To Whipple or Not to Whipple?
 

So - I have 75 hours on my 2007 28' Daytona. My 1 yr anniversary/warranty are quickly approaching - and yes, I want more speed. I have twin 496 HO's with Bravo X drives...and have squeezed 100mph out of it a few times - mid 90's every day.

I am considering my options for getting more speed. I looked into CMI headers - but that looked as though I was only going to gain 3-5 mph.

So now, I am considering either Whipple Charger or the Raylar Kits...and am seeking some insight from those that have more experience at this stuff than I do.

I am interested in the following:
1. Which option would provide more hp/speed?
2. Which option would provide better reliability?
3. What are the risks of either option?
a. Am I decreasing resale of the boat by making these mods because people will fear the reliability of a non-stock boat?
4. Which Drive package would you go with - knowing my Bravo X's are only rated for 450hp - I am interested in opinions on Bravo XR vs IMCO vs Konrad Ace?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

The Raylar kits are reliable. Prolly around the same amout of money. Youll gain more speed with the whipple's but at the risk of reliability.

Id be interested to hear from others with whipples. From my research youll need to beef up the internals on the 496's to handle a whipple long term.

I'm a huge whipple fan. A whipple and having someone like tyler crockett redo the computers and it should be a sweet ride.

Whipple on stock internals?

Depends on hours, calibration of the ecu and how you drive it. I would rather start off with a 525 or 500 but if given a 496, I would bolt on and go.:D

Both are good ways of going. We sell & install both at our shop.

We are currently installing a whipple in a 06 496 mag Ho along with some other mods at our shop. They both have thier pros & cons. The whipple will cost a bit more to do by the time you are done. Choose what you like the best, again both are good set products.. :) Jamie / Lakeside


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I've done the same studies, I'm a big whipple fan, sell them and have had them on my 454 magefi 25' Daytona and on the Pantera I have for sale now.

IMHO, it's dicey on the 496HO because of two things (Raylar can confirm for you) The stock pistons are Hypereutectic rather than forged and the top ring land is on the thin side, seems like it was less than .100 where a good forged piston is closer to .200.

This piston difference on paper would not matter IF everything was perfect, but if something went lean and or detonation snuck in for some reason- very little margin.

I do like that the whipple can go on without pulling engines.

i agree on the CMI's delivering mostly bling for the substantial money.

For your situation (and probably mine) Raylar's 525 kit is the way to go even though the install is more labor intense. 525 is plenty for your boat and you will know it's there. The N/A powerband will be fine with your drives. Merc ran the older Bravo one which is a lesser design with the 525SC- you'd really have to work hard at hurting your newer design Bravo 1X drives with the Raylar 525 power. The Raylar will have more resale appeal to most peeps, or worst case, swap the Raylar motors with someone for some stock HO's when the time comes.

If you had better pistons I'd be pushing Whipples and better drives, but you don't- bang for the buck in your case is the Raylar, keep us posted.

I am in the same boat. My 22 Daytona is running about 82mph with a stock 496 ho and the turbulators removed from the exhuast. I am not sure exhaust will help me much for the money without a big boost in hp. I do think that I need to buy the exhaust to be ready for a engine upgrade. Do you guys think the Raylar 525 will put the 22 into the high 90s?
My second question would be if I upgrade the Raylar kit to the 600hp level will my Bravo1x take the power since I have a light boat?

22 Daytona:

Upgrading a 496 to 600HP requires going through the short block also and rebuilding it with forged pistons, rods, etc. If your 496 is at a rebuild point then its a reasonable thing to do. If not just install one of our 525HP kits, add a good set of header exhausts and the motor will be at 560-570HP which should be more than enough for a 22 Donzi. As for the Bravo 1X it depends on where you run and how you drive the boat. If you run in blue water (bigger or rougher water, like to slam the throttles a lot then the Bravo 1X would be on the edge at 600HP. Keep a shower on your Bravo 1X, use hydraulic assist or hydraulic steering and change your drive fluid every 25-50 Hours and you should be just fine at 525 to 575HP in a smaller boat like yours. Hope this info helps with your decision.

Ray @ Raylar

Hey Raylar,
What is your header recomendation when going with one of your kits. I need to get that cost out of the way first. If it is Danas I could do it all at once. If it is CMIs it will have to come in stages.