dirtlawyer

Back on labor day a chain of events (call it bad luck) resulted in the commencement of the process of rebuilding my 1995 502 Mag EFI. The problem began with a bad intake manifold and continued from there. Everything that could have gone wrong did, and I have been without my boat for nearly 4.5 months!

The rebuild consisted of:

boring block to 509 ci
high compression pistons
roller rockers
inconnel valves
roller cam
new intake
vortech flamer arrestor
reprogrammed ECU
new higher flow injectors
CMI headers (got rid of the silent choice)

Yesterday was the sea trial - and the performance numbers were impressive.

Before (with only EMI Thunder exhaust)
23P Bravo 3 blade - 66 - 67 @ 5150 rpm

Now (with above mods)
24P 4 Blade - 77 @ 5100 rpm
25P 3 Blade (used Mirage) - 76 @ 5000 rpm

Testing conditions were relatively rough - 3 to 5's and above performace was achieved with tabs "down".

Once the motor is broken in we are going to lab finish the 25P 3 blade - that and better water conditions should help me get near or break 80 mph.

Best part is that cruise is now around 55 mph.

BajaDaze - its time to meet up at Shell Island....

CigDaze

ALRIGHT! Great News DirtLawyer! I've been anticipating this day to find out what the numbers were going to be! That sounds like an awesome set-up in that boat. I'll bet it's been a long, drawn-out 4 1/2 months too!

Now we can finally meet up out there! If I remember correctly you're a rum guy, right? Did you get the motor worked locally? What kind of HP do you you think you have in there now? Have you ever been to Fish Tales? It's at the Harborage Marina in St. Pete and it's a great little place to hang out and pull the boat in to. Look forward to seeing you out there.

dirtlawyer

Nick -

I get all of my work done by the guys at Lightning Bay Performance Marine - they are located adjacent to FishTales and the Harborage on 14th Ave South. Lightning Bay sells Eliminator boats and has some pretty awesome used/consignment hot boats. GREAT service. They really worked with me on this motor - they could've sold me a blower and a mild rebuild, but instead we did some research, talked with Teague and the rest of the builders, and came up with an essentially HO HP500. I can't say enough about Lightning Bay.

From what we can tell (did not dyno the motor) I am pushing between 525 and 550 hp. I'll definitely be "feathering" the throttle out of the hole and watching reentry after launching, but if worse comes to worse, I'll just replace the Bravo One gears with either IMCO or diesel gears - 525 to 550 hp is not extreme power for the drive, but it will require some care...

As for FishTales - know it well. I'll probably be up that way to pick up the Shooter on Saturday (if its nice). If your around let me know - we could meet up for a run and a rum....

Its a good feeling knowing that the motor is cranking and ready to roar!

CigDaze

Excellent Dirt!
Yep, I know lightning Bay very well. I pass by it every time I go to my boat. There's always something there that catches my eye. I've heard many great things about them from lots of people. They run the "How Sweet It Is" Boat, right?

Saturday sounds cool! You know if the weather is nice, I'll be out cruising around. IF...Ya right...Of course it'll be nice

Well, once again great to hear your news and hope it's everyhting you wanted. Talk to you later! Keep in touch about the weekend!

thisistank

Hey DL congrats on the motor rebuild. I hear ya about chain of events leading up to it, I'm going through the same thing right now! I'ts nice to see your numbers though, gives me some sort of insight on what mine will be like. Keep us posted on how things go.

Tank

dirtlawyer

Tank - good luck on your rebuild as well - justy remember - its not the big things that slow you down its the little things that eat you up.... the major work was easy - fine tuning the motor was the tough part - spent a lot and time with AZ Machine fine tuning the ECM, but it was worth it. Looking forward to running it this weekend in better seas with the tabs up....

Tank - what are the details of your rebuild? going w/ a whipple/procharger?

Wardey

o.k. Guy's......count me in on the run, and the rum !!! But give me a month or so to get my boat back together!!!! Dave Warden

bajabob38

How much $$ did it set you back for your rebuild. Looking to do the same to my boat.

dirtlawyer

bajabob - you should expect to apy between 5 - 7K depending upon what all you do. At a minimum, I would replace the cam, the valves/springs, and go with roller rockers. I ttok it quite a bit further with the high comp pistons, the CMI exhaust, ect.; but I alos have a "barter deal" with my service shop (i.e. trade services for services).

The performance gains were incredible - the boat was running 73 - 75 in a 1 - 2's over the weekend with rpm to spare. The acceleration between 3000 - 4000 rpm is killer. Once I break the motor in and lab the prop, 80 should be attainable.

Allan4

Uhhh oohhh.....good to see others are dumping big $$ into power as well.

Just buttoned up my 509 yesterday. Going to the dyno this or next week. Looking for about 600hp and somewhere in that range for Tq. Long block is to balanced and blueprinted to factory specs. I twisted every bolt on it.....not sure whether that is good or bad!! I'll post more later and will also post all results. Up against the clock, literally, so gotta run....check this out....the library is frickin' closing.....that's f-ing right, I am sitting in a library right now for s***s sake!! Oh well, gotta do what ya gotta do. Make matters worse, I am about 200 miles from home. Now you know why i have not logged on but about 4-5 times in the last 2 mos. HAHAHAHA. Oh well. I'm now getting throw out of the Bluffton, Ohio PUblic Library!!!! No ****, I really am, better shut up now........!!!! A4