Cheap 496 mag upgrades (375hp)
 

okay, my boats too slow, I have no "extra" money and I want to go faster.
What do I do?
More specifically can I reflash the ecm on this engine?
What would I gain?
Is a cam a good idea with the reflash?
Any other inexpensive upgrade ideas?
Thanks everyone!
Joe

The cheapest gains will be from prop work. Beyond that, there are no cheap upgrades that will show significant gains. If you can find a take-out 496 MAG HO cam and ECU, you can pick up 50 HP. That would be your next cheapest upgrade IMO.

The difference between a mag and an HO is the cam and I think the ecm program is a little different.

50 hp with an HO cam swap, a little more with an aftermarket.

10-15 hp in porting your stock exhaust.

I wouldnt waste the money on an ecm reflash only.

There is no cheap hp.

Just my .02

Just buy the Raylar 103 cam and roller rockers and have him re-flash the ecu while you are at it. Probably $1500 for all of it. No sense in using/finding a HO cam.

Joe, respectfully, leave it alone. Enjoy it. Maintain it and have fun.

I'm being sincere.

Good luck!

:coolcowboy:

[QUOTE=007joe;3290291]okay, my boats too slow, I have no "extra" money and I want to go faster.
What do I do?


Buy a lottery ticket and enjoy what you already have until you buy the right ticket !!!!!!!! If it's not broke don't fix it. :drink:

This is my best bet I know, but it looks like a new (used) boat is a little further away then I would like, oh and stock motors break too, this is #2 motor in a 4 year old boat, why I didn't upgrade during the swap is a looong sad story :(

What about selling the complete motor and buying / build another? You might be able to find a used 500HP or similar.

Just noticed what you are running for a boat . My buddy has one of them 260 Velocity's with a warmed up 525 efi in it . Fast and fun to drive , but not for the faint of heart. A cam , lifters and a ecm would be a quick and easy 50 hp but after that it starts to add up fast. good luck Jeff:drink:

Well I'm kind of in the same boat right now, but I have and HO. It is hard to put money in engine upgrades when your paying a boat payment and storage. Well like some of the other people said you will probably get the most bang for your buck with a lab prop. You can do a K&N filter that will add a little HP and you can install new headers that they say will add 40-50 HP. The headers are my next investment:)

That engine already has a good set of roller lifters in it.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't upgrade. The problem is: you're asking "what to do" but you want to do it with little to no money.

Ain't gonna work man. And don't fall for spending 50 bucks on a K&N filter while thinking you'll go faster.

If you've got a payment along with a storage fee and no extra money, somebody out there will tell you that an ecm flash will make you go faster but it won't.

The guy who told you to re-prop the boat is on to the best idea. It's not only the cheapest way of doing it, but also an "effective" way of doing it.

So figure somewhere around $700 give or take will net you a small amount of speed if you wanna spend the time and work at it...

Roughly $300 + or - for a used prop.
Roughly $300 - $500 for a good lab job depending on how many times you send it back..

You'll also need a digital tach or computer to know exactly what you're getting for RPM's.

New cam = new lifters Just cause :drink:

Well I did the K&N on my boat can't say it made a difference, but looks nicer then the stock one. Well the shop I take my boat to told me the cheapest MPH you will ever get is a labbed prop (2-3MPH). He said other then that it roughly about $1000 per MPH. Looks like a have some money to send to get were I wanna be:)

Your Velocity should be running close to 70 as it is....... For a 24' boat with stock power that is pretty fast. I have the same boat/power and have just decided to leave well enough alone......

The K&N will actually rob it of airflow mainly because the stock flame arrestor is just a screen and has no real restriction where the K&N is cotton material. Nobody has seen improvements from a K&N like myself most have lost speed and just wasted they're money.

CMI's are almost 5,000 now and don't net the advertised gains originally promoted. I'd say 10-20hp gains from the headers. The next simplest upgrade would be the cam and ECU reflash, but your only looking at 50hp not really worth the money. To get a 496 to make HP you'll be spending 10,000 to see any gains. Then they are BIG gains.

My shop told me around $12000 for all forged parts then I would be able to add a whipple to it without damaging the motor. Then I would need to buy a new drive. I was wondering if it would be better to pickup a 502 that already has forged parts in it. I just don't know if the 502 would still work with the smart craft I have. Someday I will get this figured out and get some more HP out of my boat:)

Had a 496 ho on a 26 ft. boat. Added stainless marine exhaust and picked up 3 mph. Went from a 24 to 26 bravo 1 and turned them the same rpms. Spent 2400 on exhaust. I thought that was a decent gain.

What brand of exhaust did you go with?? Did you pick up any MPH with the prop change??

The only good exhaust choice for a 496 is Dana or maybe CMI. The Dana's add true power.

Raylar, SD Fever and Rage are all really knowledgeable guys on the 496 platform. I have been doing 496 stuff for 3-4 years and they all know the 496 very well.

The Dana Marine exhaust was what I was looking at using. Thank all you guys for all the great info

That's really kinda high (12K) if you're just getting forged bottom end and using same heads etc..

STOP! Don't do it. Don't go for the BS power gain claims! I spent almost $5,000 on the CMI Sportubes for my 496 HO and saw ZERO gain. If you have the early aluminum exhaust the ports are huge and it flows very well. My final decision after a lot of discussion on forums was to lose the 496 and drop in an '07 vintage 525 which I found on this site for $20,000. Seven hours of run time later I had to upgrade to a Bravo XR upper ;). The cam change and ECM will get you 50 hp and a few mph. That is true. Then you will have a 496 Magnum HO. Some people are getting away with whipplecharging a stock 496 but I think you will be running on borrowed time. A shorty drive can add 2-3 mph but I'd start a thread to find out if it would be right for your application.

X2

NO I THINK IT WAS FOR NEW HEADS ALSO

Do It Right Or Don't Do It
 

Assuming you are NOT doing the labor yourself and are paying shop rates....

Consider the price to get the computer bumped from 375 to 425HO. Add in freight both ways.

Now buy a cam and have it installed etc...

Now, you have to spend another $800 or so on the "right" prop and that means freight back and forth and shipping does add up (30 bucks each way..)

It's quite a bit of money (relative to the gain). Hardly worth it to me but that is just an opinion. I remember "just wanting a little more" but it almost never works out that way.

At the risk of seeming pessimistic, throw in the cost of somebody getting that flash job wrong and you just spent the bank (relatively speaking). Also, if cash is that tight, how long will the boat and engine sit while you catch up? There is a price for having your boat torn apart in the spring and summer in most cases.

If you can't spend the time and money to really do it right, you will spend twice or three times that much money and hassel getting over a bad decision.

Stock engines break too as said a few posts back. But there's no reason to put a rush on it.

If you keep good oil in that engine (knowing she uses a little) and never run it hot, you'll see lots of good use before any major breakdown typically...

Sorry, didn't mean to rub you wrong. I assumed the caps were pointed at me regarding the price comment.

But keep in mind, if you get heads for that price you most likely will find that the intake will be the new bottle neck as the flow just "doesn't flow".

SO WHAT YOUR SAYING IS THE BEST BET IS TO JUST GET A LABBED PROP AND CALL IT DONE TILL I'M READY TO TARE THE MOTER DOWN AND REBUILD IT??

In your sincere best interest, that's what I will say.

Cheap
Reliable
Fast

You can only pick 2, and you WON'T have the 3rd.

I thought the same thing.....for $12K you could get the Raylar BCK-103 (With Heads)....have the work done at about any shop of your choice and be close to getting Dana headers.....might be closer to $14K. But that route your at ~550 HP.....175 more than now.

Hey
 

I love it! Let's start a new engine shop and have a "numbered" menu just like a fast food restaurant.

Call it "Pick Two".

Uh, yeah I'd like cheap and fast please. Okay, That'll be $3200 plus another 15K after it blows up. Please pull around to the next window....

LOL!! :evilb:

Even the labbed prop may get you no gain depending on what you are running now. The first thing that netted me a real performance gain was the Imco -2" shorty lower and the four blade (yes, labbed by Brett) prop that it required. That gave me 3 mph. Are you able to do your own work? A cam swap isn't that hard. You don't have to pull the engine if you are willing to cut a small hole in the front of the engine room and put a patch over it. I'm not sure what has to be done to the ECU. This will get you about 3 mph. Nothing comes cheap. Sometimes I wish I had stuck with outboards. You should be able to do the cam, ECU, prop and shorty (if right for your boat) for under $5,000 and pick up about 5 mph. I think that is money well spent.

The very first thing to do is aquire an accurate means of seeing "real" engine speeds (if you haven't already).

That nice livorsi tach on your dash is not accurate enough for propping based on my experience.

I agree, you wont break the sound barrier but it is money well spent on a Mag model 496. I dont have a velocity but I assume they have an aggressive x dimension already. If it does, skip the shorty and get a pair of Dana's

There, we just spent $5000 for you - aint OSO grand!

The Velocity 260 comes from the factory with a Labbed 26p Bravo Prop. I bought a Hydromotive Quad 4 for mine and noticed a 1-2 mph gain on top end, but lost cruiing efficency with the family loaded in the boat.... And seemed to pick up a nasty chine walk Around 65. I went back to the stock Bravo prop that was supplied by Velocity. Just some experience from a Velocity 260 owner w/496 mag....

If your 260 doesn't have trim tabs, that is where I would spend the money. It made a complete difference in my boat as I was able to maintain higher speeds without having to back it down becasue it was flying out of the water....

Very True, my Tach shows to be about 300 rpm off at idle. We verified this by having it hocked up to a diagonistic computer while at idle. Who knows how much it is off up higher in the Revs.

I can spell decent, it's my tyoping skills that need work :lolhit:

back in 2001 i buy a new baja 272 with a 375 HP,in 2002 i put a HO cam and a new HO ecm.best top speed=375 HP=62, 425HP=66.4 all GPS with the same mirage 23+.i still have the boat with over 600 hrs never had a problem.cant remember the cost of the parts (around 2000.00 i think)very easy job to do with the shop manual.i now run the boat with a 23 rev 4 lost is about 1 MPH but the boat is lot more fun to drive everywere else.

I added tabs a couple years ago and I have a labbed 28 from the factory as well as a labbed 26 (I believe) I tried on it, the 28 is excellent and I have seen high 60's with the boat in this configuration. I was just tossing some ideas around, and know with the HO in a test this boat ran upper 70's. I would just like to be able to break that 70 mark regularly... and by low budget I was figuring $1000-$2000.... Thanks for all the replies :drink: