Sounds like you have already made your decision. That was where I was at last year. Who doesn't want a custom built engine? I certainly do are you crazy! But in the end the Merc Race fit my plans and needs better.

I am thinking about an 08 353 fastech... but like I said...would be so nice to have something crazy but with my luck buy something over the top in the same money it will prolly be in pieces before I get 5 hours on it..

What HP are you looking for?

my azz would fit 1600 a side but my wallet don't........

Maybe you should be shopping for something with Ilmors... Personally I think the 525 motors reliability issues (exhaust included) are disgraceful.

There is no reason in the world that any custom builder worth a damn can't give you 600-700 hp that will go for 400+ hours without maintenance only.I know we certainly can. For that matter, we are getting well over 300 from 1100 hp. As for the rigging, if that builder is worth a damn he will know everything about the rigging and sign off on it. If I don't do the install, I want the owner to send me a detailed list and pics of everything in the bilge so that I know everything is sufficient. If I say it's OK and the engine were to break,then I need to put it between 2 pieces of bread and eat it. We would certainly prefer to do the install so that we know it's right, but anyone can do it if they follow some guidelines.
There shouldn't be anything special about a 600-700 hp engine so that anyone can work on it. In most cases, they are easier to work on than a Merc. The parts are available just about anywhere whereas Merc bastardizes everything. Look at the 525.....special heads, special headers,etc that must come from Merc. We use a Mefi ecm that can be scanned by a Merc scan tool and treated as if it were a 500 efi. It would be diagnosed the exact same way. Anyone that works on Merc engines can work on one of ours, no matter what power it makes. I'm not trying to toot my horn or get your business. I'm just trying to show that it can be done without a bunch of headaches and special stuff. You can build a better looking engine, with better parts, for less money, with the same warranty, and it will run as long or longer.
Eddie

Amen

Merc surely couldn't just leave the standard Edelbrock exhaust pattern. Otherwise a guy could just go on amazon and get a pair of replacement heads fully dressed for half the cost of what merc charges for a single bare casting.

With mercury engines, your paying for the name. I'd rather pay for quality parts.

List price on one of those bastardized heads is over 2K each. You can have a set of badass CNC aluminum heads loaded with top notch hardware for 4K per set.

It's amazing mercury racing is still in business after reading this thread