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Re: TCM Merlin 509 Issues

Quote:

Originally Posted by sutphen30

if you do a search on world around here,,i personally think they suck,,blocks and heads,and your spot on about heads,,there no bolt on,,you'll lose hp w/ them,,BUT if worked/ported,,they do make hp.i never put them on a motor w/o alot of work.i even told world i would blast them for the block they screwed us on,,they didn't care,,so when i get a chance,,i bash them.they can go to hell for all i care. :mad:

I got a World block that was unfinished. I couldn't find anyone locally who would finish the cam and mains. Went up to World to have them finish it. It looked good. Put the motor in the boat, starter grinding like crazy. Pulled the starter, the snout of the starter was cracked. Bought a new starter, pulled the engine back out of the boat, put the new starter in, and bumped it over. The starter teeth were riding up on the flywheel teeth! The mains were finished offset moving the crankshaft farther away from the starter than it should. Had to make major modifications to the starter base to get it to work.

Re: TCM Merlin 509 Issues

Thanks for the tech support guys. There seems to be more knowledge on this board than at any of these so called high end engine builders.
I did read about the condensation issue with the L-19 bolts. The one good thing I can report is that although I live in a very high humidity area, my motor has never shown any signs of condensation in the vale covers or the oil and I do change it regally (even though it's not cheap - Mobil 1 costs me like US$12.00 a qt. where I live, and I have a 10Qt Crankcase).
As far as the heads are concerned I agree that the 345's are large and I would like the CNC ported figures on the exhaust especially. I think the ultimate setup for a blown 509 is probably the 315 CNC w/ the tulip valve option which puts the Intake/Exhaust flow ratio at like 84%. My heads haven't been shipped and I am going to give Ohio Performance a call shortly to see if I can change them. I know they don't have the 315's in stock though but they should be able to get them.
Thanks again for all your input.