Next up is the Dana exhaust. These are very well made and the pics do not do them justice. The runners are separated all the way into the riser exiting through a nicely made collector. I had O2 bungs welded onto both sets for tuning which I very highly recommend. If I had not tuned with a Innovate Motorsports handheld air/fuel meter I very well may have seriously damaged the motor first time out as it was running too lean. Apparently this combination of mods require more fuel pressure than what Raylar recommends for the heads alone. After an increase of fuel pressure to 54 psi the O2 readings are acceptable.

The only problem I ran into with the Dana’s is that they will not fit with the silent choice. I was told they will work with 85% of the Mercury installs, but I have one of the 15% that has an extra tall riser. I had a choice to add a ported/water jacketed spacer that would work, but I decided to wait. I will see if I miss the silent choice over the summer as I very rarely use it.

Since it was so late in the spring I didn’t want to chance missing warm weekends with my boat. I chose to just install the Raylar heads instead of the full package which would require me to pull the motor and spend a lot more time. When I looked into the stock intake I was very surprised to see how rough the plenums are. There are several areas that have very sharp edges that protrude out and create turbulence. I spent a whole evening (and several beers) with a grinder getting everything smooth. I’m not sure if this made any actual improvements, but I figured it couldn’t hurt. I am just amazed at what a piece of crap the stock intake is and am looking forward to getting the Raylar piece on there. Here are the before and after shots:

After these bolt on mods the Baja gained 6.5 mph on top end and a serious increase in midrange power for cruising. Pretty impressive for just heads and exhaust IMO and I think with some ECM programming there is more to be had. My plan is to pull the motor this winter and finish the full Raylar 600 install along with forged internals. That way I can take my time and do a few other things that need attention like a Hardin Marine oil cooler. Also this will give my engine builder time to install his new dyno so we can get some numbers and tune. As it stands now the RPM’s are right up to the limiter at 5150 with the 26 B1 prop. I really think the X is way too deep and am making plans for an IMCO SC -2 shorty. That should put my X dimension at about 5” and hold the new power it will have next year. I will post results when I get that done, but it may be a couple months. Here are the after shots of the motor.

Thanks for the great post and pics.

Nice job on all the work. Cool OL as well...

I have similar plans someday.


What is up with the 26P prop did your OL come with that or did you change it?

I have a 23p on mine which I thought was stock?

Nice boat, nice work and nice write-up.

I was planning on changing the 2009 Baja models to the Attwood LED lights as a Model Year upgrade in 08'. They should have given away the company to us employee's..........if they would have only looked into that crystal ball?

XT

Thank you for the kind words guys.

onlywinni - Yes the 26 B1 was the prop that came with the boat, but I am sure the dealer changed it out. Nothing from them would surprise me. lol I bet the 23 would have been a much better choice.

XT - I agree completely! Isn’t that what happened with Harley Davidson? Now look at their success. It is very sad to see what is happening to Baja.

russellhorn you did a nice job!!! thanks for showing us what you did and tell us the speed you made with the up grades you did. now other who have the same boat can do what you did and no what is going to happen

Very nice write up.