rebuilding 454
 

im redoing a 21ft raven, has 454 from factory, motor was sitten long time and pistons wear stuck, im sending in to get punched .030 over, the cam was little rusty, just wondering what kind of upgrades I can do to get a little more power out of it. it has newer lower unit running a 23pitch mirage, thru hull exhaust, should I stick with stock cam it came with, or a little better , the size carb, forged crank 4 bolt, when I put it together I wanna try and at least be doing 60, if I can. any help would be great

First question is gonna be what exhaust do you plan on running? Stock? Aftermarket wet? Dry?

cycl heads are one of the most important componets for making different levels of h.p. ,post what numbers your heads have on them and that will determine what level of performance can be achived

its a stock 4in wet exhaust, thru hull, like running just a set of headers, the head numbers are 14096158, and it running a bravo 1 454 mag lower unit

14096188 my bad, it also has hi-perf molded in

it isn't a bad powertrain. 188 heads forged crank. that is a stock 365 hp mag motor. problem is, it is in a raven hull. rebuild motor, run the boat. but keep an eye out for something decent with bad power for reasonable money. raven hulls are...suboptimal.

What u mean suboptimal, it has same design as my sea Ray,

Searay is probably what they splashed on that one .Ravens were (not to bust your bubble)cheap boats.Not exactly made for lots of hp

Why don't you guys help this guy out instead of bashing his boat? Maybe he likes the Raven. Lets give him reasonable expectations and possibly options. Lately you post something like "want to mod my 454" and you get "toss it, put in in the corner and build a 540.........terrible advice.

If it were my boat I would put a nice cam in, decent exhaust, rebuild the carb, and just a basic freshening of the engine all predicated on what you find upon teardown. Maybe it's not an "optimal" hull, but what are other guys getting performance wise from these boats?

Cheif,,I'm not bashing his boat .The op asked what suboptimal meant..Some people want to know what they got ,because they don't know/...I've owned and run some suboptimal boats through the years .Run what you brung

I don't think that was an example of bashing, I think what Derek was saying is the return on investment is not there. Why spend the extra money if it nets near zero gains? He is already looking at $3000+ to rebuild with new pistons, cam, valve train. Now he is talking hotter cam, new exhaust, new intake, new carb. Why have a $7000+ engine in a bottom that is not optimal? He will never get the money back, he may cause more problems with his driveline. The numbers above are not even factoring the other hidden costs that arise when repowering an older vessel.

I agree with above, I would not go outside of stock without an exhaust upgrade. Even more so your exhaust may be bad at the wet joint now, and may have been the cause of your engine being "Stuck"

I think all of us can look back at a bad investment, very very few of us would say "I would do it again" Take the advise here seriously. Shop around for what is on the market that may be a ore attractive project that you can someday get a return on. Being emotional attached, but financially dumb about a toy never ends up well.

I'm just saying lets by all means be honest about expectations but realize he probably likes this design. I agree that in some cases when dealing with a slower hull especially, it's better to have a close to stock, reliable engine and if you want to go fast, safely, buy a capable hull. I think this is likely what you were trying to convey.

I'd do a stock rebuild, a slight cam upgrade since yours is rusted anyhow, and add some roller rockers. I'd leave the stock intakes and carb. They will support a little extra power. You can essentially duplicate the old 400HP 454 Cyclone engine, by swapping the cam and rockers. Other than that, I wouldnt invest a ton of money in the setup you have. The 400HP merc was a nice running engine.

buddy ,,here is a cam i use on the gen v motors,,its a isky cam,,real snotty sounds good and works well on a gen v flat tappet cam engine..isky 396271/281-14.....you want to usr crower cam saver lifters..this cam will work with stock merc manifolds and sounds good,it has a good thump to it and is really responsive..

oh this is the lifter you want,,you want the ''r'' series,,they have a full snap ring instead of a wire ring to hold the plunger in..
http://www.jegs.com/i/Crower/258/660...ductId=1145259

I have the same 188 heads on my engine with Scorpion Racing roller rockers and the Isky 270/280 mega cam http://www.flatlanderracing.com/iskycamsmarine.html engine made 407HP on dyno. And I also ran my stock exhuast the first two years with no reversion problems.

thx guys for pos post, as far as ones bashing, it might not be no 30ft fountain or anything, but good looking boat, im not made of money like other people. the one talking thousands for a rebuild must have more money then brains, as far as price, 500.00 to clean, bore .030 over, new plugs and pins pressed in pistons. around grand for rebuild kit, maybe little more for some extra stuff, heres where having little bit of brains come into play, I can do the rebuild, and only 500.00 for the boat, transom and lower unit great condition, and dual axle trailer, pistons were stuck due to previous owner taking off heads, ill show u don't need to be rich to have fun on the water, the cam I have now is 3963544, the lower unit will still b worth more than I will have invested,

Oh Geez. Another new member with a couple posts, telling us how he can build an engine for pennies. Nobody here suggested spending money foolishly. Most will tell you, to do a proper rebuild even on a basic 454 engine, cant be done for 1500 dollars, based on experiance. Why is it, people come on here for help and suggestions, on HOW to upgrade their 454 engine, but yet have the engine building/machining part down path? If you've successfully built engines in the past, then you should know how to upgrade a simple 1980's 454.



The 3963544 cam, is a 454 truck cam. It was never used in a marine merc engine. Even the 330hp 454 used a much larger cam than that 3963544. That cam should have a sweet redline of about 3900RPM with its 192/203 duration and 398 lift.

its and was a stock 454 tthat was cam in it and it is a 330hp merc, juust don't know much about marine difference, rebuilt motors b4, the combination of everything involved, just saying my searay, I redid motor, threw bigger lower unit, 23p prop, rpm can go as hi as7500, but if I put clever on it, it don't wanna pick up, its the marine aspect im not getting, I can make a motor run like hell

just to clarify,did you say you rebuilt your 330 in your sea ray and you can rev it to 7500 rpm,or did i read it wrong?

iit was a 200 six, put 350 in, changed bunch off crap, but yes, got to runn big gears to keep down, then I don't get my speed, it seems like low end torque its not there, but onnce up hell on water

at this point i am lost for words,good luck with your project,on a side note i believe your spelling might be worse than mine,LOL.

whatever im out of here, ill find somewhere better, I was going to upload viv of rpm on river, with 5 people on board, but who cares, F U did I spell that right

O crap mike, your going to suffer the wrath of the bugermeister for that.

relax dude,i catch hell about my spelling all the time.please post the viv of the boat.o and im not sure but does FU stand for forever yours?

going to check out different cam, as far as mike, he don't know shi-, he might have a big boat but mine will be cheaper and faster, by the way its not bugermeister, its Budweiser, thx

Mike that's some funny stuff. He must be out making the flick. U.T. Yours Truly Or "u-tube" lol

Wow, thought this was going to be another boring engine building tread! Don't think buddy is making any buddies. Somehow, I don't think there is a chance of him being on the water anytime soon. Now let's turn up the entertainment and start unloading offensive comments already.

was wanting real info but get sarcasim, site is for birds, I will b on water, have 3 boats, for that, 18ft webbcraft 307, 21ft searay 350 and 454 21ft raven will b on water in summer, lol

no doubt yours will be cheeper but faster,i dont think so bugerweiser!:bong:

Will c I'm trying to do at least 65 70, for under 3000 , make people that spent hundreds of thousands cringe lol and again lol

so bugerweiser,how fast is the fastest in your FLEET?

How do these guys find oso?

If had a jeep, I go to a jeep forum.

If i had a jet ski, I'd find a jet ski forum.

If i had a horse, I'd find a horse forum.

Last time I looked, it's called "OFFSHORE ONLY". You know, a website about OFFSHORE BOATS.

guys come on here with 21 ft Raven Countach and ask for advice, then get bent out of shape and defensive about others "being made of money " .. because they have larger boats than you.

I'm so sick of that kind of attitude around here . Hostility because someone has something nicer than yours. When I see a guy rocking a 52 OL with some 1350 mercs and a boat load of hot women, I don't hate, I admire. Nobody should be labeled a rich spoiled jerk. It's called getting off your azz and working for it.

You can try all you want.It ain't gonna happen .

This is Darr, or at the very least, a relative.........:whistle:

The Searay has a 7500rpm smallblock ...It must really fly:boat:

Not jealous, dad has Baja 420, he knows nothing, I'll get his sometime, was trying to keep up with him

At moment not fast about 57, 63 if I change lower units

this cant be dr azzclown,the spelling is not perfect.

Sea Ray will climb to 5200 feeling power, after that it seems worthless, it will run the tack all the way