I assume you like to Post and help people out here Eddie.... but man I hope somones orders something or buys something from you after all these posts on this..... I know I am gonna drive to Tennessee the next time I need something..... I would rather drive 14 hours to talk to someone that knows what the fak is going on.... Thx Man!!!

You 525 owners need to keep on eye out when you change your oil. The last set of failing rockers we found gold sparkles in the oil. As Mr Young has stated we have seen rocker arms failing on 525s and 700s.

Merry Christmas from Performance Boat Center

AJ

Eddie,

Do you run stud girdles at all to help in stabilizing the valve train? It seem these help reduce bearing failures.

Thanks for all the info. sounds like with some minor changes to the top end of the 525's it becomes a much more reliable package for race and pleasure. Most of the with 525;s and builders I have talked to pretty much 100% agress with most of the excellent info. provided in this thread.

I know in OPA racing rules you cant modify any of the stock components even if there are better components available. I was under the impression that SBI was the same way according to there rule book. It sounds like nice upgrades for the recreational boaters that don't have to race the product under org. rules. Stock parts are stock parts no matter if there expensive or less reliable.

Eddie has my VR 1 at his shop and I can tell you this, he is great to work with! He keeps it touch with phone calls, emails and pictures.

When we were dropping the boat off we had a call that we had a very sick dog at home. We needed to get home so called Eddie to see if we could drop the boat off that evening instead of the next morning. Eddie met us at 9:30 that night even though he was leaving the next morning on vacation.

Great service and a nice guy.

No thats not true Randy, we are not forced to buy over priced Merc parts. Rocker arms that are 1.7 are 1.7 that would be silly to have to over pay for something when you can buy smething better for less money and it is exactly the same, and does the same job no more no less. There is 10 different manufacturer of rocker arm and springs if they do the same job and dont change your performance numbers, why would you want to use something that numerous engine builders all agree are an issue we need to learn from this for the future. All that is going to do is bring up the cost of racing for repairs, do it right once and u r better off. No different then headers the only way you can buy the Merc hearder is from Merc. We are using the CMI Gen X header they are a direct replacement for the Merc CMI header with the same flow and performance numbers on a dyno, and thats fact we ran them both on a dyno same time one right after the other.CMI can't even sell you the header they make for Merc and thats the reason CMI made a few small changes in the cosmetics and came out with the Gen X headers. You can go on and on with parts as long as they are equal. SBI is all about trying to make racing as reliable and affordable as possible , and not beginning held host by any one manufacture who ever it may be that just raises costs.

My mistake on the SBI rules then. So what you are saying is use ANY manufactured parts when you rebuild your stock 525 as long as they fit. Does that include head work? and head manufactures?

Head have to remain same spec as they r now none of that has changed, and yes Dart does makes an exact replacement for the Edelbrock heads. That is the same situation as the headers you cant buy the heads that Edelbrock make for Merc other then from Merc. No head porting they have to stay at manufactures spec. Good example is Dart not only are they cheaper from the start they are very actively persuing our business and willing to do even more on the pricing for us so again win win for the racer. That is just an example and only one of numerous other manufactures that want and need the business, now through in the engine builder that ARE even more so looking for the business and again its a win win. Its pretty easy to see what happens pretty quickly when you have numerous ppl trying to get your business it opens up a whole new price structure.

DONT LOSE SITE OF THE FACT THAT THE ENGINE SPEC MUST BE THE SAME JUST DOING THE EXACT SAME THING WITH DIFFERENT EQUIVALENT PART, FOR RELIABLITY AND COST REASONS ONLY.

SBI has spent a lot of time and money on dyno testing differnt manufactures equivalent parts to see if there is any differance in HP. If there is a variation and the part isnt what the manufacture say it is when it isnt allowed. Like I said we are looking for equal performace from better and less exspenive parts to keep the cost down and the motors on the exact same par they are on now, no more no less.

I hope that someone buys something as well, but that has absolutely nothing to do with why I offer up help. I just enjoy what I do and like to help. I grew up not having enough money to just pay someone to do every little thing for me. I had to learn a bunch in order to do the things that I wanted to do. I was fortunate enough to have a few very knowledge-able guys that were willing to help me. I've never forgot that, so I don't mind returning the favor whenever I can. I know how it is to want to do things that you wouldn't be able to afford otherwise.

I would love to have your business whenever you are ready. Until then, don't hesitate to give me a shout if I can help you out in any way.
Eddie