I think the Whipples would be a good combo, I'm not sure what HP they are rated at on the 525. If its anywhere near 750hp, then your goal should be very obtainable. Procharger, back in 2002 with my chargers on a 500hp rates the hp @ 710 with 5psi. I have better heads, bigger cam and 7psi, so I would claim 750hp if someone asked.

The Whipples are going to make better torque down low, and pull the bigger prop you will have, which will give you better drivability at slower speeds then I have with the Prochargers. Probabally also stressing the drives a little more as well.

My boat being a 98' should have a deeper X dimension then yours, I think Formula raised it at least 1" in 2000 or later. I have a 12" extention box and a 1" shorty drive(both IMCO). I dont have a comparision with out the boxes, as I bought the boat with them. Axapowell does though and said there worth 1-3 mph. If your not trying to ring every last MPH out of the boat, extention boxes probabally wont be worth the effort. Boxes should add stability at speed to the boat, so if the labor and money arent a big deal put them on, they do add a cool factor to the back end as well, take Dave's advise on that one. They have'nt affected my family boating either.

Learn from everyones mistakes as much as possible, because melting a piston in middle of the season isnt good for family boating. You have a great combo to start with, Whipple will give you a good tune for the EFI, so that will take a lot of guess work out of the equation. Extra engine monitoring cant hurt. Fuel pressure, water pressure, oil temp, and boost will all help keep things in line. You have XR's already, which is the best place to be when starting on this new adventure, but keep in mind XR's can and will break.

As I have found out, props will make a huge difference. I keep on hitting new milestones with my combo by just changing props. I have more time than money invested in my prop setup, hitting my best speeds with used Bravo ones. 97mph with 1.36 drives/32's in '07, 102mph with 1.5/34's in '09, and 107mph with 1.5/36's in 2010( raising my rev limiters to 6000rpm).

Set the boat up right, dial it in, and you should have no problem being one of the few with a Fastech to post a triple digit thread. I would of earlier, but a short boating season and money slowed me down(mostly the money).

LE

Do you guys think the extension boxes help your speed, or just help in stability at high speeds?

There suppose to do a little of both. I bought my boat with them already on so I couldnt give you a good opinion on a Fastech comparison.

Hows your 312 handle high HP now? any chine walking? My 353 seems right at home with a lot of HP, but the smoother the water, the more likely it will chine over 85/90mph. sometimes scary, but always manageable with thottle, tab and trim.

LE

hey le---- who initially built those blow thru carbs ------- would like their knowledge to start with instead of gambling ------

I bought the boat which is an original HP500 boat with one blown engine. The previous owner threw a ton of money at it, but was paying a mechanic to do all the work, this kind of setup is definitely a do it yourself and have some knowledge or your gonna go broke kind of thing. The boat came with the Prochargers, IMCO boxes and drives, and MSD's.

Machine work on the blocks and heads were done by Gellner and Victory. Dean at Gellner's helped me greatly with clearances, oil system and balancing. I did all the assembling and rigging. I tried to prep the original HP500 800cfm carbs for blow thru, which in hind sight wasnt a great idea(caused me a motor with 2 melted pistons), Ray at Victory did the cylinder sleeving on the one bore that got beat up. Since then I bought purpose built 750cfm HPseries blow thru carbs, monitor air fuel ratio's and EGT's and have had great success with the setup.

I'm always willing to help someone trying to do a carbed blow thru setup, so if you have any questions give me a call or PM me. Being that your local should make it easier. If you boat out west by the islands I might of already talked with you. After around 10 beers I give up all the secrets to the universe.


Scott 216-214-2462

LE

A whippled 525 should put out about 750 hp. I'm thinking I'm going to leave the drives as they are and see what I have. I don't need every last mph and I'd prefer not to put money into drives that may blow up on me. If they do blow up, then i'll probably redo them and set it up properly. If I'm at 90 or more, I will be happy.

thanks scott - i do all my own machine work and builds - i just wanted to know who you bought the purpose built carbs?? from so i can be within a generous starting point for air fuel -
yes i also monitor everything now -gauges galore - i've talked with you before - i own the all black 24' excalibur - thanks for your input=
johnny

The boxes arent going to add any reliability to the drives any way. The XR's are the strongest stock Bravo you can start with, but there are all kinds of smaller upgrades that can be done to help prevent failures. The Bravo drive is also very a simple drive to work on with some specialty tools. The guys at Max Machine Worx in Arizona have helped me out greatly with tech advise, and now I do all my own drive work.

I think you would be better off doing some upgades on the XR's before they blow up, because once they do, they just dont seem to be the same. Heres a couple recommendations:

If you dont have the newer swept back XR, the upper cap is stock Bravo and needs to be replaced with a Billet cap with 7/16 studs(very important on the LH rotation). The upper clutch shaft and collars are also easily upgradable. Hard shimming the input/yoke shaft keeps the pinion gear and bearing stable. Max also can upgrade the drive gear tower bearings to prevent deflection(I havent done this one yet). The XR lower already come with the big prop shaft and billet prop carrier. You can upgrade the vertical shaft and hard shim the carrier, but the upper upgrades are far more important.

If spring is when the Whipples are going on, I would split the upper/lowers and send the uppers to Aaron and Jason in Arizona. Do the upgrades mentioned and you will be far less worried come summer time to run the new found HP. If you can do the work yourself you can save the labor.


http://www.maxmachineworx.com/


LE

I'm assuming you have a good drive shower already, if not put those on the list as well.

LE

Sorry for the bable, I kind of thought that after typing the book when I re-read your post. Anyway, my carbs are from PC carbs in Ontario CA. but he has since stopped making blow thru carbs. When I inquired why, he said demand was dropping?? I did talk to CSU carbs in Fontana CA. as well(looks like all these guys know each other) and it looks like he is taking all the blow thru business. CSU does most of the same stuff PC did, but he claims more R&D and some other stuff with the power valves and jetting. I do have a buddy who built a Procharged blow thru 347cid Ford and he likes the CSU carb.


http://www.csucarbs.com/index.html

http://www.performancecarburetors.com/index.php

LE

Keep in mind over kill in the fuel system is neccessary for engine reliability. I made custom 5/8 pick ups for my tank, -10 to the A1000 pumps, -10 to the carbs, a 1:1 boost referenced pressure regulator, and a -8 return line. Aeromotive 100micron filters on the input of the pumps, and Perma cool fuel/water seperaters on the output. I also found a Fram water/fuel filter I like better then the Perma cool filter(both filters use the same screw on base). I will try to get the part # posted.

LE

90 or more... lol, I am very positive you will be at 100 or so with 750 HP...

I hope your right, but I'm not sure without serious prop and drive work.

Let's see what happens in the spring.

I think you will be surprised, the first run with Lake effect untuned and 20 minutes on engines years ago it went 97 first time out.... we were surprised as hell!!!

LE great avatar! Congrats on your success.

Thanks, one of my buddies is great with a camera and caught that shot during a poker run in Cleveland.

LE

Dude, when we gonna go 110?? sounds like a goal!

soon .......:drink:

hows yours goin for ya??

still a Gazillion pieces ....but hopefully things should start coming together in the next 6 weeks ....I cant believe we pulled the motors in July and was looking for a 6-8 week project ...then the "what if" stuff started ....its gotten ugly ......m

Yea...that usually happens... lol

Congrats on what has to be one of the fastest 353's around! Those are some impressive numbers to say the least.

Curious... have you ever had the bottom of your 353 blueprinted? At those speeds I imagine sharpening the trailing edges on the steps and transom may give you another mph or two.

Yea, shes fun! Scott has looked into blueprinting... it could be in the future plans he said, the boat is so fun!

I'm not getting greedy. 107mph seems fast enough. A good goal would be another great summer, goin for 4 in a row..



LE

I inquired about it and was told it would help with chine walking, probabaly more speed too, just cant justify another 4k or 5k. Other things to spend dough on.



LE

Yea... but sounds fun!! lol I could use another engine trouble free summer myself!

LE you should make the short trip to Buffalo for our Poker Run :grinser010:

http://www.powerboatingwny.com/

:) :) :)

Looks like a great time. Whens the 2012 event?


LE

The 2012 Buffalo Poker Run is August 10th & 11th. It's an awesome run on the the Niagara River and Lake Erie. Cocktails and dinner @ Templeton Landing, a 1st class waterfront restaurant located in the Erie Basin Marina...Hope you can make it! :drink:

ditto,,

here's a few pics


http://sharkeyimages.zenfolio.com/bu...poker_run_2011

A lot of nice boats on the east end of our Great Lake..

By coincidence I already have vacation time scheduled around that weekend. Hopefully I can make it to the run. Its always fun to explore new places.

Is there anything special I would need to do to participate? How long is the run? What kind of entry fee?

LE

Wanna do it bud?? hmmm

LE

nothing special, Here is our thread for constant update's,

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/p...10th-11th.html

direct link to our Poker run app for more info,

http://www.powerboatingwny.com/downl...%20Package.pdf

If you look at the last couple of page's on the thread there is info on the Adam's Mark hotel if you wanted a room, just a quick walk away, if not then just get a slip at Erie Basin Marina which is where the run is outta, they also have ramps, and the home base Templeton Landing is in Erie Basin Marina.
I get out at 130 on thursday and will be around to "shoufer" the outta towners and have the day off on friday where I will be looking to get a gathering at one of the local hot spots, last year we had several boats come in 1-3 days early, including a guy from the top of MI.

Any other questions just ask away,

Sam

I talked to him today about this, I think we are gonna try to do this! Do most crash on the boats at dock? we usually do on ours... but if nobody else does then the hotel may be the way to go...?? we usually party till we pass out at night...so the boat works too!

There is a good mix of both, last year we had a cpl cpl's from outta town spend the night. and also had a group in the hotel, last year we spent saturday night on the boat ourselves, this came after closing Templeton Landing and then getting in cabs and going dtown to the chippewa strip and closed them down :lolhit: needless to say we had a great night!! Oh ya there was a episode of wedding crashers too :eek: no not me, but our fellow member Got Twins was guilty of that one:party-smiley-004: I do not think you will be disappointed coming here. Great partym Great people, and the actual run isn't to shabby either, we are only a cpl hours away, there is a guy you may be familiar with that comes from your area, "Wild Thing" he sponsors our run and has come for several years now

Wild Thing, yea.. Ronnie Bender, we know him, this sounds like fun! but then you guys gotta do our run here in June...LOL we are only a couple hours away....:)

which run is yours? last year a cpl of guys went to one on the other end of L Erie, not sure what run it was thou

I have an 86 Baja 320 Force, but LE is my best bud so we boat together all the time...we are usually at the islands every weekend...great times!!