Thanks!It’s a nice looking motor with a 15” mid section with an alien cowl and it’s grey ! That’s all I see so far . Hope that helps ! Let’s see what’s under that cowl !
Thanks! Serial # is: 0G703157, I put the serial number in at Mercury.com & it checks as a 225 Promax/Super MagnumWhat PKSTV said A number is stamped on the block on the port side where the front half and the back half of the block is bolted together. Something like OG503453 this is the serial number, we can put that into a number of different data bases that will tell us what exactly the motor was when it was born. As for what somebody has done to it on the inside is anyones guess. Might be a good idea to pull it apart and check for some the to most common causes of failure.
Totally Stoked!I bet you are stoked!! What hull are you running it on? What propellers do you have? I see you have Pyrometer Thermocouples installed, what is the max Temp you are seeing?
So was the Mercury version branded "SS" & the Mariner version branded "High Performance?In 98 the Merc and Mariner steel bores w/15" mids came from Mercury Hi Performance and had different ECUs. The cowling decals said SS Sport and High Performance [I think to get them around the EPA regs as a race engine]. I had a hard time getting replacement decals for mine.
I couldn't be happier that it is a Mariner Super Magnum! BTW - Included is what looks to be a, never out of the box, 5 blade 26P Mazco prop, with a "dated 2005"receipt from the pro shop in Nevada that now owns Mazco. I wonder why the guy would have bought it, & then never tried it. It was $525.00 in the day.My best speed also was with a Mazco RE3 30. That prop was the fastest on several hulls. (03, 02, Hydrostream Voyager). As I understand, Mazco no longer J. Mazar in Missouri but now in Nevada--same tooling I imagine. Mazar made props for decades.
BTW--Merc Pro max = Mariner Super Magnum. Same assembly line? Same paint booth? Logic behind price discount?
Thanks!BigRWater, I am probably as excited about your boat and motor as you are!! I look forward to hearing your experiences as you get her dialed in. Like MSethsmile said, there was a famous artical in Bass and Walleye magizine, in which the author, John Tiger Jr. reported a top speed of 101 mph in an XB2003 with a short shaft Mercury 225 ProMax, which is the same motor you have. When I read that article back in 1998 I fell in love. (as a side note, John Tiger Jr. and I are now friends on Facebook and he was kind enough to send me a copy of the article) It wasn't until 15 years later I finally, had the chance to get the machine I had dreamed about for so long. It was important to me to have the 15" mid, but I also wanted to go over 100 mph. After I found my boat, I needed to find a motor, I looked at many different motors, and I ended up with the 15" 260, because I wanted to be able to bust trips in less than perfect conditions.
Since then, I think many people have tried to duplicate the results of the 1998 B&W Boats artical. It is my opinion that 101mph with a 225 ProMax is the very best performance you could squeeze out of that particular combination. I am pretty sure Darris sprinkled a little magic on that particular hull, and I am sure Mercury hand picked the perfect specimen out of all the Promaxs at the factory. I would guess that the Propeller division sent a 30P ET that also had been given extra love and attention. Then the driver added his piece to the puzzle.
It is been fun trying to do what people with a lot more experience, knowledge, skill, talent and resources did with a boat like ours. Be safe and keep us updated!
Thanks! Is there an issue with the oil injection on these motors? 'Or an improvement in performance...?I would ditch the oil injection and premix it 50:1 or 40:1. Fastest I could get out of my xb2003/promax combination was right at 97, but cracked the lower unit and quit trying. My best top end prop was a 30p mazco, best driving and load carrying a 28p ot quad 4, and most favorite 26p drag or knob cut chopper.