notacatfan

Just bought a 29 this spring, traded a 25. It has 454 carb. mags with 460 hrs. They run great, and use less oil than my 502 in my 25. Should I freshen them this winter, or just keep running them? Also bought a near new set ot 3 blade 25 mirages, would this be a good choice for ths boat, or should I send them out and have them labbed?

BajaFresh

What year is the boat, 97 or older?

I have MPI's and am running 23's and they seam to work quite well, quick out of the hole and around 65 top end. I think 25's might be a little too big. What do you have on there now and how do they run?

460 is getting up there in hours. I'd run a compression / leakdown test before doing any work. They may be fine.

Muley

I wouldn't touch the motors but that's me. I have a buddy with the same motors as you and he has almost 800 hours on it and hasn't touched em. I run 25, 3 blades on mine and like em. Good top end and a stable ride. I would like to try a pair of labbed, 28 pitch, 4 blades.

Summer Thunder

I would leave the motors alone. As for the props, I ran 25 mirages at first but now run 26 Bravo 1s. I have the 454 Mag MPI motors.I found the 3 blades would blow out coming on plane and the 4 blades dig hard. They both run the same at WOT around 70 mph but the Bravo 1s have better mid range which is where I'm at most of the time.

notacatfan

Baja Fresh, The boat is a 1998, im surprised it doesnt have fuel injection. I like the boat, but now I see in the classifieds, there is a 98 with injected mags for 47k, I gave 50 for this boat without hyd steering. You always find a better deal after you buy something. What do you do? I looked around all winter, and was going to do a deal with Hawkeye on 98 with 502s, which would have been an awesome boat, but it would have worked out so that I was giving about 67 with my 25 trade, I was not willing to do that, I would have been buried in that boat.

BajaFresh

Prices are down now so there are some good deals out there. I bought mine in the spring and thought I did good but now I see cheaper stuff. Mine is super clean, low hours and was a one owner, local boat so I'm still happy. So when I see cheaper boats I always tell myself they probably aren't as nice as mine! 502's would be nice though! I thought all the '98's were injected. maybe your's is a very early 98 or something.

thisistank

Dont go through the motors.....Save throwing a rod through the block it's not going to cost more to rebuild them if they blow than it will right now. Get what you can out of 'em. when they go, then re-build.


(whats up Al!?)

baja bailey

Have a friend who had 1997 Powerquest with 502 mag, he had right at 800 hrs on it when he sold it, never did anything to it except regular maintenance. I hope mine last that long or longer...

pwam1

Merc built some carbed 454 300s as well as mpi 310s in 98. They all were mpis after that

JasonSmith

I opened up my 454 MPI Mags at 400 hours & they still had te hone marks in the cylinders. I'd look at the heads, but much past that, leav it alone.