what time we going?

I can attest to the comments already made about those motors cranking up every time & idling like a set of 500's.. (However with just a little more bite..)

As Eddie said the boat ran flawless today & I will say that I have spent my entire life around race cars & boats of all sorts... I have personally raced & drove about anything & everything I could get my --- in since I was a kid.. From karts, to drag cars, to wicked fast street cars , to Nascar Late Model stock , to many hot rod boats ect..ect... & I was blow alway how mild mannered these 1200/1400's were !!!! Amazing !!! We ran all day today at various rpm's - pulling on and off plane countless times , started up & shut down countless times all day long & not one single time did it even give a hint of a spit or sputter , stall , or fail to start as Soon as the ignition was hit... Really hard to believe with that kind of power... Eddie tuned & tuned & then tuned some more , & then tunned again.. Meticulous would be a major understatement..

Lastly I will add that I have been blessed to have had allot of really cool experiences in my short 33 years but today was a day that will not be soon forgotten !! Over the last year or two Eddie done Allot to help me out & has truly treated me better than I really know how to say !! Thanks again buddy !!

Eddie,I see in the pics in page 1/post 2 you are using a merlin block,have you ever had head gasket problems due to the lack of the extra holdowns in the valley (like the dart blocks have) or lifter oiling problems due to the fairly short lifter bores and their stupid chamfer on top? The reason I ask is my last motor at 945 hp w/merlin block had the head gaskets just starting to come apart after 100 hours at 12 psi boost and initially upon first getting it running had lifter oiling issues under 1000 rpm's due to the std base circle cam bringing the lifters center band/oil feed hole up into the hidden chamfer area on the top of the lifter bores. Once I found where the oil was bleeding off I had the base circle of the cam reduced to the bare minimum which moved lifter further into the bore and solved the oiling problems. This cam was only .620 lift,I have since switched to the dart big m which presented me with none of the challenges the merlin block did and gave me the extra clamping force on the cylinder heads in the valley. Nice detailing,Smitty

John (thunderusone) it was also nice to finally get to meet & talk with you today..

Hello Eddie,
I was cutting the grass yesterday afternoon, and I could hear the boat over the garden tractor. Of course I was only running 17.5 HP and you were running 2400 ...............
It really sounded strong. Congratulations on the completion of another great project. I am looking forward to seeing it run.
Best Regards,
Steve

Ha!! Was he being funny???

Smitty,
This block does have the extra bolt holes in the lifter valley. However, the Brodix heads that I used did not have the holes drilled. They just had a dimple where the tapped holes should be. I had to drill and tap both holes in all 4 heads. What a pain in the ass that was. I have run up to 15+ psi boost with these blocks with Cometic gaskets and have never had any problems with the heads lifting. I only run the extra bolts in the lifter valley when I get up to 10 psi. Anything less than 10, I don't even bother with the extra bolts. Again, have never had a problem with it. What gaskets were you using?
I also do not understand why they put such a big chamfer on top of the lifter bores. The lifters that I'm using do not have the turned down band on the lifter coming above the chamfer. I remember when I checked them that they were close, but not higher than the chamfer and I am running quite a bit more than .620 lift. It may just be a difference in the lifters. I haven't used a different brand, so maybe that is why I haven't had a problem with it. I can definitely see where it could be a problem if the band was moved up on the lifter just a tiny bit. Thanks, Eddie

Thanks Steve. Have you had your's out yet? How's it running?

Great thread, some really interesting tech info.

I think there are too many people in our sport with unrealistic expectations like Get Real. There are problems in every project but it becomes a matter of how the builder handles these problems that seperates the good ones. I commend you Eddie on how you handle these issues. Others would just blame it on suppliers and not be honest with the customer. Eddie built me a pair of 540's and we had issues but he was upfont and hones about the whole project with me and in the end that is the type of people I want to deal with again.