Rookie

iTrader: (4)

I talk to or see Valako 3-4 times a week. My engines are at his shop now and he stores his boat at my storage. Do you need something from him? I can give you his number.

DanB

Not necessary. I'm an old friend from when I lived in GR. Tell him Dan with the Warlock said Hi.

Rookie

iTrader: (4)

Will do!

TICafeRacer

I bought a boat last year with RayLar stage one kits and the 90mm throttle bodies. So far so good. As far as I know it has had the engines now for approximately 5 years and runs great.

I have been thinking about “completing” the rest of the RayLar upgrades with the rest of the components from the stage 2 including the stroker crank. So far, everyone I talk to says don’t do it and I’d be wasting my money. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

For reference, the boat is a 1987 35’ Cigarette Cafe Racer. It goes along nicely. I am not looking for 100 mph. I’m looking for security and comfort with the build. A little extra HP wouldn’t hurt either, but my point is I have no delusions of running 90-100 mph. The previous owner said be cool and don’t run it too hard and the boat will last you forever. That’s what I plan to do, but once and while going fast would be nice. I called RayLar and talked to Larry. A super nice guy who was very helpful. He said if I did the bottom end I could run it 5250 with no worries. That’s from memory so don’t hold me to that number, but I believe that is what he said.

I am not a mechanic so I would need to find a place to have it done. It looks like from another thread that pulling engines out, doing a project and putting them back in is generally considered to be around 12 hours per engine at a shop. I’m not thinking of doing this anytime soon. Im still researching and thinking about it and would love to hear pros and cons. A couple of people have said wait until you need to rebuild the motor and then do it which sounds sensible.

Thanks

Keith Atlanta

"Stage 1" or what do you KNOW has been done? Whats your budget?

If you feel competent and have a competent machine shop you can buy the rotating assemblies and then do his 600 cam pretty easily. If I were you, I would just buy the Raylar 540 forged short blocks, have them delivered. The way I look at it is the cost of the machining, parts and assy and risking that somebody uses automotive or less than adequate clearances and you are screwed. I think the short block is about $6000 once you look at parts, machining and labor, you are there anyway. Swap the heads, cams and accessories to the short block and you are back on the water. MAKE SURE its somebody that knows the Gen 7/496/8.1 platform! Then all you need to do is possibly send your intakes to get machined or buy the Raylar intakes, reprogram the ECU and you are done. You need to spend a few bucks on a marine fuel pump and regulator too, some minor adjustments to the fuel rail would be needed. Im just not a fan of the stock regulator after mods. Then you make a pretty reliable 680HP+ (with the bigger 600 cam)

You will need a new exhaust too...

TICafeRacer

Thank very much for the reply.

It’s a used boat and I have the ad and the previous owners knowledge. It said stage one with the 90mm and I know who installed the kits, but I haven’t been able to talk to him yet or run the codes on the engine. I did run the serial number through the Mercury site and it is a base 496, not the HO which is supposed to have some forged parts. So, I don’t know as much as if I’d had them done, but I feel comfortable that it is a stage one kit with 90MM and no more.

When I talked to Larry he said something similar and suggested I should sell my current engines used and buy completed engines with the full kit installed. I don’t know the math behind it and I’m not in bad shape the way it is. So, I don’t want to get into a project that like you suggest could make it worse rather than better if done by the wrong person. The main thing I’m looking for is confidence from rebuilding everything by a known expert to make sure they are set and the best version of the RayLar set up. I believe the kits were installed in 2016, so it is not completely unreasonable to want to know everything is up to date and new after five years? As I said, I doubt I will rush into anything unless I find the right guy and or need to do a rebuild. It isn’t a rush situation.

For many reasons, I would not do it myself. I need to find someone who is familiar with the engines and the RayLar kits etc before I would commit to anything.

TICafeRacer

Sorry. I’m not sure what my budget is. I know it’s not a set of new Mercury engines at $46,000 a piece. That just doesn’t make sense. I would be quickly upside down on the boat vs what they are going for and while I have no intention of selling it, I always like to stay within a range where I can get out and not get hurt.

When I added up the additional parts needed from RayLar, it seemed like $10K per side?? I would love to know what you think. I didn’t know until this morning what taking them out and back in again would go for which seems like it’s around $1,200 per engine? If you could fill in the gaps I’d appreciate it. I am clearly new to this and want to get estimates and a place and do my homework before committing to anything.

Maybe $25,000 as a budget. Does that seem right or reasonable?

Thanks again

thirdchildhood

iTrader: (6)

No offence intended to the 496 guys but I'd be looking for some 502 based engines.

TICafeRacer

I would have to guess that would be worse monetarily? Part of my thoughts were to keep expenses within a reasonable range. That was why I was looking into completing the Raylar build vs. buying new engines and selling mine. I have no idea what used engines are worth.

What are the overall benefits that you would see and money wise would it make any sense?

I don’t want to put so much money into new engines that the boat is way far above the fair market value. Please keep in mind I am not doing the work on my own. Any updates have to include labor etc.

thanks

thirdchildhood

iTrader: (6)

A big reason that I recommend looking for 502 based engines is that you are having to pay for everything anyway. If you could do most of the work yourself then, yes, take the 496s to Stage two. For what you are spending you might be able to find a pair of 525s ready to drop in. Again no offense to the guys running 496s, I'm just not a fan. Also Raylar no longer makes the sheet metal intake manifold which was one of their coolest parts.