boating season is over , time to repower
 

so now that boating season is over I am interested in winter projects . last year I bought a twin step gun ( beautiful boat ) love the boat BUT not 100 % happy with performance .
so I have done a lot of research and figured out my boat needs some engine mods to make the best use out of the 540ci motors in the boat .

engines are 540 ci with 500 hp efi intakes , MAJOR air flow restriction . The engine builders I have talked to in the boat world have said the same thing change intakes .
WOULD you change away from the efi and go to a carb setup ? LIKE Ritchie Zul and chief
or modify a 525 intake and keep the efi ? or go to a single plane intake with a single throttle body and use a aftermarket EFI .

MY thoughts are remove the EFI and keep it for the next owner of the boat and put a carb on it and GO ! I have a lot of experience with carb's and like the fact that I can work on them easier than efi .

ANOTHER modification I am going to do is extension boxes .

I do see the ITS setup's for sale on here for a reasonable price BUT my boat has a polished steering already and looks real nice .
has anybody had any experience with what boxes they have used on a cig ?

Efi is nice but carbs are simple. Went with pro systems carbs for my build

It isn't my money, but if you are looking for noticeable performance, I'd throw a set of whipples and a new set of props on it and not worry about boxes or ITS. That should push you into the low hunnerds with EFI. Anything else will get you a few more mph, but not enough to notice a big difference, given the other boats you run with.

Not seeing going to carbs making any noticeable difference.

How about 825hp blower motors. Zero hrs. P.m. Me if interested

do you know the compression in these motors ?

whipples?

Blower shop

Go big or go slow.

Talk to Ron Potter. He builds a lot of 540 / 604 EFI engines.

http://www.potterperformance.com/ENGINES.html

My next engines will be Potter 800/850 EFI naturally aspirated. They are beasts.

Bingo!!

if you are running 540 with the standard 500/525 throttle body you are really choking them, you can put a mono blade on and get a little more air but the intake is your limiting factor. I assume you have bigger injectors, fuel system and computer upgrades for the 540s, and that should have you about 635-650 hp and close to 700tq. Whipple 3.3s or 4.0s would be the easiest upgrades, i just did the same on my 509's and took them to a detuned 850. it took my Tiger to 88.2 with no tweaks, im going to up the boost some and do more, but your limiting factor then would be the Xrs.

I was told the CR was 9.0:1

Don't mess with upgrading TB for those intakes, its a waist of money, put some blower pistons in them, custom tune your MEFI, add some Whipples , its going to cost 15-20K to ad a couple hundred ponies per side

I have a pair of fresh and new 525 whipple motors back from Mark Boos.
Motors are completly fresh and whipple upgrade is Brand new from mark and dynoed
Sold boat I built these for
If your interested Pm me

at 9.1 you will need aluminum heads if not already on there. if you can find used 3.3's, new you are looking at about 9500.00 each with inter-coolers, then figure on pickups and strainers for the inter-coolers also an upgraded fuel system to handle either the 81 or 85 lb injectors. then having the ecm's tuned for your boat, best to have them out and dynoed. also depending on how many hours on your 540s you may need to upgrade your valve springs too, the good isky tool room springs are about 500 per set. its not as plug and play as many people will tell you. do it right while your doing it and save yourself the headaches and down time.

[QUOTE=offshoredrillin;4354432]if you are running 540 with the standard 500/525 throttle body you are really choking them, you can put a mono blade on and get a little more air but the intake is your limiting factor.
thats what the engine builders have told me , so I have looked at a CNC ported 525 style intake and a larger throttlebody .




I assume you have bigger injectors, fuel system and computer upgrades for the 540s, and that should have you about 635-650 hp and close to 700tq.

yes I do , and the DYNO sheet said 685 ,BUT I know thats a untrue number .




Whipple 3.3s or 4.0s would be the easiest upgrades, i just did the same on my 509's and took them to a detuned 850.

i would love to do whipples

[QUOTE=offshoredrillin;4354432]if you are running 540 with the standard 500/525 throttle body you are really choking them, you can put a mono blade on and get a little more air but the intake is your limiting factor.
thats what the engine builders have told me , so I have looked at a CNC ported 525 style intake and a larger throttlebody .




I assume you have bigger injectors, fuel system and computer upgrades for the 540s, and that should have you about 635-650 hp and close to 700tq.

yes I do , and the DYNO sheet said 685 ,BUT I know thats a untrue number .




Whipple 3.3s or 4.0s would be the easiest upgrades, i just did the same on my 509's and took them to a detuned 850.

i would love to do whipples

pm sent

If it's not broke, don't fix it. Trust me.....I know. $90K later. You will be better off selling your boat and buying something else that has the HP and Drives you want.

What FUN is That!!??^^^^^

Sink another 100K into the boat and then there is one selling for $99K :)

Who said Power Boaters have Common Sense!! If we did we would be Blow Boaters
I say FUK iT - you cant take it with you, so enjoy it while you can- you just never know when its all over.

100 % agree !!!

I agree too, but a big comfortable party barge/diesel cruiser/Sunseeker looks more appealing every day.

I can't believe how stupidly long and expensive it is to get one of these together. And the service on the high power stuff is like, non-existent.

second comment to this is YOUR CORRECT ! I just worked on a cig flatdeck doing the same thing trying to make a dumptruck a drag car and sold it for $.30 on the dollar . I have looked and have not seen one I like the look of like this boat and the detail that jawbreakerkid did on this boat is great .

ok, hp ? price ?

double post

Eventually after sometime you get everything worked out (99%) and you`re out there burning gallons per minute and having such a blast fun you end up running out of gas and tow boat tows you in while you`re in the back seat enjoying a nice night.. it make a cruiser seem real boring :D


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCFjSszt4mY&feature=youtu.be
http://33outlaw.zenfolio.com/img/s6/...80673889-3.jpg


http://33outlaw.zenfolio.com/img/s4/...80674019-3.jpg

Lucky you Dan, I burned holes in my pistons when I ran my blower motor out of gas.

Oh man that sucks!
My co pilot keeps an eye on the warning lights, they go off at 4psi. headsets help, as soon as she said lights I shut it down. Then idled the other motor till it died 1/4 mile from marina of course.

We have ran our blower motors out of gas running pretty them pretty hard. It didn't hurt anything but then again we have a real safe tune in it...

while waiting for the tow did you use the time to tighten hardware on the boat (gauge that was jumping out of the dash in the video lol). Funny how these large displacement engines will vibrate anything and everything loose. I have had many of days when the wife will be sunbathing and ask "wtf I thought you where gonna relax" cause she turned to find me taking my tool bag out from under the seat. Sweet boat/video

Dan,
1. We love your videos, keep them coming
2. Your gauge is loose
3. Thanks for the reminder, gonna be a long slow winter.... I guess plenty of time for more boat upgrades?

LOL ...yeah thats just good ol Lake Michigan beating everything loose. Every other week I`m walking around the boat re-tightning everything.

Should of put bigger tanks in!!!!!!


Looked like fun while you were running though

Mark

Sounds like a fun project, I want to rip my Café apart for some changes but I have to finish a car project first if I do not nothing will get finished either way... it would just be a bunch of stuff ripped apart..


I have about another month on this then its Cigarette time..

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...pssjz6ubgs.jpg

Cool! I really want to do a car next. Would be 1/4 of the cost, and time.

Good chop for a top speed run so I didn`t want any extra fuel in there :D
Otherwise I got a 100mile range with the smaller tanks, good enough for me.

Whats wrong with your boat now? I thought you had it running?

No, nope, nada!!! Had to pull the Starboard engine after 30minutes of run (and i mean idle) time. Sounded like it was gonna grenade. Pulled engine, pan, heads, etc. Everything looks to be fine. I have no f-in clue now, who knows?

I was once really into it and it's all I could think of. It's pretty much a distant memory and a pipedream at this point. Most fun I had was towing it around and launching it once.

Spent a fortune on a high end build/project, that doesn't run, and I have no answers. I've kind of officially given up and am too disgusted to even care. It's a stupid boat and that's all, nothing more to me.

I've got more important things to worry about than a toy at the end of the day. Business has me pretty occupied and I am pouring my time, energy, and thoughts into that right now. To hell with that boat, not letting it get the best of me by simply walking away from it.

That`s where a dyno session can be a good tool to reveal issues. Your builder should stand behind it and get it taken care of thou. There`s still time before mother winter comes!