Mercury M2 Impeller swap

[crdouglass3]

Hello all! I have been the owner of a Sea Doo Challenger 1800 with the M2 240 hp drive for almost a year now and the boat has been a great entrance into the boating world. The performance has been OK, not bad and not great. I thought about upgrading to a newer model but before pulling the trigger I figured I would upgrade the impeller.

In the search for performance parts and impellers, I have not been able to locate a great deal of information to help make decisions. I took some photographs of the original Mercury impeller and the replacement Solas. There was a bit of damage on the merc unit, I was most surprised to see that the Solas was larger in diameter. I estimate that the clearance between the housing and impeller was about .08 to .1" while the it is about .025" at most with the Solas. The blades also extend further back into the housing towards the stator. I am very interested to see the improvements in performance and will provide an update in the next couple of weeks.


Impeller Photos


Thanks

Carl

 

[WAJetboating]

I estimate that the clearance between the housing and impeller was about .08 to .1" while the it is about .025" at most with the Solas.

Factory max limit on impeller to wear ring clearance for the M2 jetdrive is 0.100 inches, so:

1) Your factory impeller probably has some wear. According to the service manual, roughly 75% of normal wear occurs on the impeller and not on the wear ring. I check mine every year with a feeler gauge and despite 100's of hours of use my clearance was still only 0.035 last Fall.

2) That excess clearance is probably really impacting your performance. Thus you're likely to see a dramatic improvement with the new impeller just from the fact that you've tightened up the clearance. If you installed a new factory impeller (or had the existing OEM one refurbed, $120 at Impros) I suspect you'd get almost the same boost in performance.

As mentioned, Impros will do their Worx full service on an M2 impeller for $120. They can also repitch your prop based on what you want (more holeshot, more top speed, etc.) including matching the Solas M2 replacement, probably for less money.

If you keep the Solas prop, you might consider sending the OEM to Impros so that you have a 100% ready backup on the shelf.

Hope this helps!

 

[leggo4x4]

update?

Carl, how is the new Solas prop doing?

 

[seadoo1984]

I too would like to know how it is going? or from any one else who has done this upgrade, or where i can find some info. PLEASE!!

 

[welbytrise]

I recently purchased the solas concord impeller. Ive taken everything apart and now am just waiting on the new impeller get here! I will be heading back to the lake in two weeks and hopefully it fixes my performance issues! I also would like to know how it performed on your ride. Ill reply when I take mine out for a test run :hat:

 

[redseal]

Any updates on the solas impeller installations. Interested in hearing what improvements were felt.:bigear: