New Boat trying to guess HP
 

Hey guys,

I just bought a new boat from a gentleman in Northern MI and need your expertise on what I might be getting out of the engine.

1989 Baja 226 Islander
454 Rebuilt by Wilson Marine in Bay City MI 55 hours ago.

From the receipts I have and what the seller told me and can give you this info:

Stock crank and rods.
New srp 139478 flat top pistons
New crane 134241 cam and new valve springs.
Cam:
534/553 lift
286/296 duration @ .0042
226/236 duration @ .0050
rpm range 2400-6200
112 degree lobe separation

Heads were rebuilt and I was told had bigger valves put in.
Engine is bored .060
Stock ignition and I'm not sure on the carb I'll have to look.
It does have an edelbrock performer intake and stock exhaust.

He told me it was built to the old 420 specs??? and he was guessing it has about 420 hp.
Is that possible with stock exhuast?

It is running a Bravo 1 1.5 and a 23p M+ that was labbed by bblades and he was able to run 67@5,000 according to the cam specs am I safe to run higher rpm than that? Wilson Marine told him he could run 5000 safely.

Any help would be appreciated. I'll get some pics posted up in a couple of days when it stops raining here! Its a cool boat with redone graphics and interior.

Wilson's does pretty decent work from what I have seen, it just takes freaking forever to get done.

That cam is a little bigger than a 454 MAG cam, but the stock exhaust is killing you. Maybe 400hp max, get some exhaust and you should have a solid 425hp.

You could probably run that cam with more rpms and possibly make more hp, but again the exhaust will become a choker the more rpm you run. I would give it a run a t 5200-5400 rpms and see what happens, you are not going to blow it up by any means

What carb and intake?????

Probably about 400hp with stock cast iron manifolds and the stock magnum intake.

Did they tell you what the original engine started as?
You said stock crank and rods.
If the original engine was a 330hp it has a cast crank, if it was a Mag then it has steel.
I would not be winding a cast crank over 5,000 rpms.

The HP level is what is, prop it at the correct RPM and enjoy
what you have.

I would guess around 350 HP. To many variables to even guess. The exhaust will always hold you back.
Bigger valves can hurt performance. The cam is not much
bigger than stock and will only gain a few HP.
Everything has to work together to create good HP and torque.

You asked and that is my 2 cents:drink:

X2...find out which crank you have before upping the RPMs...definitly upgrade your exhaust though or the cam and intake is just being wasted. I put Stainless Marine Torker on mine and it helped a bunch. Welcome and good luck.:drink::drink::drink: Oh yeah...I had a 2000 Baja 237 Islander...nice party boat!

Thanks for the input guys, I checked the build receipt and it does show a used STEEL crank that was polished and run .010.

Anybody have a used set of EMI or stainless headers for sale cheap?

So with the steel crank and upgraded valve springs what is my safe max rpm?

oh yeah, at least it is thru hull and not through hub!

Going from 5000 to 5200 is not going to suddenly make your motor implode. If it breaks at 5200, it was gonna break at 5000. Try a smaller prop and if you gain speed you are making more HP at higher rpms. I wouldnt go over 5200-5300

Thanks for all your input guys.......... as soon as it stops raining here in Denver, I can put it on the lake and see how much I've lost due to altitude! probably about 7 mph based on prior experience.
I'll have to bump the timing to 12 degrees and lean out the idle air, but then we can see what the 23p vs. the 21 does.
Pretty sure I'll be running the 21 here and the 23 at powell.

Ateco engines gave me a good price on etops and I shopped it around

I hope its steel. The real question is whether it is cast or forged.