Whippled or Not
 

And another question before I pull the trigger. I have always been afraid to run a blower. I hear terrible stories and a broken motor could land lock me for a while.

Horsepower aside, 'cause I hear the Whippled 502 has 650 HP while the 575SC has 550 or so, which motor is more turnkey? Which should (in a perfect world) last longer given the same lifestyle?

the 575 was designed to be s/c from the start, not the 502.

You could have 2 or 3 whipple 502's for the same price as 1 - 575

CJ:

A blower set is everything but "turnkey." It needs a lot of work.

The HP575 definitely fits "turnkey."

You may also want to look at the HP525. HP-wise, the 525 comes pretty close to the HP575 (for whatever reason, the 525 puts out 40odd HP more than rated.) It's the more modern engine, and no blower.

I was asking myself the same question a year ago, and made the wrong choice. Penny wise and Pound foolish

What's your experience topgunrcf. I need all the info I can get.

Yeah, out with it TopGun. I am considering adding whipples to my HP500EFI's and want to know the truth................

being that I am fortunate enough to be a rider and dont have to pay for the motors, I would suggest a whipple system. They make a lot of horsepower and torque. The torque curve is basically flat which is hard on drives. When we tested the boat w/500efi whipple system the bravos lasted about 30 to 40 seconds under full power on a 35 fountain ts. The actual motors were never a longevity problem just the drives, now running Imco extreme sc's. You pay a lot of money with the 575's for 550 hp but they do come with a 1 year warranty. The advertised hp rating with 500efi whipple system is somewhere around 740 which is a huge difference over the 575. The sound is pretty incredible under boost on the Whipple system as well.

So what you are telling me is that my Bravo XR's will only last minutes under the strain of 700hp?? Even with conservative use of the throttles?? I am just curious if anyone here has actually installed and run them successfully.

I want to whipple my 502 but i cant find insurance to carry the boat and motor so you might want to check in this also. I have heard a whippled 502 is pretty reliable. But depends on the driver also.

If my insurance were any higher.......... I am not worried.

When you test the boat for the first time you need to check fuel pressure under full boost which is what we were doing with the drives let go but they were regular bravos not xr's. With the bravos 1.5 gears we were turning 36 bravo 1 props. The boat chined walked about 4 to 5 times and yeah only about 40 seconds or so under full boost was all it took. I know the xr's a quite a bit stronger however your cig is probably at least 1000 pounds heavier depending on year of boat.

My whipples on 502's have been turn-key. The key is to have some one that knows what they are doing perform the mods. Having a dyno (In my mind) is a must. The can run each engine and make adjustments as needed to the programming fuel pressure ect. There are things that should be done to the engine too like better valves and checking clearances. Even as the kits are an add on system I would for sure spend the extra 500 or so and have them dynoed.

You have to look at the difference in speed the 100Hp would actually give you on your application and compare that against having "stock" engines as opposed to modified engines.

As far as lasting longer? If both motors are running the same boost and the modded engine was done right I would say they could be considered equal in longevity. You could on the other hand build the modded motor better than stock that would add to the durability too.

The other thing is service, If you live close to the engine builder that should be a consideration too. The merc you can have serviced almost anywhere.

kcgbjc

Hey dude!!

I love mine!!!! Turn key is right once its tuned. I had a few problems with blower surge, but once they adjusted it,,,,,

All I can say is WOW!!!!

Installed mine 2 weeks ago on a 30' Spectre 500 hp carb motors. There is a lot of extra work that needs to be done, but I will promise you that no other kit will give you the instant power of the whipple. Very turn key!! I went to the Imco extreme SC drives. Do not use bravos, unless they are XR's!!!
If you have the carb motors, buy the whipples hands down. If you have the efi, I will do the research for you on them. I have seen the carb kits run , but not the efi's.

Whipple if I already had the 502 or a 525/575 if it was a new boat and I wanted to resell it 2-5 years down the line.

I've been wondering the same about the Whipple Charger also. I'm hearing they make the 496HO package really scream. Wardey

Wardey,

If I remember correctly I think one of the boating magazines had a write up on it. Had nothing but great numbers on the chart!

Thanks for all your help guys.

I don't push an engine too hard. I will have it at top speed very seldomly. Cruising between 60 and 70 (the boat should go 80) is just fine for me.

I think I'm gettin' Whippled, pending a phone call from Mr. Whipple (TP guy) or Mr. Teague with a personal Teague on Tech.

As far as the Dyno-ing goes, I believe this is a Merc setup, I may be wrong. Magic has an inhouse custom builder however, I don't think they are building the motor.

They might be bolting the Whipple on the Merc motor. What should I ask or require they do to possibly have it dialed in the first time?

Anybody on the board that knows me will tell you I don’t have enough experience to give you specific advice. But unfortunately my experience with blower motors is no longer zero. Still, I am only one person with one experience and therefore not statistically significant.

What I will offer is a few general principles that I have picked up from numerous discussions with a lot of motor heads over the past twelve months.

1. There is a tight relationship between blower motors and testosterone. Therefore, they are not for the marginally funded UNLESS you’re a motor head who loves a challenge.
2. You can’t get that big a percentage increase in horsepower by just bolting something on to your motor without materially increasing your chance of a problem – AND ITS NOT A LINEAR RELATIONSHIP!
3. Seek advice from those who are not selling you something.
4. There is a material difference in maintenance cost. Check into the cost and cycle time of “refreshing” blower motors.
5. You will need a couple of extra gauges on your dash – AND – you will need to know how to read them.
6. You buy insurance for the major event. If you have a major event, the insurance company will investigate. If they find a reason to back out on you, they will. Then, the insurance you paid for will not be there for you when you need it.
7. “Turnkey” is expensive. It doesn’t make sense that you can get the performance of a Porsche for the price of a Kia (which takes us back to my first point).

My two cents.

Well put Unc. Hey do you have a Daytona? I waved, shoulda stopped while you were exiting the channel on Memorial Day.

So what kind of maintenance charges can I look forward to with a Whippled motor?

Yep, got a 26 Daytona with red flames. Sorry I missed you, do you get out there often? Will need to hook up this summer.

In Havasu once to twice a month in the summer, most holiday weekends the EBA Spring & Fall Runs, and the Light Parade.

I will hopefully will be finding some local storage (So Cal) so that I can do a bit more ocean with my SCOPE buddies. This was Universal Chaos and I last weekend at the poker run.

kcgbjc: I had a 2000 Velocity 280 with a 502Mag EFI that I put a Whipplecharger on at 40 hours. I sold the boat a month ago with 140 hours on it. I also installed an offshore water pickup and strainer. I used a Bravo one with a Gaffrig "Innercooler" and turned a Bravo 1 30". The top speed on my boat went from 70 to 85 GPS and was an absolute pleasure to use. I had no problems with it, the engine, or the outdrive at all. However, some thoughts ...

1. Whipple is using a new design now, so it's a different unit than mine.
2. I used mine "sparingly". No full throttle starts, no full throttle for a half hour, no poker runs, and very little air time. If you're a fast cruiser, the Whipple would be fine ... if you're a racer, it's going to get expensive.
3. The out drive is the week point.
4. I used mine to cruise at 65mph at 4000rpm and occaisionally light my hair on fire for a few seconds. If this is your plan ... don't be affraid of the Whipple.


There is another option. Talk to Dustin Whipple about a Whipple charger with a different pulley that maybe puts out 525HP. It would give you plenty of horsepower for a fraction of the cost of a Mercury, be more reliable, and would put much less stress on the outdrive.

I'm with you on sparingly. I'm FAR from a racer, just like to have a respectable speed. After a 60mph little boat, I am anxious to be able to keep up with many of my 65-70 mph friends.

I think I'm getting the Bravo XR drive, I'll verify that!

I just spoke to Dustin. Thanks for reminding me.

He made me much more comfortable. I understand he is a Whipple sales guy, but I know he has been very helpful and honest to many before me.

The one thing I was off on was that the 575 is super charged (thanks ToddW), a wonderful motor and expensive. A very important thing to my wife mainly but to me also is that it would not fit completely in the engine compartment. I do not want a boat with a huge cover over the blower.

He mentioned that better off bolting on to a 496 MAG or a 500HP because the 502 is out with the 454.

He also gave Magic and their custom builder good marks. Again he sells to them so I'll take that as only a part of my decision.

Now I know what my problem is. There is not such thing as too much HP. Just because you have it does not mean you have to nail the throttle.

To add to this, is remember (Wife says I don't) the harder you run it the more likely you are to break something.

Hot Boat/DLAW,

There is not enough space on this website to go into great detail about my story, but I will try to make it as simple as possible. Being told from a Dependable and Reliable Boat facility in New York, I was told in order to modify engines (SuperCharge) the engines needed to be as close to or new condition, that being said the engines were twin 502's with 10 hours on them, so that no excuses could be made that the stock engines could ever be the reason for failure. After setting up ProChargers, sending out computer, manifiolds, exhaust, new drives, new props, and thousands of dollars, the only time the ran was for the first 2 hours, after that disaster. After several monthsof engines in, then out, then apart, phone call after phone call to Procharger, Arizona Speed, and getting nowhere, I had to face facts and realize that I had made a very costly, and foolish mistake. The end result was after one whole year I had to bite the bullet, and go for a new set of 500EFI's. It's not that there was malice, ill will, or lack of knowledge, but when you do such a modification there are unseen obstacles that can lead to dead ends. with no answers or reasons, regardless of who does it and how much you spend. When time is such a precious commodity, speaking for myself I can't see the extra mph is worth the extra headaches. The bottom line is look what you stand to gain versus what you stand to lose, and I think you will come to the correct decision. I will not make that gamble again

Heres a possible alternative for you.

Teague builds a 620hp, naturally aspirated carb'd big block that he has been selling for three years. Price is under $27k and comes with a one year warranty - plus he's a local to you. Believe that price is comparable to Mercs HP500.

im topgunrcf's son. All i can tell you is headaches, headaches, and headaches. a lot of people i know have the 575 and have very few problems, me personally would go for the new closed cooling merc 525.

topgunrcf - Wow, I am impressed with your bravery in sharing that with us! If more of our OSO brothers would be that brave we could substantially improve this board. Thank you!

kcgbjc - His experience and my experience do not mean that you will have the same. In fact, the odds are heavily in your favor that you wont - but the odds of a negative outcome are a lot higher than our testosterone will allow us to admit. It's critical you understand what could happen and have a sober understanding of the percentage chance of it occurring.

I'm listenting! And making a much more educated guess than when I posted the question. Thank you all for your take on things!

Before I had my Whipple installed, I had my engine rebuilt with some goodies. I have had flawless operation out of it since it was installed a couple of years ago. I have the 502mpi model.
The mechanic did an excellent job.

TOPGUNRCF--

This post is about Whipples NOT Prochargers. They are totally different in how they work. I have a Whipple on my 454 carbed and it has been turnkey since day one.

All I can say is make sure the install is done correctly and you will be fine. I added mine to an engine with 350 hard hours.

I changed head gskts and used ARP head bolts and now it has over 150 hours of hard running never missing a beat.

I just did an install on a 454 MPI and the thing runs great. The owner of the boat only knows how to change the oil on his boat. He can't rave enough about how it idles and runs the same as stock except when you crack it you better be holding on to something. Email me if you have any questions and I'll be happy to chat/help you with your install.

Dave

Uncle Toys, you said the maintenance was high due to "refreshing". Whipple's website mentions only the following. Anybody know of any difficulty or relative expense to any of this? Seems simple and inexpensive.

Marine Kits
1. Check Belt condition and tension. Replace or adjust as required.
2. Check the supercharger oil level. Adjust if required.
3. Clean your flame arrestor element at every 25 hour intervals.
4. Change the oil in your supercharger every 100 hours or seasonal, which ever comes first.
5. Use SAE 5-50 wt synthetic motor oil.

kcgbjc- If you do a search with key words "whipple" & "Uncle Toys" you will see where UT is coming from. He whippled small blocks & ran into problems. Would I whipple a 502 today, Ya! I personally know a number of people that have procharged (me & others) or whippled with good luck. I do not think I would not have a boat without a blower of somesort.Just remember what BOAT stands for, Break Out Another Thousand.

WE have done a lot of marine and automotive whipples and all the other superchargers and Iwould only own a boat with one !!

I was referring to the time between rebuilds - the stuff between is minor.

For example, maybe you get 250 to 500 hours on an HP500 before it needs to be "refreshed." What happens to that cycle time if you add a blower?

Although I haven't done exhaustive research on the subject, I have talked to reputable mechanics that told me blower motors need to be refreshed ever 100 hours. On the other side, Dman has said he got something like 500 hours out of his.

For those reading this who might misunderstand - I'm not saying stay away from blowers. In general, I'm saying, if you want a blower be sure you know what your getting into. More specifically - in my opinion - if you want a blower have a good engine builder build you an engine around the blower.

The bottom line, as TJ put it, "Just remember what BOAT stands for, Break Out Another Thousand." Or, my abridged version of what topgunrcf said, "blowers are not for the marginally funded."

p.s. TJ, you need to disclose that you are the "motor head who loves a challenge." ;) :D

Got the BOAT thing. We always hope that that thousand will be available when necessary. I hope I fit into the group who can spare a grand here and there. Been very lucky with every boat I've dealt with in almost 20 years.

I've put 130 hours on my Commander in three years and even tho the top speed is somewhere just over 60, I have kept it to late 50's and never rev'd it over 4500. Luckily I have a fear of the red line. That is a fear that will save me money.

As far as getting it done right. I have heard good things about Magic and their motors. I always build a better than average relationship with anybody that I deal with so I hope that always helps. Tomorrow, I'm actually discussing employment with Magic/Sleek so I'll keep you advised on that. Always helps in the service deparment.

UT you have been very informative, as has everybody.