ASD7 Bravo conversions.

any more details on the engine specs or the setup
more pictures ?
What are you doing for the raw water cooling?
What are you tuning them with? OLSD, CLSD, MAF ?

5 on my lake alone, no issues. In fact......no drive issues and great speed/handling

40 fountain
40 fountain
38 fountain
33 fountain
33 fountain

Other arneson boats in my group, or that I have seen ran with in the area. Most are friends.

47 sandler trip asd8
388 hustler asd7
388 hustler asd7
38 cig TG asd7
32 skater asd7
38 scarab asd7

Every one of them will tell you it is the best move they have ever made. The only one that has had handling issues is the 32 skater, and he seems to ignore Rik's advice.


I keep getting asked why my boat doesn't have a rooster tail, I'm next :D

Great thread btw, can't wait to see the finished product!

now this is awesome I will be following this build. there are allot of people set in their ways and beliefs on this site that are not open to trying new things and think that there is only 1 way to do anything on a boat and they will bash you for suggesting anything else. looking forward to seeing where this goes!

More pics will come in due time. I haven't thrown out the idea of raw water cooling, but for now I'm setting them up as closed cooling. It is a massive undertaking to R&D a thermostat housing to cool these motors at these power levels. Making a large heat exchanger is much easier, and it gives me the ability to run in salt from time to time.

I have been very impressed with Holley's EFI offering and after becoming master certified it really wasn't even a decision. Their ECM will do the job of that everyone else's will do with out the extra piggie-backs I would require for this set up. With regard to your other question, I see no reason not to run closed loop. This way I can run different altitudes and fuels without having to give the computer any input. They literally tune themselves in less than 90 seconds.

This is awesome. Definitely subscribing to see how this develops. Best of luck!

The twin stage sea pumps look and fit great!

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...psjvp5jtkm.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...psx1daaxdf.jpg

UPDATE: 6/13/2014

Well unfortunately I have to slide these motors to the back shelf for a few months. This is due to the turbo parts manufacturer inability to supply the parts that are needed to build the second motor. So I have opted to drop in a couple of big blocks for the summer to get on the water. The plus side of this is I will have something to compare the performance of the boat with conventional BBC power vs LS engines when I can get the parts and get them in the boat.

Here is what I'm putting in for right now. They are 468ci gen V blocks with forged lower ends, Merlin heads, and TBS 250 blowers.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...psf948153e.jpg

They were advertised as 720HP motors but actually only make 686HP (go figure). For comparison sake I compared the LS dyno graph with the graph of the 468 and this is what the difference looks like. The LS torque and HP are in the red and the BBC is black.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ps83d09fbd.jpg

Glad to see you haven't given up! So are you gonna be running the arnesons with the 468's? Those turbo small blocks are pretty impressive! Can't wait to see the difference of performance! Cool thread!

Yes, I will be running them just as I would have the LS motors. The only difference will be props of course.

How far out are you from running? If you can, get some video! I'm sure everyone on here would love to this this in action. I know I would.

i wanna see that baby in action

no kidding

Have you seen the Edelbrock LS water pump? It has threaded water pump bosses on the passenger side

I hope you don't mind me asking several questions. I really wished the camera had paned around the motor on the dyno pull to see more of your setup
Are you keeping the stock oil pump and oil pan? What about a remote oil cooler?
What did you do for a fuel setup and injectors?
Stock rockers or did you do the trunion upgrade?
any hints on the cam and valve train?

This is cool

I like the BBs because they won't have to work nearly as hard to make the same power. Lower RPM, less fatigue and flex of engine parts. So what if they are 100 pounds more each. :) However, since you want to do this I will be interested in how the small blocks compare but really I think that long term durability is the big unknown. You will be working the smaller engines much harder. The arnies will be cool regardless!

With the big blocks hopefully 3-4 weeks. The new stringers are getting glassed in next week. I will hopefully be able to pick it up and start rigging after I get back from a business trip next week. I'm defiantly going to pick up a couple of Go Pro's!
If this is Matthew you know the answers to all of these questions. If not I will answer them here. Just like anyone in the engine building business I have put tens of thousands of dollars into the R&D of this project. And as such I can't be giving the mass population a road map on how to build motors. It is a very poor business model. I will tell you over half of the parts that could be considered "off the shelf" have been altered with collaboration of the OEM in the interest of reliability. This is no different than Mercury Racing, Ilmore, Chief, or any other high performance engine builder.

Reference the dyno graphs above, I'm not clear on how the LS's will have to turn more RPM to "make the same power? Have focused on keeping the RPM range like that of our completion. I agree with your statement regarding the reliability. That is why I am extended amount of testing before offering them to the general boating public.

Thank you all for the support!

Yes this is Matthew. Not I reply I was expecting. Good luck on your build. I will still look forward to seeing what happens next.

Finally got the boat back from the shop doing the glass work. Hoping to start hanging the drives ASAP.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ps6aww76wd.jpg

Nice! I've been waiting patiently for this. :coolcowboy:

Looks like they did a nice job.

What size props are going to try with the 468 ?

I don't know yet. I wish I did since there is a good selection of 26 spline props on the market at the moment.

GREAT project!

I dont know why but I just have some sort of affection toward small blocks.

I know what you are saying I am trying to cut down on all the extra paper weights myself .

How did things go with this boat since the ASd7 are for sale ?

Due to an extended repair scheduled with the Skater this project is being resurrected. Stay tuned. ;)

Engines are back from paint.

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/...sljko76ja.jpeg

Disagree, that paint works!

Nice project! Subscribed for updates!

Finally getting to finish mounting the ECU and the DIS coils.

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/...ps14jxcbjs.jpg


http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0gzx8tih.jpg

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/...psvd4zjwqz.jpg

In an effort to make the whole package a "drop in package" I made some mounting brackets to mount the Holley Dominator fuel pump under the oil pan not to dissimilar to the mounting for a Cool Fuel setup.

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/...psm3po1ljy.jpg

Looking great!! I am glad this thread has been resurrected.

I see the fountain is back in line. Saw the Popeyes boat listed for sale I thought. That was the one you were gonna use right?

Looking good. On a slight hijack, are your mills in that Cig I see docked across from me on Clinton Lake?

The glass work on Popeye is taking longer than we hoped. It will be running around with the engines, but I need to get some time on the engines before Key West.

Yes sir!

How did it run with the 468s?

I didn't get a chance to run them, life got in the way. Long story short my wife was caring our second child last summer and she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. So everything stopped untill he was born and she could be treated. A couple weeks after my son was born I found the Popeye boat and decided that would be a better advertising tool for the engines than a plain old 42. Unfortunately, I did not know how extensive the glass work would be to make it right. So while that and the countless other things with the Skater are being adressed I decided to put the 42 together.

So here we are today.