Who's had the most engine hours in a performance application?
 

I saw a post for the ultiimate engine and thought I would ask.....my 330;s had 300+ hours on them when things started letting go. I know a guy with a 1989 Baja with a 454 mag with over 800 hrs on it!! and
he beats the crap out of it....nothing but oil changes.....

I've got 400 hours on carb MkIV 502 Mags. No issues. Compression within 8psi. Never been inside.

I bought a Baja Sport 280, twin 330`s, new in fall of 1990. We used it here at the lake for 12 seasons with very little trouble. I lost one motor at 666 hrs (yup as soon as the hour meter turned 666 it seized) I sold it Sept 2002 with 880 hrs and it is still running strong.

A buddy of mine has a '85 Formula 206 (260 Mercruiser )with over 1200 hrs. Never had the valve covers off.

There's a lot to be said for stock mild power!

I shoot for 3 seasons now......then I get nervous...

I've got over 2200 hours on quad 440 Yanmars and Trimax surface drives.

I already had to change oil in those damn things :D

I believe that Devil Man (SCOPE member and founder?) had put more than 600 hours on his 1000hp Paul Pfaff motors. I can't recall what his OSO name is (and it might not be Devil Man), but I'm sure he'll chime in.

I say Too Old or Audio.:D

That would be the D-Man and the D stands for don't come to OSO anymore..

I have almost 500 hrs on my 454 Mag MPI. It seems to be running fine.

Dude those are running hours!!!

I blew a 502 mag up with 100 hrs on it, thanks to the well designed mercury exhaust system............

so lets take it one step further...what makes a motor live?my issues have been valve spring related and moisture in the oil taking out the bearings never a catostrophic part failure like a big picture window in the block.

It's all about regular oil changes....and a little bit of luck!!!!;) :D :D

I would say: (starting with the most important)

1. valve springs
2. oil & system condition
3. rod bearings
4. cooling system condition
5. fuel delivery and quality

Of course when one has a problem a domino effect can occur. Now if the marine industry can get past the 60s and start using OHC systems then you can all but eliminate the spring problem. I wonder? Who will give up on push rods first? The Marine industry or NASCAR?

Roby

DMan here!!!!! Sorry I have been missing in action...still recovering from injuries sufferred in a nasty fight with the Phantom!!!!

OK...here is the honest story. I had a 91 38 Fountain Fever with stock 425's and TRS drives...bought it new....all red...a real beauty. In February of 94, I bought a pair of supercharged engines from Paul Pfaff...they hit the dyno at 800 horses...420 blowers with Holley 750's. Kept the TRS drives on it and blew three drives in the first three weeks out.

OK...end of that experiment....slapped a pair of #3 drives on Feverish....went from 71 miles per hour to 92 miles per hour....the drives were too deep but they were set as high as they possibly could go.

I ran the snot out of that boat...every weekend in the ocean...I entered six Pacific Offshore Races that year in the Outlaw Class and won three races. I did 10 practice runs and the Catalina Ski Race in August...that entails running the boat at close to full throttle with the drives all the way in and the tabs buried...for an hour straight!!! Think about that one boys....talk about a load.

I then came back and did the identical thing in 95...including the six offshore races and the ski race and all the practice runs. I then quit the racing scene and continued with the ski races. After four years and 650 hours, I lost a crank on one motor. Jesus, was I pissed off. I just thought those mothers would never let go. It was amazing...the only thing I ever did was chance the oil and the spark plugs twice a year....the engines ran flawless. I would see Paul Pfall and Gordon Jennings and every time they asked how their engines were and I would just tell them the number of hours and the torture I was putting them through....they just shook their head.

Naturally, I have been a Pfaff guy ever since and run a pair of 1,000's in my Cigarette Top Gun....pretty much the same results. I go an entire year with out changing the plugs and that thing does not skip a beat.... I just change the oil a lot...every 20 hours or so.

So, if you guys are looking for dependability, give the boys at Pfaff a call!!!

DMan....and the Dis for....never any Detonation!!!!!

Roby dont you think that the marine industry uses what the big three feed's it? when GM builds an ohc v8 Merc will use it...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DEVIL MAN
[B]DMan here!!!!! Sorry I have been missing in action...still recovering from injuries sufferred in a nasty fight with the Phantom!!!!



Did you get the best of him.

Dman YOU THE MAN!!!!

I see your point but what really gets me is that Chevrolet/Merc Marine had a good start with the ZR-1 and abandoned it. WHY? I know it had its problems but don't you think those problems could have been rectified in the 12 years since its introduction? GM says no, abandon the project and return to the push rod engines. I just don't get it. That LT-5 (or ZR-1) had more potential than any engine that GM ahh err MerCruiser ever produced. This brings me to my next question. Why haven't the marine industries considered other manufactures that do use OHC V8? I believe that Merc was using the Toyota 8 but are they still or am I mistaken about it being produced?

I can't believe that Mercury built the LT-5 engine and at the very least didn't utilize it in marine applications. You have so much more potential with a block like that. No cam to get in the way of increased long stroke cranks and beefy rods, no pushrods to bend, no rockers needed to change the direction and distance of the force put on the valve train (a big reason for failure due to the laws of physics) No need to use a rocker ratio to increase cam lift because there is no room for that amount of cam lift in the bore, less stress on an OHC cam because only half the springs means less valve timing error for the last cylinders, cut that reduced stress in half if you have a DOHC, you can be so much more creative with the intake ports because you don't have to squeeze them between the valve train banks. I can go on but what do I know? I’m sure the engineers think it is best to ask a puny little spring to return that heavy rocker that must use leverage and speed (laws of physics say you can’t have both) to return that push rod and lifter back to the surface of the cam as much 50 times per second. Noooo, I can’t see any potential problems there..

Roby

Don't you mean , when GM builds a "BIG" OHC engine Merc will use it.
There's lots of OHC and DOHC engines but no cubic inches and gobs of torque:(

Oh it can be done, and done in a way where you have more torque than you ever thought possible.

Roby

My 1987 RumRunner has about 475 hours on its matched 350s, and they still run great. I have experienced the moisture issue. I just keep the oil fresh, and they keep running.

370s ran over 500 hrs, sold it. New owner overreved a motor about 200 hrs later, holed a piston.
525SCs ran over 300hrs, new owners overheated it at about 400hrs. Burned the head gasket.
My cruiser has over 2000 hrs on the motors, beat that.
My boats seem to run fine when I own them. Hmmmm.

I've got over 200 hours on a 2000 Merc 502 Mag with a Whipple (six pounds of boost). I've broken the "stock" forward gear twice (broke the "floor"). Now I have an IMCO HD forward gear.

I change the oil every twenty hours, and it still runs great! :D

A friend of mine has a 502 mag mpi with 750 hrs on it and no problems yet..

Stock 502 mags,465 hrs on 1 engine 380 on the other.
run perfect, uses 1/2 qt of oil in 15hrs. Ask wd833,
it was his boat!Bought it with 415 hrs on it.

There's nothing WRONG with an OHC marine motor, other than nobody makes a big un.

Sterndrives were/are limited to under 6000rpm continuous duty due to their oiling requirements. At that ceiling, an LT5 would never make over 450hp in a marine app and was wider than a Big Block once you put manifolds and risers on it.

Cost? Definitely placed it in the "novelty" division.

I remember reading magazine articles of two different LT5 powered "concept" boats. There must have been more, but I don't recall knowing about them. It was tried, and the LT5 didn't offer much more than an expensive way to put a motor in a boat that all normal marinas were afraid to touch.

Toyota. Yep, they use the VVTi Lexus V8 in ski boats. Same story. Lots of hype, no true performance benefit over a big block.

And no packaging benefit whatsoever.
(remember, that with the large valve covers on a DOHC, you end up with a very WIDE motor with risers that must go above the motor).

Now, if somebody built a 550 inch cast iron SOHC motor (SOHC would be a good compromise between the benefits of losing pushrod and lifter mass, yet retaining normal widths of valve covers), then you got something to discuss.

Any foundries interested in this??? It's a good idea. Just an expensive and very limited application.

Probably end up with the cost of a turbine when it is all said and done.

Marine industry has no choice but to start with automotive cores to marinize from. Its purely a cost issue.

And the auto industry shows no intention of abandoning pushrods in large motors for now.

4.3 V6, I know not real performance, but I guarantee there is over 1000 hours on it, most likely around 14-1500. I drive the crap out of it, 2 speeds, idle and WOT.

My 1979 Scarab had 454/330's in it and one was re-rung and had new bearings in it before I got it and the other motor wasn't touched.....at least as far as the previous owner and myself new of....anyway the motors were stock bore still and had 1,800 hours on them....last I knew it was still running fine.....Fred

Fred you should have kept the 30!!!

Crazy Gregg in Ft. Lauderdale puts 10,000 hours on his boats before he buys a new one. He drives Sonic's for the wide walkways to the bow. I will call him for some engine stories. He has a charter business for performance boat rides.

The Black Thunder I used to own had 500 hp carb motors with bravo 1 drives

I put 430 hours on the boat in three years

when i sold it i had done nothing but change oil, impellers , sparkplugs, and a drive seal o ring

rule of thumb.. 75% of the power 75% of the time...

Dyno... Remember I get to use your boat for SOTW this year. Your engines wont make threw the day:D

Just kidding we will be able to limp it back to the dock.

#1 enemy of any high hp engine= low quality fuel.

You never know what you are getting when fueling in marinas:mad: :mad:

Na, the 40 has A/C!!!!!!!

how bout 85 hrs on my first 383.. valve springs broke, valves seals gone, roller rockers rough shape.. Everything else looked great..


this years 383 had 45 hrs on it, valve springs broke, valve & seats beat to death. not to bad for a strung out small block.


Naaaa i don't drive em hard :D :D

if it is ever below 5000 rpm.. it must be docked :D

A Friend of mine has a 419 Formula w/ triple 500h.p with almost 600 hrs. Never had a problem on any of them.

A friend in florida has a 02 38 Sonic with 2200 hrs on it last time I was there. It is a 496 boat speedboatrides.com

I would have to say more luck then anything :(