42 Lightning Classic
 

I recently purchased a 99 42 Classic with 540 Bulldogs in a side by side set up. I am in need of two sets of 4.5 inch dry tails
for Gill exhaust manifolds. We as changing heads, cams, and carbs and I need to improve the exhaust and do not want to
go the CMI route. It is a really nice old boat and will be a good project for this winter. It is at MitcherT's now getting painted. If anyone has any please give me a call at 219 670-0082 or e-mail me at [email protected]. Not a computer expert so phone ore-mail is best.
Thanks Al

really . an old 42.. you are going to love all that room I bet . Congrats Al!!

The room in the cockpit room is why I bought the boat along with fact that it was a one owner boat and 100 percent fresh water. But now after running it a few times I am amazed how much better a boat it is over a 38 Lightning and I thought they were great. Should have got a 42 a long time ago. The 38's that I had were all very fast though for the power they had in them.

Congrats and good luck on your search. Interesting details on the 42 vs 38. Post the Mitcher-T rendering!

ARB , you must a have purchased the all white 42 from lotto ? It's one of the very few big step side by side configurations I've seen other then mine... And I bought mine for the same reason (the extra cockpit space ) my previous boat was a 31 cat , so I went from 0 cockpit space to a limo... Lol I've also had mine painted by Mitch, it's the only way to roll ... & I agree big difference in ride vs 38, good luck with it , post some pics!! btw mine came with 540 Bulldogs as well... Now they are 557's about 700 hp in dyno trim , good for 90

heres mine if anyone cares ...lol

Yes it is the boat from LOTO. I am hoping to get the same speed as you have gotten yours to when the engines are done and I get the props dialed in. I am picking the boat up from Mitch tomorrow morning and I will try to get some pictures up. I have always liked the look of your boat, and Mitch is the man. This will be the second boat he has done for me.

waiting for pics!

He sent me pics. It looks bada$$

Depressing knowing how much a difference those steps make in speed, I have 850's & have seen 86 or so. Same set-up.

Post em up ! Loved to see it

[ATTACH=CONFIG]547520[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]547521[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]547522[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]547523[/ATTACH]
I think he needs a bigger truck:)

Looks great!

Thats a sexy *****!

Awesome!

Looks great! The 42 is hard to beat.

Thanks for all the positive coments. Mitch and his crew did a great job

Paint looks awesome and the entire rig is great.

Hope to see it in person during Shootout Week this year. Where did your "old" 38 end up at ?

I thought that was a four door jeep pulling it!!! lol great looking boat..

Was that boat called CoverGirl?paint Looks great!

Thanks Kelly O, the 38 went to British Columbia. I will miss the 120+ speed of that boat, unbelievably great boat.

Yes it is the Cover Girl boat. Now I have to go through the secret cerimony to change the name!

A friend used to have his sea Ray docked next to him. That guy who owned it was a trip!

Those props look like extended hub Herrings. Congrats on the move to a 42.. I wish I had the means to roll with a 42

Props are just Bravo Ones. Buying this 42 was by far the cheapest Fountain I have owned since the others were new. The 08 700 boat was slightly used but still a lot compared to this 42. Seems if you are patient there are some real nice Fountains out there if you are not In a hurry and do not mind a used boat. New is great but the prices are crazy high now on anything with any good power in them.

That boat looks HOT.... congrats Al.

Paint looks great! That boat was on my short list but I ended up trading my 32 for a different 42 at shogren's.

I like the detail of the white grab rails.

Thanks for the positive comments. It has a been a good project for this winter. I have pulled the engines and painted the engine compartment so that looks like new again. I am finishing up the engines now and they should go back in next week. Just waiting for the new rocker's and cams but they should be here today or tomorrow.

What type of upgrades did you end up doing to the motors?

I changed my plan some from my original idea. I sent the carb's to Nickerson Performance and they did a level five on them. I had the stock heads ported, milled to get a 9:1 compression, and a valve job. Also got new rockers, springs, push rods etc. Installing hydraulic roller cams and lifters from Marine Kenetics. I had bought some heads but after reading a lot on OSO realized that they were to big and I did not want to buy new exhaust to make it all work properly. So we will see how it all turns out in the spring. The heads were done by a real good shop in Indy, Mike Duke Racing. He has years of experience so I am hoping they will be better than what is usually gained on the heads.

That should wake up those 540's. Essentially the same set up I'm running .. GM heads with extensive port work, 1050 dominators Good luck keep us posted with your results

I hope I get the same results that you got for speed. What are you running for props and gear ratio and are you running shorties? I have 1:36 gears and was running 24 pitch Bravo Ones at 5100 and 78.8 mph before these engine mods.

1:50 standard length lowers , labbed 32's 5600 or labbed 30's @ 5800 pretty much same speed (within 1 mph) of 90 + or - , always wanted to try shorties, but it works so good as is...

I am hoping that I get similar results in speed as you have gotten. I would like to have the 1:50 ratio but the 1:36 is what it came with so I will see how it goes. Looking at the same rpm's as you also. This boat also works very well the way it came with the standard Bravo.

I'm running shorties on my 2004. Seems to work pretty good with the Maximus props. Boat ran 82-83 with standard length lowers.

Little update on the boat. Got the engines back in and took it back to LOTO and ran it on Monday. All went well and found that I need bigger pitch props and also need to get rid of the rev limiter to really get it dialed in. With the original 24 pitch props it went right to the rev limiter at 5450 or so and ran 84. I didn't have any 26's so I tried some 28's and they were to much, only pulled 4650. They would have pulled more if I just let it go for a while but I didn't just let it eat since they are not right for the boat. I have some 26's on the way so we will see what happens with them and a little dialing in. The tune also has more to get also. I think that I will get to my 90 mph goal when all done or very close.

Lookin good!!

Paint looks great!