Best Upgrades 496ho???
 

I'm looking to dump between $5-10k this spring into my 496HO I was wondering what upgrades would be recommended in this price range and still retain reliability.I'm am also considering moving up to a twin 496HO boat within a year and would like to be able to reinstall this upgrades into the next boat .Any suggestions?

raylar bck-103 kit. gives you 100 hp bolt on for about $6400. buy a prop and have some $ to spare.

Whipple. And you don't have to pull the motors apart.



Darrell.

sorry, but the cmi's wont really help speed on their own....they do sound great but are wayyyyyy to expensive. Do the raylar or whipple it and combine one of those with the CMI's.

live wire, there is a used raylar kit complete in the classifieds as well as used cmi headers all for the 496

When a bubby Whippled his HO in a 28ft Conquest Cat, he went from 60 to 76MPH. Thats a big jump.


Darrell.

100 lbs..? not from 496 exhaust(already aluminum.) Getting rid of the cast iron heads, yes. The 496 exhaust upgrades just dont justify their high cost. Lots of threads on this. The stock units flow pretty well.

Live Wire. See my old thread about the same issue.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=165776

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=171004

good luck.. I checked out the possibilities. HP- VS- $.. is the end result..

The CMI exhaust looks great and adds sound, but wont increase perfomance, at lease not on my old boat, I gained nothing from the exhaust change, but it did take awhile to install.

where's raylar??? must still be working.
http://www.raylarengine.com/kits.html
http://www.raylarengine.com/hotboat_1.html

live wire and other 496 owners.
Myself and many others who use our upgrades will tell you that our systems are the best bang for the buck while still keeping the engine reliable and running on 87 pump gas.

Call us we'll keep it simple and you'll know the difference.

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

Hey Live Wire

I have your upgrade in my yard :D


Just kidding. I would definitely go with the Raylar Kit. Besides, I would love to have your boat with a kit as a demo in the area :evilb:

My suggestion..........Save your money for the next boat and get 500's or 525's in it.

My dealer( Mahopac marine) suggested your kit a couple weeks ago . This looks like the way I'm going to go.Thanks for the input everyone

If you Whipple it, which will give you the best bang for the buck, be sure to have the computer tuned with the engine on the Dyno. To go even further for better religability, change the pistons, and rods. The pistone and rods are the weak point in a blown 496. Oh, make sure you have a forged steel crank too. Merc stoped using the forged crank a few year back.

This recomendation is from experience. We are rebuilding two 496HO whipple engines. Rod and piston failure, not sure what happened first.

I have a complete 502 we built and just dynoed 531 HP I will post a pic when I get to the shop. 10000.00

Thats a great option!! Pull your stock engine, and run that 502ci engine. Then if when you sell the boat, throw the HO back it her. Or sell it and get so $$ back.

Early 496 exhaust manifolds were aluminum but they are now cast iron. Not sure exactly when the switch occurred. Ray would know.

As for the upgrade, my first suggestion would be to save your money for the next boat. Second suggestion would be Raylar. If you Whipple a stock 496, sooner or later you will eat a piston.

If you can find 93 octane gas, then Whipple it! :D

If you can only find 87, go with Raylar.

Good luck! :cool:

What he said.

Not sure thats true. I think all are and have been aluminum.....I have on 01' with alum and my neighbor has an 04 or 05 with alum....the elbows are SS. I would agree 100% on the save the money issue for the next boat. I just caught myslelf wanting to spend cheese on my HO...so i bought a dirtbike instead. :cool-smiley-027:

I will quote the best line I have ever heard on OSO...


Run some boost through them biatches.


:D

I have Forged stock replacement pistons in stock for the 496's You will need them. I have them with the stock wrist pin size or I have the pin bushings and .990 pin size pistons.

I thought they were all aluminum too until I saw some threads on Merc changing over to cast iron. There was one guy that had bought a new 288 Sunsation and was mad that the paint was burning off the underside of his manifolds where they bolt up to the heads and they were rusting there already. I have an '04 boat but my 496 MAG was built 09/2003. I will double-check what my manifolds are made out of, but I'm pretty sure I have some surface rust around the gasket area where the riser bolts to the manifold.

Raylar Hear I Come
 

Thanks everyone for your help but after much debate and a nice converstion with Ray from Raylar.I have decided to go with the 100 HP Raylar kit mostly for the fact that I can run it on pump gas and retain the existing exhaust manifolds to keep it quiet when the kids are aboard and around the marina.Beside the great bolt on power I like the fact that it is still reliable and user friendly and that doesnt compromise the short block components.The boat currently runs a solid 74 and with this upgrade should put me at 80+mph .Which for me in this boat is plenty for now.

What's the ball park cost on the Raylar's?

$6400

where do you see this??

nevermind i found it.

Be sure to report back to us and let us know how that 288 runs. If not here, at least in the Sunsation forum.

Good choice. Do yourself a favor and get a good 02 sensor. FASS has a nice unit that measures both sides and can mount it in the cockpit.

wow.....74 out of a 288? on the GPS?

Does this work with the computer too? I asume he will have to drill holes in the exhaust system to mount these sensors.

Or do you mean Pyro's ?

It ran 75.2 with the wind and current and 72.4 against for an average of 73.8mph

That is not a GPS speedo so I assume those numbers are off of a handheld GPS? If so, wow!!! You by far have the fastest 288/496HO boat out there! Congrats! If you do not already have hydraulic steering, I highly recommend you add it when you install the Raylar kit. You will want the saftely factor running the speeds you will see post-Raylar. In fact, you are already running numbers where you need hydraulic steering.

I agree with the hyd steering! Changes the boats feel huge!! WAY more control. I have run a 288 without hyd steering, it was like a different boat.

Good point, Hyd. Steering is a must!

What does hyd. steering usually cost .Between the raylar kit,a b blade prop and pumping up the stereo is about I want to dump into this boat since I'm looking to move up to a 32' .Is the Hyd. steering just something nice to have or is it manditory.The boat tracks and steers perfectly now even flat out.

The speed was recorded using garmin 330 street pilot,the temp was in the 40's with a 1-2 chop.
Thanks on the congrats, but I have run next to another 08' 288 496HO running well into the 70's and have heard of other 288 running in the 70's as well.