Ray , you are a gentleman and a scholar . I come here only seeking knowledge . Now , how long till i get an O.S.O. masters ? :party-smiley-004: :lolhit: :drink:

Thank You.

Heck, Masters, hell I don't even have an OSO bachelors yet!:eek:

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

They threw Manny in jail too, like I said they don't like it.

FYI, I talked to K&N and they told me that the 14"x3" flows 1050cfm at 1.5" pressure drop and the 9"x5" flows 848 cfm at 1.5". Does anyone know of a velocity stack style air cleaner that will hold a 14" filter? That would be the ticket, I have a Gaffrig Oval flame arrestor, and as some have mentioned the turn into the carb inlet is a sharp edge, not the best for good flow.

I have all winter to come up with 99 more ways to make more HP.

You mean like taking the filter element off? ;)

i always wondered why more people don't make a ducted cold air box ? pull clean ambient air from side ducting if it exists or a correctly sized port leading to the area under the rear seat or something... any where except the engine compartment where its a 100 dgrees or more ... my top gun had side naca ducts as well as a clean shot up the side of the cockpit on the interior side... made a huge difference for me...

I have looked at that for my boat many times, but my hull curves so much any where above the water line that I could mount anything that it would be a PIA to mount anything. I did leave the 5" or 6" speakers out though that go in the little mock bulkheads that seperate the engine compt from cockpit in the sides of my boat. I have also opened my hatch slightly and ran at wot with no difference in rpm or speed, Smitty

Although I'm sure it will vary from boat to boat, I checked the temp going into the flame arrestor after a heat soak last August. After 2-3 minutes of WFO running, it was 2-3 degrees F above ambient. So, for my boat, not much to be gained.

It's easy to check with an indoor / outdoor thermometer.

Thanks for your gracious and civil respose Ray.

I guess I try to look out for us little stone age neanderthal fellers living in the hills watching the Flintstone's while trying to learn a thing or two,----but mix that thought with too much pizza and Mountain Dew on a late night---then that was the response that I created---couldn't fall asleep and when I did I had apocolyptic dreams too. :o

When I was having my new 540's broken-in 10 years ago, I wanted to try a few things with the carb---open/bare vs the K&N. Sure, 3-5hp isn't going to do much for speed in the boat, but I did the test only because I asked if we could and I was curious and interested to see for my own eyes and satisfaction while I was standing there and the engine was on the dyno.

I think we also did some testing of ignition boxes vs Merc's Thunderbolt distributor/ignition too. I guess that's one of the good reasons to have a dyno in the first place.

Hey, even my own engine builder is always shaking his head at me about some of my ideas and gives me that "been there/done that" stare! He has a gentle way of making me look like a dumbarss---and he can turn that into a hilarious event too. :D Anyway, he is light years ahead of what I know about engines and making reliable HP, but I'm only interested in what I want to make my own boat run the way I want it to---I just drive it.

I DO have disclaimers---as I have always been known to say in the past; "but what do I know? I just kill bugs for a living!" In short, boating is just a hobby for me---I'm only a weekend warrior who's still "in school" :)

i'm pretty sure that if you measured the temps in real time at speed with a thermocouple and a recorder like i did you would find that you were getting air inlet temps well over 110 deg. mine were 133 before air box and ambient after and that translated to roughly 200 more revs at the top and getting there a good bit quicker. once you pop the hatch to measure the temps drop in an instant.

My Velocity has a cold air system built into the deck with Naca ducts feeding it from both sides. I'm trying to get a velocity stack type air cleaner for the K&N flame arrestor that will put it closer to the deck and the fresh air coming in.

I measured the temps at speed (well, 58 mph boats no speed demon yet), with the hatch down, at WOT, after running for 2-3 minutes. This was with an inexpensive indoor/outdoor thermometer with the thermocouple attached to the FA fins. Inexpensive, but it read within a degree or two of my NIST lab thermometer at ambient and 130F. Thermocouple was on a 15' lead, so no need to open the hatch. No recorder, but it held max / min (which I reset before the run). Started out maxed out on the thermometer (140 is max IIRC), dropped to 2-3 above ambient after just a few minutes.

I'm sure lots of boats have temp issue. My point was that a fairly cheap and easy test under running conditions could tell you before spending $. I think I paid less than $10 (on clearance) for the thermometer.

I'm going to re-visit the temp question on my boat next summer. I will moniter the IAT with laptop and see where I am at, this is something that I keep forgetting to do when I have my laptop[ and software on the boat, Smitty