Upgrade 454
 

I am new to this forum, and have searched and read a ton on upgrading my 330 HP 454. The issues that I have is that these engines are in a 28' Cruisers Inc Rogue Sport (Performace Cruiser). This boat has a dry weight of 7900lbs. I only have 2 - 2 1/2 inches available between the engine hatch and the flame arrestor. A little less clearance between the exhaust risers and the floor above the engines in the cockpit. I would like to increase the performance of the boat some (add about 100HP), but I'm not sure what will fit.

The engines have about 50-60 hours on remanned engines (they are 330-340 HP replacements from psengines.com).

I need to see what heads are on the remanned engine to see where to start. I would like to change the cam, change the intake manifold (what fits?), change exhaust (currently have 4" riser outlets reduced to 3" tips), and increase the jet size in the q-jet carbs. I might not be able to go to 4" exhaust, the steering rack is in the way on the starboard engine. If I can't increase the exhaust to 4", will any upgrades help?

Another issue is this boat has alpha drives. They might not hold up to the increased HP.

What upgrades could/should I do? We really like this boat. And purchasing an offshore boat is out of the question. The wife wants to look at Wellcraft boats (Grand Sport or Portofino). I would like to keep this boat and get a little more performance out of it.

Sorry for such a long first post.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

I have an 88 Rogue 2800 with my own engines and Bravos. If your installed height is the same as mine, the only intakes that will work are Edelbrock Torker 2's and Holleys and 3x14 flame arrestors. Email me your addy and I will send you tons of pics and other stuff to look for. I do run 4" through hulls but it was tight. Rogue2800 at Hotmail.com

Improvements
 

Formula31,

What type of performance improvements did you attain? How did you figure out what would fit? Trial and error? Did you try Edelbrock Performer intake or Performer RPM? Will the Q-Jet work with the Torker 2s?

Could you send me a list of engine upgrades that you did. My email is bill DOT yehle AT comcast DOT net.

Thanks,
Bill

They will not handle the torque. IMO, you are asking for problems.

I have a 454/330 in my jetboat. I changed the heads, cam, and intake back in 2000, and installed lightning headers and a new carb back in 2004. The motor runs stonger than ever. Easily bumped it over 400hp, probably more like 425-440.

It is a non-forged motor so can't do too much with it, but I have 100's of hours on it since the heads/cam change It still runs like a beast. Granted, it's only pushing a 1500lb jet boat hull around but I can assure you I work it pretty hard.

I don't usually hammer it out of the hole. I try to ease into it to get up on plane. These alpha drives are 21 years old (have 22 seasons on them) and have not been touched, yet (knock on wood). The drives have close to 500 hours on them, so they might need to get freshened up soon.

What is an alternative? change to Bravo's, TRS's, beef up the alpha's?

Bill

A buddy of mine has one that has upgrades and runs 65 on GPS!!

He is Bravo now, with warmed over 454's here is a link to a thread on my buddys site... search his name you may find some good info, he is also smart..

http://www.islandpirates.net/forum/s...ead.php?t=2439

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4...20cropped8.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4...067resize5.jpg

The best thing to do is use the boat and drives as they were designed for. You'll have many hours of happy boating that way. Alphas really can't be beefed up.

Ive destroyed my share of Bravos with mine. I would also be very wary of the alphas especially on these tanks. Thanks for posting pics of mine full force, most would not conisder what I do to that poor cruiser very smart but thanks anyway. Its not worth switching to Bravos either with this hull. I am maxed out on speed without massive hull mods. You could try it but I think you would need a bevy of spare drives. Theres quite a few of these around if you look hard, not too many 2800's like mine with the low windshield and rails but many of the 30" Rogues have the same hull and many were powered with BBC and Bravos. If I had it to do over again, I would have left it alone and found a 28 something single to go pound around in. The shock value of a strong cruiser goes away after a few years of breaking things.

All the manifold manufacturers list a height (if you call them) and the torker 2 is the lowest ( I think it was originally made to fit under the hood of a vet). I dont think they have a quad version but im not sure. I could never make my quads work as well as the holley top end and I tried. Ill work on the list for you. I personally have been very happy with the torker 2, its a good thing as it's the only one I can use that will fit under the deck. Lets just say that I have a good 5 K in each motor and I do my own work and use mostly junk yard parts. That results in blowing them up until you find which parts you really have to spend money on. I broke one block in half thanks to a dropped valve. I now have the best valves you can buy in it but many are other's (Budah)take outs. Then theres the mods you are going to have to make to the hull. That list is even bigger. New transom to mount the 280 K planes, split the upper and lower hulls and through bolted and 5200 all the way around, stringers and ribs and on and on. Not to discourage you but I tried to make this my live aboard formula 311 and while it is rather amazing, its no offshore. Then theres the impossible maintenance, if yours has the floatation bank of each side, forget about getting a spark plug out without pulling a motor with Gil exhaust manifolds, which you will need to make any power. Im going to stop now as I am depressing myself.