Wanting to stay with the 'plug and play' concept as much as possible, i.e. take out old engine, drop in new, plug into existing harness, hook up fuel and exhaust and go. And stay around $15K for project. Boat runs ~54 mph now, I'd be happy with 62. My 208 will run high 60s so, it's that speed I am missing...but the 208 just isn't able to handle rough conditions very well with only a 17 degree deadrise, hence the purchase of the 252.

If that's all you're looking for, then maybe a 502 would be good for you?.

My Cobalt 252 with the 502 MAG EFI (had Hardin Seaward exhaust with good FA only) getting me 63 MPH (GPS reading) with it weighing 4500 lbs. dry..

I can't see a reason your Baja couldn't do that or better with the same engine since I would guess you have a faster hull.

I would venture to say $7-8k for a used 502. Have the fuel injectors flowed/cleaned. Do a complete tune up. Remove and replace engine. Prob less than $10k total.

Sell your 7.4 MPI engine for $4-5k? You get what you want for a lot less than your $15k

This is exactly what I just did to justify the HP 500 engine I had installed.

Thanks, xlint89.

We're in the same ballpark weight-wise, I've seen numbers between 4,400 and 4,700 listed for the 'dry weight'. I know the boat and trailer are 6,870 combined but I've never weighed just the trailer.

Of course like most, I desire as high of speed as possible given the parameters I've set. 62 would be sort of a 'minimum' to make it worth while/put a smile on my face. 64 - 66 would be sweet, but I'm a realist. The 252 is extremely stable and tracks/rides SO well...to me it just begs for big power. As mentioned before, an HP500 EFI was the biggest factory power available.
My 208 is faster but is such a handful at speeds around 65 mph unless the water is really smooth. My wife HATED riding in that boat at speed or in rough conditions...and you know what they say, "happy wife, happy life"..

What drive do you have on your boat. I’m assuming it was Mercruiser.

Yes sir. 1.50 Bravo 1 Mirage plus 23 prop turning 5200 RPM

As I stated in the other thread, I was looking at the Baja 252 and the Cobalt 252. Found the Cobalt with the 502 and bought it.

For me the criteria was (upgrading the engine) max HP I could reliably run with the Bravo 1 and not have to add hydraulic steering. (keeping it under 70 MPH) So around 500 HP was what I was shooting for.

Not sure why you're so hung up on trying to transfer as many parts from the 7.4L to the new engine? I assume to keep cost down, but they are not performance oriented. And you're looking to gain speed. Sell your entire engine as a drop in package and install the new one. In reality, if you do find a 500 EFI it came with CMI E top headers, so your cast iron manifolds would be a major step backwards in performance and weight..

I am NOT wanting to transfer ANY parts...sorry if I misrepresented this. I've got a couple of friends who'd like to buy the 454 from me if/when I do this swap so...the only real parts that might come on/off would be the exhaust. And from what I can tell (and has been discussed some before), the Corsa Quick and Quiet exhaust won't work on the HP500, but WOULD on the 502. The ideal situation would be to find a nice, low hour 502 Mag MPI complete from top to bottom, and simply drop it in and hook up some hoses and wires.

Maybe I misunderstood when you said you wanted to plug and play harness, hook up fuel and exhaust systems? Sorry about that.

Not sure what the Corsa quick and quiet is, but I have the Captains Call diverters that work with the CMI E top headers. So it is possible to install them onto a HP 500 EFI. (I don't know if the EFI cam has as many reversion problems as the carb model though. So do your research if this appeals to you)

In the classifieds section there's a guy in TX that is selling a Marine Power 502 first gen FI 502. And a guy selling Mercruiser 502 EFI long blocks from Jersey in there too.

Just a FYI, I will be posting my 502 take out for sale soon.

Sweet! Thanks for the info. The Corsa exhaust is much like Captain's Call (see picture), in that you can choose thru-hull or thru-prop. After reading on the Corsa website about Quick and Quiet and Quick and Quiet II, I realize I do NOT have that system, as it has no selective ability...so my mistake on that.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...1b0c813643.jpg

You got Captains Call.

I have CMI diverters that work with E top headers if you wanted to keep the selectable exhaust.

I was using the Hardin Seaward exhaust with the captains call on my boat

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