300R in a mechanical form, so you will not see any added cost for that.

[NCKH]

I will assist, for those that don't want to reed scroll right past this. Feel free to reach out via PM as well.

Worth it depends on what your goal is and what you are willing to spend to achieve it. You are on a forum where many of us go to great lengths and spend obscene amounts of money to gain a few mph. In my opinion, I would save your money and tackle a few other areas first. Weight robs speed, are your running lithium in your entire boat? Weigh your troller, if its over 60-90lbs sell it and get a PP move zr. The ZR is 50lbs. Nose weight robs speed. You have a huge boat, can you move gear to the back of the boat? If so move it. I think your rpm are too low for the motor. I would spin it higher. Finally, tons of compaines out of the USA are tuning these motors now. You can tune your motor to 300R close specs.

A 300R isn't going to bring you much more than what ya got. You will see 1-2, ideally, and maybe a bit more on a good day. Not sure it will cost you $20k to switch, that seems high but I don't know what your trade looks like. You won't need DTS; it is a motor-to-motor swap. They make the 300R in a mechanical form, so you will not see any added cost for that.

Thanks RR, I will probably PM you when I have a few extra minutes. My motor has 118 hrs on it now and warranty til 5/25. Spinning it higher i have only been able to accomplish with a smaller prop. Didnt gain any mph. I spun a 26p Trophy Plus to 6100 but didnt gain anything due to slip. Smaller diameter. As is, i dont think a prop change will do anything. Yes, my TM is pretty dang heavy. I have considers a TM swap to help. I do have lithium 36V Tm battery, located under console. Cranking battery is AGM as i have read not to use Lithium to crank for 4S engines. But that was from a source I dont particularly trust completely. I will look up that TM you mentioned.

[Greg G]

Good point RR. I also wonder how much "taller" the 300 R V8 is physically as compared to the 200R V6

Height difference is about 3". The motors are identical from the lower cover down.

Wow, would never have thought it was that small a difference from the V8. Great info thx

[Greg G]

I spoke yesterday to some folks who were running a stock but fully rebuilt 225X and then upgraded to a 200R with Sporty. They said that the 200R was 1-2 mph slower than the 225X. They thought with some additional prop work it would be dead even. Identical boat and fuel load.

[Headless Hula]

I’ll ask again for the people in the back. Do any of you actually own one of these 3.4L V-6’s? Anyone ever drove one?

or is it like every other thread here? Conjecture and criticism? ��

[JLanier571]

I’ll ask again for the people in the back. Do any of you actually own one of these 3.4L V-6’s? Anyone ever drove one?

or is it like every other thread here? Conjecture and criticism? ��

Read the recent posts. 2 people in the thread posted their direct results and comparisons.