I'm new to this site and to the boating world. Just purchased a slightly tweaked 1988 Baja Force 235 7.4L Mercruiser Bravo 1 drive. Had the compression checked on it and had only a 3 lb difference between lowest highest cylinder. 125/128
Question is this compression too low and should i be concerned with this compression ratio per cylinder. I was told that i should be in the 140 to 150's range. Does it sound as thought the previous owner didn't take care of the motor or does this sound about normal range for this motor.
Also where should i be running this motor at rpm range to be safe. Wide open i'm around 5k. This is a 454 big block 4bbl with an after market cam and rollers. No idea on the specs.
One last note to end... i was idling along this last weekend and hit a shallow spot and got caught up in some muck. I reversed and was able to break free.. no chips or dings in my prop and motor didn't overheat.... ran fine for the rest of the day... Should i be concerned that i sucked up a bunch of muck up through my drive ?? I did run it the rest of the day and didn't notice any difference in performance. Thanks for any and all input to this amateur wanna be boater.
