496 HO supercharger
 

Has anyone installed a wipple or pro charger on a 496 HO? Results? and prop size change on a 03 27 fever

Put a 5# procharger kit on, wasn't that bad pretty straight forward. Comes with good directions and all the parts were accounted for. Hardest part was pulling the motor to get the crank pulley on due to small motor bay. Went from a 23 3blade to a 28 4 blade got a solid 10mph consistently could get 12mph on a good day. You got lucky like we did on having an 03, in 04 they put garbage pistons in.

Did you have to flash your pcm, also did you have a black soot problem from your exhaust and if so did the pro charger installation correct it? I am assuming by your comments in reference to the pistons do the 03 have forged pistons. Sound like you did your homework

All the 496 had cast pistons. The advice I have is not to mess with the 496 and be happy it is reliable.....if you want to go faster, go buy a faster boat with the faster power in it.

Side note: I went through all the same things with my 496 HO boat....NOBODY told me it was a great idea to put superchargers on them. So I took the money that I would have spent on doing the motors right so they were ready for boost and the blowers and put that to a new boat. Best decision I ever made.

That is the consensus that I have been getting but on the other hand you don't know who to believe. Was looking to go bigger. thanks

Correct, all factory 496 whether Mag or HO came with cast hyperuetetic pistons. No 496's ever came with forged pistons. The only difference in 04 and later is GM went with a floating wrist pin vs the 03 and prior pressed pin setup. The 496 is a very reliable setup in stock form. Once you throw FI into the mix on stock pistons, it's akin to playing Russian roulette. The proper way would be to install forged pistons at minimum.

PCM wasn't reflashed had to do test and tune with a mechanical fuel pressure gauge to put it to suggested starting point. Then run wide open pull the throttle back to idle and shut the boat down in one quick motion. Then would pull a couple of plugs and make sure it wasn't to lean or to Rich. Wasn't that hard to do. It always did leave some soot before and after the install. We played it pretty conservative with max rpm of 4800 and not a lean tune. Hope this helped

Dustin at whipple has a 3.5lb boost charger set up, and tune that works safely with a 496HO. Cast pistons are not idea for boosted applications, but IMO they are not ideal for marine applications in general either. Keeping the boost low, with a safe tune and quality fuel is key to longevity on a 496. He has many out there, give him a call at Whipple or PM him on here.

I would just buy a 29 with a 525 in it. The drive the 27 comes with Merc X won't stand big horsepower.

I had a ProCharger M-1 (3lbs boost) on a 2004 496 Mag...put over 200 hours on the motor before selling it....never had any issues...did not reflash the ECM... went from turning a 24 Bravo to a 28 Bravo.... picked up 10 mph... I've read all the naysayers but my experience was nothing but positive...