thisistank

DL,

That sounds like your boat is going to scream!! What kind of little problems did you have when fine tunning your motor?

I started out taking my boat down to get the drive worked on. Then found out the coupler was gone. So I decided to put a merc 525 with B&M blower and super chiller in this motor had been worked a little and was dynoed right around 650 HP. I Sold my 454 to Audiofn and got the 525 from my friend. Theeeeeen I found out it had water that had sat in two of the cylinders. so here we go...got to have the thing remilled new pistons, bored out, rings, etc etc etc......so 10g's later, we'll see if it runs good here soon hopefully!

dirtlawyer

Allan4 - Bluffton, Ohio - I had a good friend that went to school there... I knew of high schools that were bigger than Bluffton - good education though....

Tank - all sorts of little problems - (i) fine tuning the fuel regulator; (ii) wrong valve springs sent and installed; (iii) fine tuning the timing, (iv) ECU was reprogrammed 2x; etc., etc. In the end it was all worth it.

Mike C - the #'s were on the speedo, which, when last checked, was almost dead on with the GPS. I'll probably check it with the GPS once she's broken in. The last run I tried to keep the WOT bursts to under 30 seconds and only ran it hard a few times.

As for Gasparilla - we're going with some friends on their SeaRay - not taking the Baja down to the parade - too many idiots on the water that day - may be out on Saturday. LAst weekend we stopped by Fishtales to see if you or BajaDaze were around, but the place was pretty much deserted.... great food though.... We definitely need to meet up - I may be out on Sunday afternoon - I'll let you know later this week.

- Bryan

CigDaze

What's-up, Dirt?
We looked for you, and were in and out of the marina(Fish-tales) most of the day. It felt like I was a damn boat-cheuffer that day. Sorry I missed you Saturday!

I did however, hear/see a 27'ish Baja that was tearing up the Bay on the St. Pete side near the pier Sat afternoon. We were just floating around listening to tunes and soaking in the sunshine about 1 1/2 miles in front and slightly south of the pier. We tried to go after this boat, but he/you/they didn't seem like they noticed us. It had a red stripe from bow to-stern and seemed to have a little wave in it(much like Baja's). It also sounded very nice. Is this your boat?

dirtlawyer

Mike - thanks for the GPS offer, but I already have one - I was just too lazy to get new batteries for it, plus I didn't want to run the hell out of the boat the first time I got it. I knew that if I had the GPS with me, I would be tempted to get the best #'s out of it that I could - I'm taking it easy on the new motor for about the first 25 hours... then its time to open her up and really see what she'll do. I'm currently running a 25P mirage 3 blade. We tried a 24P Bravo 4 blade and the boat got really squirrely - the boat has a tendency to carry the bow pretty well, and with the added stern lift of the 4 blade we weren't real happy with the way she handled. I am thinking of going to a Hydromotive 3 blade and/or lab finishing the mirage.

Nick - we were in the water at 1:30 - went to Eggmont Key for a while and then went to Fishtales at about 3:30 or so - we were there, outside on the picnic tables until probably 4:30 - 5:00. The boat was moored off of the dockmaster's "shack". As for the one tearing up the bay - sounds like it was probably me - the boat has red hull sides (white deck and white hul bottom) with a white/yellow ribbon stripe - if it was loud, it was definitely me.... the new cam/pistons/cmi headers really make this boat rock....

Best part of the day out was putting her in the water. We dropped her in at the Municipal Marina (near the Pier). At the ramp next to us was a 18+ or - hydrostream O/B ski/tunnel. The owner, his wife and daughter were getting ready for a day of boating and tubing when we pulled in. Picture this: his daughter (about 12 yrs old or so) was standing on the dock between our boats. When we go the boat into the water, I fired her up for the first time, and the poor little girl nearly sh*t herself! Just a bit of a different sound from her daddy's o/b - think she's still in therapy.....

Gotta love it loud and fast!

CigDaze

That definately sounds like the boat I saw. Take my word for it...IT's LOUD. The closest you came to us was about a half a mile and it sounds sweet. We heard you coming out of the Harborage channel, but never would have caught you in time.

Funny story, Man! It's great when you get a reaction like that! I would have dropped to the ground laughing! I get a kick out of doing the same thing at the marina when someone is sitting in a boat right behind us. Though not as loud as yours, I'm pretty sure I've soiled some others' pants in the past.

thisistank

DL,

Is your motor natural or are you running a blower? superchiller?

Tank

dirtlawyer

Nick - glad you could hear me - my goal was to heard 1st then seen..... wait until you hear the idle - very smooth, but with a hint of that throbbing "surge"...... this definitely is NOT my father's oldsmobile

Tank - all natural my friend - was a little concerned with the reliabilty of a blower motor... my engine builder recommended going with the big cam, high comp heads and pistons, etc. Looking at his past successes with this formula, who was I to argue..... besides, if you're going with a blower on a 502, you still need to do a lot of the same internal upgrades....

thisistank

I hear ya brother. I'm a little concerned with the whole blower thing too, but what the f*ck! We'll see what happens. The motor started out as a merc blown 525. I toyed with the idea of just taking the blower and the superchiller off and running it natural. But I think I'll just leave it and see what happens.

Tank

dirtlawyer

Tank - if it started its life as a 525SC then it should have the "bullet-proof" internal components.... if not, crank it up, run the sh*t out of it and then rebuild it next year.... hell, its only $$$

if its a stock merc SC I believe that there was one maintenance issue that a lot of people overlooked - apparently there are two oil fills for the s/c - one in the front, one in the rear - from waht I have heard, if you maintain them properly the 525SC is a realiable motor - good luck.

thisistank

DL,

Yea, it has all the killer parts in it. It built up and punched out already once, But the water in the two cylinders was a little bit of a prob. Especially since it was salt water and now it is salt rust! Frickin stelling headers!!!

I've heard that about the oil inlets on the blowers. I plan on keeping an eye on it.

Tank