What happened to Hawk Marine Power?
 

I purchased my 1992 Cig Bullet a few months ago. One engine was makin some noise, so Im going to freshen both. Pulled the noisy engine last week to find a burnt piston and a broken valve spring, so its not the end of the world. These engines are Hawk 525 SC engines. (454 with single 800 Holley carb) So I was wondering if anyone knows about these engines and what woud be the best way to get some more power out of them without breaking the bank. Hawk Marine is out of business. For how long? ..............Also, anybody have a Bullet with similar power with accurate speed numbers? How fast should this boat go? It has Bravo 1 drives and 26P Hydros. Thank you in advance.

i have 91 Hawk 525's, but mine have a Dominator 1050 & B&M 250's. I think in my Cafe i am running low-mid 70's w/ trs & 26p Bravo props.

Talk to Eddie Young on the site http://www.youngperformancemarine.com/. He can give you some ideas based on your situation now & how much you want to spend.

Thanks BDiggity. I will contact Eddie.

Innovation Marine, they built my 600sc and gave me a 90 warranty but they are in Sarasota Florida

being in CT, call Jeff at JC performance. he is in Babylon long island.

Thanks for the help guys .:ernaehrung004:

Hawk was at one time owned by Craig barrie around the time he was running cigarette (thus all the hawk powered cigs from the late 80's/early 90's). Those hawk 525's are basically the same motors as the merc 525sc's (I have the mercs in my boat). 454 base with smalLer blower putting out About 6 lbs of boost. Pretty conservative set up and thus reliable motor for a blower motor. If you add an intercooler, bore out the block a bit and change the pully you can get up to 650hp out of them. I did this with the merc 525SC in my old Baja.

Steve (lucky strike) had hawk 525's in the "pink flamingo" top gun. I'm sure he can answer some questions.

Thank you for the info. That 650 HP sounds nice, but I wont be able to fit chillers unless I cut the hatch. Was wondering if these would last long time. Im glad their reliable. Thanks again.

You can also talk to Bud at the Cig factory. He used to work for Hawk and knows these 525's very well.

For intercoolers. Look at the Whipple Coolers. They are much lower profile than the Super Chillers.

The whipple coolers only add about an inch in height, but they cost twice as much as most other chillers.

I think you'd be better off to just upgrade to 250 blowers and 1050 carbs for the same $$$ as the whipple chillers.

damn & i happen to know a guy w/ that setup who wants to part it out & go a different engine direction. Just no funds to go in that direction yet. :(

You have 250"s and dominators? :party-smiley-004:

yup

So what happened to hawk. I picked up a 88 hawk gun this summer with 540/575 power with #3s and Borg warners. Stupid bullet proof boat. Remember them being "the" motors to run, then kina disappearing.

How did that combo run? any clue the recipe on the 575 engines?

Ran good in 2015.

My hawk 540s had been rebuilt at one time but were close to spec.

Found an old 80s Mag article stating the 540 aka hawk 600s made 590 hp

gm high po ls6 iron heads with bigger valves
9.1:1 compression ratio
cam that made peak power at 5600 rpm
eldebrock c454 intake


mine has the ls6 heads still but a weiland team g intake and different cams. I’m going to replace the heads with world Merlin 320cc

bow tie blocks Merlin heads full roller with girdles. 9/1TRW pistons. Dominators. Big heavy boat ran upper 70s in the right water.

here is what I KNOW I have now, no clue HP, but sound sweet and have not been able to water test yet...

Dart tall deck 548CI
10.0:1 (was told)
Callie cranks
Oliver billet rods
SRP Dome pistons
345CC Merlin heads
254/[email protected] flat tappet cams .595/.595 lift
Crane gold rockers
Trend pushrods
Brodix 4500 intakes
1050 Holley Dominators