525 Repair Costs??
#41
Registered
iTrader: (6)
None taken. That's your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it.Who am I to try to change your mind.
However, mine isn't an opinion. It comes from tearing into well over 100 525's. I'll say this much and leave it at that. Every one that we have torn into has had spring pressures less than 110 pounds on the seat. These are all engines between 175-350 hours. The majority of them had less then 105 pounds and numerous ones had less then 100 pounds. There is not one cam manufacturer out there that would agree that those springs pressures are sufficient for a cam with the lift and duration that the 525 has. Those light springs can and do cause numerous other problems.....we've seen them and fixed them, many times over. As far as I'm concerned from a business standpoint, I think Mercury is doing a fine job. I hope they continue. They account for a large portion of my gross income.
I'm certainly not trying to be argumentative or a smart ass, so please don't take this the wrong way. You have your opinion and are completely entitled to it. But I have the facts and plenty of pics to back it up.
Eddie
However, mine isn't an opinion. It comes from tearing into well over 100 525's. I'll say this much and leave it at that. Every one that we have torn into has had spring pressures less than 110 pounds on the seat. These are all engines between 175-350 hours. The majority of them had less then 105 pounds and numerous ones had less then 100 pounds. There is not one cam manufacturer out there that would agree that those springs pressures are sufficient for a cam with the lift and duration that the 525 has. Those light springs can and do cause numerous other problems.....we've seen them and fixed them, many times over. As far as I'm concerned from a business standpoint, I think Mercury is doing a fine job. I hope they continue. They account for a large portion of my gross income.
I'm certainly not trying to be argumentative or a smart ass, so please don't take this the wrong way. You have your opinion and are completely entitled to it. But I have the facts and plenty of pics to back it up.
Eddie
Last edited by thirdchildhood; 01-10-2017 at 02:53 PM.
#42
Registered
VIP Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Tehachapi, Ca
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Since we're talking 525's and Mr. Young is following along..... I fell victim to a CMI header leak and had to have my 525 rebuilt last winter. I gingerly broke her In and was told I could drive it like I stole it now.
That being said, I wish I had stole it and not have so much money tied up in the damn thing. I cant leave well enough alone and would like more power. Do the whipple kits dramatically affect the longevity of
the 525? I am strictly a lake boater and have an XR that I will baby.
Michael
That being said, I wish I had stole it and not have so much money tied up in the damn thing. I cant leave well enough alone and would like more power. Do the whipple kits dramatically affect the longevity of
the 525? I am strictly a lake boater and have an XR that I will baby.
Michael
#43
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
iTrader: (6)
If you keep the boost down you should be fine, Dustin Whipple told a friend of mine that if he put 12 lbs of boost to it that it may blow up, he did do the 12 lbs a few times, and when the engines were pulled apart some of the pistons were cracked. This was a stock 525 with a 3.3 whipple custom tune, running XR's with Imco lowers
#44
Registered
It's all good, Eddie. I know you are nor argumentative or a smart ass. Your rates are also very fair. I still can't find my top end service receipt but dig up some paper work. My top end was serviced around 350 hours. I saved some labor by pulling the headers. My mechanic did a leak-down test, inspection of valves with a remote camera, replaced springs, keepers and retainers. Rockers were good. Heads were never removed. I do have cometic gaskets. My engine has been trouble free so I requested stock spec springs. A lot of my opinion that a pleasure boat can go longer than a race boat is due to what I found when I hooked up my Rinda scanner. While I thought I was running my engine hard it turned out that at 386 hours only 42 hours were over 3,500 RPM! 161 hours at 0-749 rpm. I was amazed at how those idle hours add up! I did manage to get it over 5,500 rpm for 1 hour . That's my story. I hope she keeps humming along for a few more years before it needs a full rebuild. Do you agree that a full rebuild is due at 500 hours? What if most of those hours are at lower rpm like mine?
All in all, it's a great engine. It should be though. At the end of the day, it's a 550 hp 502 with aluminum heads. Not exactly brain surgery.
Thanks for the conversation Third.
Eddie
The following users liked this post:
DMS_ATX (01-24-2021)
#45
Registered
Since we're talking 525's and Mr. Young is following along..... I fell victim to a CMI header leak and had to have my 525 rebuilt last winter. I gingerly broke her In and was told I could drive it like I stole it now.
That being said, I wish I had stole it and not have so much money tied up in the damn thing. I cant leave well enough alone and would like more power. Do the whipple kits dramatically affect the longevity of
the 525? I am strictly a lake boater and have an XR that I will baby.
Michael
That being said, I wish I had stole it and not have so much money tied up in the damn thing. I cant leave well enough alone and would like more power. Do the whipple kits dramatically affect the longevity of
the 525? I am strictly a lake boater and have an XR that I will baby.
Michael
The Whipple is an excellent upgrade. I would guess that we have done close to 20 of them. They make 750-775 hp. Dustin has the tune dead on the money. We have checked each of them in the boat with a wideband O2 sensor and they are spot on across the board. We have not had one failure on any of them yet. The oldest one has north of 400 hours on it now. It will not shorten the life span of the engine, unless you drive it like a complete idiot. The engine will still need to be freshened at around 500 hours with or without the Whipple.
You may ask "how does it not shorten it's lifespan when upping the power by 200 hp"? The biggest failure point and cause of most issues in a BBC is the valvetrain. We aren't changing anything in the valvetrain to make the power. It has the same cam, etc. Now, I WILL NOT install a Whipple on a 525 without first freshening up the heads. That is a MUST. We will be turning more rpm than stock and the stock springs can't handle it. We are actually making the valvetrain better then it was. So, once the valvetrain can handle it, there is no reason that it won't live. Typically, the only issues you ever see in the bottom end of an engine are do to assembly errors or parts choices. With good parts and good assembly, a BBC bottom end will far outlive the valvetrain.
If you are on the fence about doing it, go for it. You will not regret it. It is a FANTASTIC upgrade to that engine. Well worth the money. Speaking of, give me a shout if you decide to do it and I'll give you the best price on a Whipple anywhere. We can obviously do the install as well, or help you do it if you want to tackle it. The one other good thing is that you can always take it right back off if you want to sell the boat. You can list the Whipple for sale and sell it before the end of the day. I have a list of guys that are looking for used Whipples so I could move it in an hour or so.
Let me know if you have any further questions about it. I'll do my best to answer them. Or, you can call me anytime at 615-216-7449.
Eddie
#46
Registered
To pull it out, tear down the top end, rebuild the heads with all new parts, surface heads, valve job, tap heads, detail heads to remove any casting flash, etc., lap valves, assemble heads, install with new ARP head bolts and Cometic head gaskets, reassemble top end, install engine and drive and test run boat runs around 3K
Eddie
Eddie
#48
Registered
The following users liked this post:
Unlimited jd (05-09-2020)
The following users liked this post:
Ryan00TJ (05-09-2020)