Ilmor Power in a 29' Fountain???
 

Just wondering if anyone knows anything abotu ilmor engines? I'm still looking for a 29' fountain (had the chance to go out in both a 27' and a 29', and the 29' will suit my needs a lot better, and decided single big block vs twin small blocks).

Anyhow...what I'm wondering, is how will the fountain handle with an ilmor, and has anyone run one with one?

I hear they are a more reliable motor, better on fuel, and better mannered, is this true?

any help/advice would be great.

Compared to what?

Ilmors awesome, light powerfull very reliable and great mileage.

Merc 700 is another good choice- makes more midrange and low endand and can be modified to make tons of power by putting a smaller pulley on the blower and flashing the ecu- , but there are compromises in doing that.

Cant (really) mod an ilmor- drop it in and go. Youre done.

I have an aversion to blowers after a lifetime of f-ing with them, so I went ilmor. All throttle, no bottle, no turbo, no blower-

There is lots to read on this and other sites. Do a little digging with the search engines and youll find lots to read about them- almost all overwhelmingly positive

You can see my boat build in the laveycraft forum under "out of the mold Im blown away."

Not sure how big a 29 fountain is but my lavey is 28.8 ft long so the boats will be similar sized.

Uncle Dave

Ive got one with a 575, the single 29s can be rough on drives, heavy vee with only one drive you do the math. But it does perform much better with a single.

my initial thought was to put a procharger on a 500efi or HP 500 merc that i seem to be finding in a few of the boats. But after reading about the ilmor motors, I think I'd like to go that way. I'm not one for spending a lot of time 'playing' with the engine setup on my boat, I want something reliable... (*Don't get me wrong, I can spend countless hours polishing my boat, just not a fan of having to always be adjusting something!).

I guess I just want reliability of a motor and one that isn't going to rip apart a drive unit. Mind you, I don't mind spending the money to get a properly built drive unit right up front.

Basically I want to know, with an ilmor MV-710, in a 29' fountain, does anyone have an idea of what the top end should be????

Does this MV-710 seem like the answer as well compared to a merc with a procharger? I'm also open to other options!

I've got a 29 with a 575 also and have gone thru an xr, 2 Teaque Platinum and have now put in an Imco SCX. When you find bullitproof, let me know.

A 29 Fountain is really a 26' boat. I had a 29 and it was a great boat and I have also been in a 92mph 29 and it gets real scary above 83-85mph.

One of the good and bads about the Ilmor is there really isnt anything you can do to it. You polish the exhaust. Its as close to zero maintenance as High perf engines really get.

You drive it and change the fluids and it pumps out turbine smooth power that blast through the midrange into ferocious top end like a 2 stroke MX bike.

It light on the low end especially compared to a blown BBC (although prochargers dont really pop in the low end either.)

No blower mean less parasitic loss, fewer, moving parts, less concern over bad gas (its gota knock sensor ) and no f*cking belt dust all over your bilge.

The 2nd 2 cylinders give it a howl like a cross between a bbc and a ferrari and it doesnt feel like a BBC/BBF. It feel well different.

It pushes my 5300lb 28.8 ft boat to 90 and I can probably get a few more MPH playing with props.

Your 29 ft fountain isnt quite as long or wide as my rig but I couldnt speak for the weight - Id say equal or greater perhaps low 90's

It also gets 2.4 MPG over a 300 mile trip between 35-40 mph so as a long range cruiser its awesome.

Bolting a blower on anything without a complete redo of the innards is a recipie for a one season engine. Ive done it so many time before learning it was cheaper to spend teh money and do it right Im embarrased to say. Blower manufactuerers really bs about this alot.

You can break any drive but the torque curve of an ilmor is way easier on it that a blown BBC. At the same time the Ilmor spins significantly faster than it's non blown counterparts- and if you start "fanning the stick" at 6K+ you can still break things.

If youve got the money - and it takes a lot of money-
the Ilmor club is a cool place to hang out in.

all aluminum
505 CI/8.3 L
700HP (every single engine is dynod and goes right back to assembly if it doesnt make at LEAST this. )
V-10

You can get used units at a good deal from the "ILMORDUDE"


UD

Has any decision been made on this Fountain yet? We still have a few great deals left.

I would say there must be a lot of things to mod on these. I run a Viper on the street with 1004 HP to the wheels. That is on 91 oct.

What did you do to get it to 1K? turbo?

How does it idle?

I haven't found squat for this engine yet other than a turbo, or whatever boostpower does.

UD

Uncle Dave - I've seen pictures of your boat before and wondered why Lavey didn't paint or gel the bilge? Or did they use a clear gel on it so you could still see the stringers/coring under the layup?

Its clear gel-

Actually I liked the look of the vac bagged balsa.

Lavey would have been happy to paint it whatever color I wanted- but I choose to spend the money I would have spent on that on other things. Add to this the storage units that lavey puts in on either side of the engine basically block your view to the bilge and the 710 covers every inch outside of that so there wouldn't be much to see other than the inside of the hatch.

If you do a search on "quent" he has a 24 ft 710 powered bowrider with basically the same paint scheme & it has an fully painted bilge.

Dave

I finally got some picts - The painted bilge is Quents 24 Lavey with identical power. He painted the bilge and hatch.

The pict with the gal in it is my GF "cleaning my pipes" in the 2750 the batteries are mounted in front of the engine (2xpc-2150's)

In their place are the containers I spoke of/extra storage.

UD

26' boat? really I have a 29 in a 30' slip and it takes up every bit of it.......but I have never put a tape to it.

What Mike is referring to is the running surface. It actualy measures out to 26'10"(per APBA). Yes with the beak/swim platform it is at 29 and change total length so you would need your 30' slip.

Also on a side note with drive reliability for the illmor application, would a NXT work?

There is not a boat out there (except a barge) that measures the total running surface as what the Coast Guard rates it. A 29 Fountain is 29 FEET LONG. A 42 foot Cigarettes running surface is NOT 42 FEET. Give it a rest.

Come on Roger play nice lol You know as well as I do the reason mine was measured was for weight purposes in F1(2001). My weight requirement was 4600 if I was a true 29 I would have had to put another 150 lbs on board. Fever Mike was part of the tech staff back then.

Aside from the racing aspect of it and the rules at the time, you are 100% correct, a 29 is a 29.


Trent

Hey Trent, I just get tired of people trashing the length issue on Fountains. The Coast Guard rules, are front to back, and if the swim platform is part of the boat it is measured also. The beak is part of the boat so it counts also. The CG does not measure the running surface to determine the length they require boat builders to publish.

Probably would work just fine, and if you had the drive sitting Im sure you could figure it out- but why wouldn't you use Ilmors new Indy drive?

It's got less parasitic loss than an NXT, and is rated for even more power.

I just got back from San Diego had a 300 mile roundtrip- boat ran awesome got 2.3 MPG this trip.

I Love my Ilmor 710. No BS, no problems, no belt dust all over the bilge, no black soot on the transom, no starting problems, idling problems, nothing but reliable smooth HP delivered just like its supposed to be.

I have owned and hold in high regard highly Mercury marine product my whole life, I have nothing bad to say about them and will remain a customer of their where and when it makes sense.

Ive built & dyno'd over a dozen custom engines for boats and cars, and can say that its really hard to replicate what these guys have done in terms of an overall package.


Uncle Dave

ahhh I see, well that is good info to know, thanks!