Whipple, Yes or No?
 

I have to pull my mills this winter for coupler replacement. I have been seriously kicking around the idea of adding Whipples. I have a 380 Avenger(no step) Carbed 500HPs. I want to add a little more poop to this thing, Would this be the ticket or should I just refresh the engines and keep them N/A? I've been steering clear of SC's but after running a Poker Run in a SC boat it has me hooked. The get up and go is amazing! I have heard good and bad. It all seems to stem around doing it right the first time and making sure your engines are up to the task. Looking for a little input on this.
Thanks

Re: Whipple, Yes or No?
 

500hp or 500efi?

Re: Whipple, Yes or No?
 

OOPS, its a Carb, Thanks Strip.

Re: Whipple, Yes or No?
 

Josh, been around the block on this subject a time or two. Got to admit that they have the marine supercharger stuff down real good now a days. This is just me, but I would keep them naturally aspirated and buy some good aluminum heads---AFR is a good casting 315cc, CNC ported. WithOUT the blowers the torque will be much more forgiving on your drives----especially with your size/weight of boat, and the insurance folks might be a touch easier on you too. Also, less moving parts. Ask "JimV"---he had a B&M 420 supercharger in his boat and really liked it, but kept blowing drives. He went back to a N/A engine and though the boat is slower, he told me he is MUCH happier because he doesn't have the drive issues he once had. He said the torque from the blowers are very hard on the drives. You can pick up some decent power with your engines just from adding a real GOOD set of heads without changing the cubic inches. Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best. :)

Re: Whipple, Yes or No?
 

I know when I first came to Oso, it was always Whipple v Procharger. I don't hear much about Pro Chargers anymore. Is there a reason?

Re: Whipple, Yes or No?
 

Yea, no on is having problems with them :D

I have had a SC motor in a boat since the 70's. If they are set up correctly they will hold up. I went procharger for 2 reasons. When I went to change from turbo to SC I looked at both Whipple & procharger. I had talked to whipple at the time & they did not have a per say kit for what I wanted. They told me I was on my own with the EFI part. Also the procharger was about $5000.00 cheaper with the kit I was looking at. Since then my learning curve has changed. Would I do procharger again? Yes, If the rtech kit was made back then I would have gone Tom's kit. I have since changed my setup to include the rtech intercooler. Happy to date.

Re: Whipple, Yes or No?
 

The HP500 carb engine is an excellent candidate for supercharging. How much HP do you want? The Rtech supercharger system works very well on this engine. Freshen the heads and reinstall with Cometic head gaskets. 800 HP with stock cam and heads. 1" higher than stock flame arrestor. Centrifugual superchargers are a little easier on the drives too. :rolleyes: Get your carb modified by Nickerson and upgrade the fuel system properly.

Re: Whipple, Yes or No?
 

there are a lot of good blowers out there now i use a whipple and yes the tq. is there as soon as you crack the throttle you can make more power with a blower with out using BIG cams and keep the motor mild . even at 5lbs. of boost it would be hard to get a n.a. motor to make the same power and as far as drives well alot of that is in your hand learn how to use the power and you can get a lot of time out of a drive :D

Re: Whipple, Yes or No?
 

also i looked at tomcats kits at the Miami boat show they are nice and he knows his stuff that would be a good way to go also :evilb:

Re: Whipple, Yes or No?
 

Thanks for the info guys. I want to be around 650-700hp. I know the drives are a week link but I am always easy on plane and very rarely launch my boat. Try to be respctfull with the Bravos. My brother runs 510's with 420 mega blowers with bravo1's on his 35 lightning. It is set up at low boost and runs like a scared rabbit. Great cruise and awesome acceleration. I am hooked after running it last weekend. I like the idea of running light cams and keeping low boost. Is the Thunderbolt Ignition ok in a SC application?