flatout

OIK I am sure this has been beaten to death but here goes. Can you all compile a list of mods that will will increase speed. please start with least expensive to most expensive. And how much of a difference they will make. keep in mind I have an 85 272 with small blocks and alphas.

I am even lookin for small things like what to get rid of to loose weight, or waxing the bottom. stuff like that. I alreday plan on getting counter rotating drive and nose cones, if those should come later please let me know.

Educate me.
thanks guys.

masi242

Unless you put big power into the 272 I believe you won`t see much, I think the counter rotating will help a little but getting to 70 is gunna cost ya Just stay stock your wallet will thank you

Just ask Mopower

flatout

I was tryin to hold off on power but if thats truly what it takes then thats where i will go. I have a package that i can buy that will put both plants at approx 400 ponies, I wanted to wait until the end of the season for that.

357sr1man

I had a 272(89) with small blocks and alpha drives before and what a mistake that was. Put big blocks in that put out around 425 hp a piece and quess what..... The alpha drives needless to say gernaided badly so if you think you are going to put big power in front of a alpha,think again and the only real thing to do then is install bravo's and that costs $$$$ Just my 2cents worth

mopower

For some goofy A$$ reason that is beyond me , it takes as much (or almost) power to move a 272 as it does a 292 or 311
I have an 89 272 that had 330/Bravos and got 67. Switched to 540s dynoed at 647 hp. We did fatten the jets and back off the timing just a bit to 638 hp to be safe but with two of these I can barely break the 80 mark. Got some more tuning to do this season and some other props. Now , I'm not alone on this either. I know somoeone else who did the same thing to his '89 272 and he too has this brick wall at 80. So I know it's not just me

Audiofn

Not sure that Nose cones will help you out. I forget the speed that the Alpha's start to loose it. Nose cones will cause you to loose speed if you are not maxing out your current lower units.

Jon

Too Old

Decent exhaust and prop work are usually a good place to begin.

flatout

I would be happy getting to 70 for now. I know that will get old though. props and exhaust sound good. The problem is exhaust is really expensive for the amount of gain. I would probably only get exhaust if I could find some used units. they are hard to come by for sbc. definately worth lookin into thanks Fred.

flatout

I agree that kind of horse power will hammer alphas. I think and have been told by several boat mechanics that 400 is the max you want to go with on alphas. They assured me that as long as you ease out of the hole they will be fine. I don't ski behind the thing anyways so hole shot isn't important.

So is what you are saying that more power is the only way to go any faster? I thought reducing drag was the key to speed on a boat?

is there any advantage to the reduced weight in the small blocks? It would seem that small blocks with 330 ponies would go faster than a big block boat with 330's?

mopower

That's a toss up. BBC at 330 have a lot more torque than an SBC and torque is what turns the prop.
You usually need a really fast boat to begin with to see any gain with a nose cone. I've tried it with 50 and 60 mph boats and got nothing in return except a little better handling. No more speed.