Need a new cam
 

I recently purchased a 24' Python from a guy that had a motor built but he didn't know anything about. The boat originally had a 502 with a charger but the kid blew it and some guys in SC that were drag boat racers built him a motor. Supposedly, its a 454 that is 468 cubic inches with oval port big valve heads (don't know the valve size), with a Scat crank, eagle rods, and Ross pistons. I have the Ross piston info but I don't have anything on the rod lengths. The motor has a comp cams solid lift cam with 590 lift on the intake and 598 on the exhaust with a 110 lobe separation. It has a holley dominator intake with a Barry Grant carb and Stellings headers and has 10.1 compression. I knew buying the boat I would take the motor out over the winter and go through it to find out what was actually in the motor and spec it out. The problem is yesterday the oil pressure never went above 25 psi on a live guage so I am pulling the motor earlier than planned. For the price I paid for the boat I could sell the headers and get my money back so the motor is not that big of a deal. I want to remove the solid lift cam as I don't want to deal with adjusting the valves on a regular basis and the cam sounds awesome at idle but when you put it in gear you have to really feather the throttle to keep it running just to get going. I think its just to big to cruise nicely. Anybody have any recommendations on what size hydraulic flat tappet cam I should get? I know I don't have alot of engine info but I don't want to have to turn the motor to hard to make good power. I may even have to change the intake and distributor to get in the power band I want to run. I want to make the redline 5200 rpm. The distributor is an older style MSD with the advance built in. There is no computer box on this motor to advance the timing but I am planning on putting a MSD box on it when I redo the motor. Lots of people on here run much bigger and exotic combinations I just want to build a solid motor that will cruise at 32-3600 rpm and hopefully push the boat to around 78 mph (with the right prop). Sound simple:drink: Give me your recommendations on the cam and maybe a distributor and intake?

Bob Madera can help you with all your needs. He is Marine Kinetics and made the entire build sheet for my 509 and i could not be happier. every part and peice is of his reccomendation. He is also the cam master. He will grind one custom for your needs. 585-654-8583

I will probably do something like that once I get the motor tore apart. Any suggestions on parts like intake and distributor?

Are you running a flat tappet solid, or a solid roller?

Call Bob madero. He never misses.

x2, call him first before you buy any more parts

I will definately give him a call once I get the motor tore down and figure out exactly what I got. I'm pretty surry its a solid flat tappet cam.

The engine sounds reasonable to me except for the solid flat tappet cam. 10 to 1 compression means that you will always have to fill up with 93 octane but if the boat's on a trailer, thats not too hard.

Not about cam. Not sure how fast you have had the boat up to but I have owned a couple of them and I hope you have hyd streering. Those boat chine walk like crazy over 70. Not saying not to push it I know I did and learned how to drive a boat but for godsake be careful (;

The boat has an external Latham single steering arm and from what little running I did this weekend I can tell with the narrow beam it will be a handful. I will probably also be looking at props once I get the motor straight. It currently has a 4 blade 25 p vengance on it and from what I heard this prop picks the backend up and can cause some squirrely conditions. I have heard this hull likes the Mirage props but I will try some of my buddies props first and then give Julie a call to see her recommendations. The 10.0 compression doesn't bother me as it is trailered and I'm used to buying diesel for my truck so 93 is about the same price. I just think the big lift cam and overlap along with the long runner on the intake needs more rpm than what I want to turn. For quick blast it would probably be ok but I want to cruise mostly with the occassional blast and I want it to be reliable (if there is such a thing).