My WOT speed is 43 mph. I wanted to feel above 50. I know I can get a rebuilt 502 guaranteed for 3 years locally for $5000. But that's still $5000 into an old boat that other things may need $$$ at any moment. I appreciate your responses funny and honest. I'll likely end up just dreaming of feeling a bit of adrenaline when I can afford a badder boat one day.

See post no. 3 from member SOB, er, I mean SB LOL
I had the same set up as you... 7.4/330 Bravo 1, with a 23 pitch prop. Mine was a 1995 23 Nova. Yanked the 7.4 out and dropped in a ZZ502/502 GM crate. Great engine for the Humble Little Nova. Would get into the low 70s and the ZZ ran flawlessly for 4 seasons, with a lot of WOT time. Handling up to the mid 60s was great, low 70s was ok. After the ZZ502 was morphed to a 557 and putting out just under 700 HP and an untouched 27 Mirage the Nova would hit low to mid 80s. Problem was, it was mighty squirrely at those higher speeds. If I were to do it again, I would not do it again. I should'a left the ZZ502 alone. Butt, this is how we learn LOL. With the shallow dead rise and rounded bottom, the Nova hull just isn't designed to go that fast. Previous posters make good sense, if you wanna go fast it's better to just buy a different/faster boat.

Thank God SB didn't mention SeaSwirl LOL....

Easy fix, on the way to the boat ramp take the interstate and put the window down. Hang your head out the window and you will feel above 50!

Just about any Wellcraft of that vintage will have water intrusion in the stringers and transom. The extra weight will slow you down. The rot will make the boat borderline unsafe. Drop more power in a hull like that and you're just asking for trouble. The fix will cost well more than the boat is worth - and that's if you leave it stock.

If you want my 2 cents, sell it and buy something faster.

Cheap performance gets expensive......

There are 22 sexes documented now. I didn’t want to be sexist.

Its possible water logged. The odds of a older wellcraft having transom rot and possible other area rot is high, Just saying.

Factory ZZ502 can? Mine had a bit of reversion even with headers. Not discounting four years of good running though!

Did you spend any money addressing all the fibreglass issues you mentioned in your thread 2 years ago? Were you able to try a Mirage 21p? If you haven't spent any significant money the last two years, then I would sell her. Boat looks good and sits on a nice trailer. At this time of the year you might get $5k-$8k for her. There's plenty of $20k-$25k great condition boats for sale now that are a few feet longer than yours and will run in the 60s and 70s. Here's just one example that probably might be had in the low $20k range soon.

https://www.powerboatlistings.com/view/65281

Yep, OEM ZZ cam, and same as you, slight reversion. I was aware of the possible reversion issue so when going thru no wake zones and or into a marina I'd periodically put it in neutral and give'r the gas to clear it out, same after docking and just before shut off to put the boat back on the trailer. The engine always ran like a top, never had any problems with it.