Valve cover says max rpm 4600-5000. So what do I need to do to change the gearing? Or how do I verify the gear ratio for sure? Is changing gears the solution?

Or.... Would that taller gear be good for say a.... Simple procharger setup and then the 23pitch or so prop??
Just looking at all options since I have a little better motor than original discussed

Single engine boats don't work real well with tall outdrive ratios until you start making real big hp, mine with 1000 didn't really like the 1.36's when I tried them (less tq multiplication). Pull your drive off, shift it into gear and count how many turns it takes the input to make output turn exactly once, if you haven't had it off it would be a good time for you to inspect the u-joints, splines and coupler, Smitty

You might be able to find your drive and ratio on this chart but that doesn't mean someone hasn't thrown some other gears in, count the input vs 1 turn of the output is best way without dissassembling
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show_...IVE+UNIT+CHART

Alright I will have to do some research on this process I suppose as I'm new to this, is it correct I'm seeing gear sets for under 300$ to switch to a 1.5 drive ratio?

More like 500-600 for the gears. Its no do it yourself job, so figure the same money for the labor.

Where are you seeing gear sets for that price? You can buy a complete chinese lower with 1.50 gears (15/39) for 895$ all brand new, if you have a good merc lower with decent gears you could sell it used for 1/2 that and have all brand new , I'm not real fond of Chinese crap and giving them money but it is a option, Smitty

Yeah, but if you run the numbers with the 23 @4200rpms and a 1.5 ratio, they come out correct at 15% which is pretty typical for a 24 OL.

I saw that too but my reasoning is he could be slipping that 23 because its so tall-maybe trimmed too high not sure but there is no way he could get the slip to zero with a 20 pitch IF his numbers are correct-4600/58mph with 20 pitch. A guy was on here recently saying his boat only went x speed with x prop and when I crunched his slip numbers it was below zero and he swore what he was saying was true so its hard to help someone sometimes without seeing this stuff in person, Smitty

The numbers are based off my gps speedo and mechanical tach, I can hook my timing light up and check the rpm with it, there is no real GOP stamp or anything on that power tech prop I will get all the numbers on it and check what I can. As far as replacing the gears or whatever if I need to I don't want cheap junk or whatever I want to do it right but also don't have the desire to spend 4-5,000 on a lower ill just leave it be if that's the case. As far as the numbers with the 23P prop it was trimmed all the way up to get it to rev to 4200, I use my power trim gauge a lot and with the 20 I have to leave it pretty low in the water to keep it from porpoising but with the 23 it was shooting a pretty good roost and trimmed all the way up and still no porpose but it would only get to 4200 rpm and it BARELY got on plain

Also On an additional note there is no change in power or rpm with the throttle 3/4 to full

For one thing, you're way over trimming. Slowly tap up on the trim until you stop getting bow lift. Trimming all the way up running WFO is inefficient and tough on the components.

My point in the statement was to gain ANY rpm I had to trim up all the way it was at a gradual pace not like I just took off and rain the motor all the way up in a single stroke. It never got to the point of over trimming it was slowly gaining rpm/mph as I trimmed up but ran out of trim at it hit the wall at 4200/52mph

Often the simplest explanation is the correct one. I think many
of you guys are over thinking his "speed problem". Let's
review shall we? First sentence:

A 13 year old boat and engine. Bajas are known to retain
more water than a pregnant housewife. Will a 13 year old
454 Mag MPI put out 385 HP? No. How much less? 10, 20, 30 percent? Smitty what do you think?

Third and forth sentence:
A 25 Outlaw is 4750 lbs. dry? I know you Baja guys are "Stud
Ponys" but do you think Martin had four 100lb. super models
sharing a bottle of cabernet sauvignon during his prop testing
sessions? :lolhit:
I would hazard to guess that he had some buddies pushing 200 lbs. each and a large cooler full of beer. Add to that a half tank of fuel, some extraneous crap in the cuddy, and
whatever is stored in the engine compartment and we are looking at a weight of what? 6000 lbs? Your speed and RPM's are just fine for the age and load of your boat.

Want to go faster? Shed some weight.

Want to find your max speed? Get rid of the no name prop,
do your testing with a light load, use a digital tachometer and
your GPS and be analytical in your testing procedures. Mirage
and Mirage Plus props are known entities for your hull. They
are also very common. Borrow a few different ones and go test.
Also make sure any prop you test is in excellent shape.
Trying to find your best RPM's and speed with a chewed up
prop is rather silly. When you find that your max speed is in
the 60's like others have suggested then decide if you want a
blower or a bigger engine. Until then just have fun. If you
always go boating with a full crew and load, then prop the
boat accordingly. You will never approach an Outlaw 25's max
speed under those conditions.

Ding, ding, ding.......

My boat runs close to 80 w/ 525HP and it is nearly 32' LOA. There are plenty of faster hulls out there too.

Enjoy the boat for a while, sell it, and if you still want to go fast do your homework on hulls.

Oh, and BTW, I recently blew my drive with just 525HP. Our boats probably weigh about the same.

Good points from last two comments I appreciate the input and like he stated it had just one supermodel (wifey) ;) but it also had 3 grown men and a pretty stout stereo system in it. I wasn't really concerned that it wasn't running what it should just wanted to see if it was correct.

I've found a pro charger M3 I am lookin at and was curious if it would be worth putting on and running at 3lbs for this season till I can have time to run a new fuel system and pump it to 5 psi.... So basically what I am asking is A.) is there going to be any gain on top at 3psi and B.) will the stock fuel system which is ALL BRAND NEW support the charger at 3Psi with out any fuel system change?

I can not speak about the Baja but when I got a 2001 Nordic Rage with a 454 MPI motor it did not run correctly in my mind. After a compression and full leakdown test we found out why. The compression and leakdown were terrible although it actually ran and idled ok. There was a problem with the factory valvetrain. We installed the Tyler Crockett kit which fixed the problem and got us good power, A valve job and some adjustable rocker arms would have fixed the problem much more reasonably but I was after more power as most of us are. I would definatly look into why you have poor performance and rule out any issues before you start messing with props, prochargers.

Well after research the M3 can't be slowed down to use a 3lb pulley so it's either 5 or 7psi and plumb a fuel system

+1
Allthough buying the upgrade this route would be a better option than spending $7-10k on the procharger. Then you could keep the stock setup and put it back in when you sell the boat. Like Articfriends stated, the slip numbers don't compute.

So how do they compute with the 23 prop

Honestly I think you should start by building a strong 502,heavy boats like torque, run that for a season or two and when you get used to it you can add the charger. All you need is a 502 shortblock, use your heads and accesories.

You can pick up a brand new 500hp/502 shortblock for under $5k directly from GM,spend a grand rebuilding your heads with new valves and springs
and adjustable valvetrain add another grand for custom tuning and youll have a strong reliable engine for under $7k and an engine you can throw some boost at later.
http://paceperformance.com/i-6255353...-assembly.html

24 outlaw baja
 

My dad has a 24 outlaw baja with a 454 mag efi 22 pitch prob and we gps it at 64 all day with with 2 people half tank of gas 5100 rpms . So you def. have some issues. My cousin has a 2006 23 outlaw reg. 496 and runs 64-65 on gps every week-end with a 23 pitch prop. These are real numbers no BS here. Hope this will help you out bro..Good luck ..Blown525

With 1.5 gears, 4200rpm, 52mph = 15% slip
With 1.36 gears, 4200rpm, 52mph = 23% slip

STEP 1 - Try a Mirage Plus 21 with 2-3 people on board and get solid data.

building 383's for 2001 29ft scarab, had 5.7's ,,,, anyone have strong suggestions,,,, reading ,, forged crank, internal balanced,,, hyper or forged piston staying around 9-9.5 comp ,,,, 5.7 forged rods ,,, vortec block, vortec heads 194 intake, 160 exhaust, match port ,,,, mpi , reprogram computor. ,,,, cam not sure, not much info, 210-212 dur.@50, 495-500 lift, 110deg. centerline lobes
Welcome ALL thoughts

sorry pushed wrong button

I don't know a lot about Outlaws but I know the 25 is a MUCH bigger boat than a 24, so not really a fair comparison. Not sure on the newer 23.

What diameter??

The only difference between a 24 and 25 is that a 25 is one foot longer and has a small pad on the last couple of feet. The weights are nearly identical and the 25 is 1-2mph faster than a 24 with equal power. The 25 has a different cabin entry, so they seem bigger.

The boat should run 61-64mph with a 454mag, 1.5 ratio drive and 23 Mirage Plus prop.

If thats a stock motor with cast iron internals you are playing with fire to add a pro charger. Ive heard stories of guys getting 20 hours of good hp and them boom! No more motor. Forged internals are need to add any kind of supercharger.
You are much better off just building another motor over the winter and then dropping it in come springtime. You will get the speed and can recoup some of your money by selling your current motor.

PS--I think your doing pretty good to be hitting 58 mph with a 295 hp motor (at the prop) and a full boat of people and fuel.

It's the mag MPI motor it's not the L29 truck motor so I believe the internals and hp are a little better.
I know it's a little on the heavier side I wasnt starting this thread to complain about my MPH but to merly verify its close to what it should be. I just was curious why I can't seem to spin a 23P mirage when most others are running the 23P with same or similar boats was all. The guy I got it from said he had the issue of it not wanting to come out of the water with the 23P so he put the 20 on it.

I'm looking for a good used 21 mirage plus to try so I can see if it'll work, I would say if it'll come out of the water with the 21 it'll prob give me that 2-4mph I'm missing... Why it's taking a 21 to do what most do with a 23 I can't explain? Is it the 200lb subs up in bow? I don't know? But it's not like I'm at 6 passengers and a cooler full. It is pretty light load with just the subs up front

It's the mag MPI motor it's not the L29 truck motor so I believe the internals and hp are a little better.
I know it's a little on the heavier side I wasnt starting this thread to complain about my MPH but to merly verify its close to what it should be. I just was curious why I can't seem to spin a 23P mirage when most others are running the 23P with same or similar boats was all. The guy I got it from said he had the issue of it not wanting to come out of the water with the 23P so he put the 20 on it.

I'm looking for a good used 21 mirage plus to try so I can see if it'll work, I would say if it'll come out of the water with the 21 it'll prob give me that 2-4mph I'm missing... Why it's taking a 21 to do what most do with a 23 I can't explain? Is it the 200lb subs up in bow? I don't know? But it's not like I'm at 6 passengers and a cooler full. It is pretty light load with just the subs up front

Got ya. I thought the 24 was a 7' beam boat.

If your 20 pitch is a actual 20 pitch you still need to verify the drive ratio or you will be banging your head forever, keep looking and find a 21 pitch BUT I would pull the drive and count the ratio meanwhile,won't cost you anything except a hour of your time, like I said, you should inspect and grease the u-joints and coupler anywas if you never have !

Ok well I'll do that but like I said I'm very new to the boat mechanic world... Do I pull the top off drive off?? Sorry for newbie question

I have a 25 OL with a 502 Mag MPI. Best I've seen is 67 GPS, I was alone, 1/4 tank of gas and using and un labbed 23 m+. Honestly I don't like the 23 m+ if I have more than 3 people on board. If I have 4 or more I will run my 21 rev4. Prop has great holeshot, same cruise and top end is still good with 64 gps with 4 people, half tank of gas, coolers, etc. I get 62 gps with a full load of 6 people, gear, half gas, etc.

Gee. Right from the horse's mouth.
Fordtough150 has a newer, bigger, better engine than you and
he does not like to run his Mirage Plus 23P with crew aboard.
I wonder why???

Now I read that you have 200 lbs. of subs mounted in the bow
of your cuddy? What other surprizes do you have for us? A
baby Hippo where the porta-potti was? What you have done in
essence is hang a fat chick off your bow rail. Our boats are
designed to have a slightly "nose up" attitude when running
balls out. You altered your boat's balance and increased it's
wetted surface. That results in a loss of speed.

No you said you did your prop testing with 5 people and..........

Martin - if you think what you're doing is running "light" then
you're just pissing in the wind with the info in this thread.

O.K. Folks!!! Back to our regularly scheduled discussion of
7.4L engines, blowers, and gear set changing. :lolhit:

Alright some of you pay attention others not do much. I appreciate some of the insight and info from the most of you. Once again I wasn't complaining I was merely checking my stats to see if it's what it should be per the conditions. I bought the boat from a hack job half stupid man and i have spent more time wrenching and correcting issues since I bought it and I was to a point to were I thought things might finally be correct

Plus I needed real life experience and info on a procharger on a 454 MAG MPI at 5 psi

That is all

Martin,

They are getting frustrated because this thread is many pages in and no one has solved what they think is another problem.

Me personally, I don't think you have a problem. T think that is what your boat runs with that prop, simple. U get the whole gear ratio thing, but I still think you might be at a 1.5, and that 4 blade prop is way off...I have seen it before, props that are designed to solve problems in boat are rarely spot on (ie rev4 and hydro) they pull more pitch than they claim.

If he was a hack job, please post every thing that he has changed, it will help us help you investigate futher problems. Even if it is something you have fixed, post it....will only help.

One other thing you have to understand is many people post their top speed number as the one they hit on that perfect day, in the perfect conditions, on a cool day in the fall or spring. You are not that far off.

Just to clarify it's a 3 blade prop and I called a prop shop he thinks we are close enough to where it needs to be not to mess with it. For what it's worth he said the tech props are good props.

It was multiple test runs in multiple conditions it runs 58 consistant and like you said I feel it's good actual data. I might be new to boat stuff but I build race cars from ground up.

As far as issues go it had a serious electrical issue when I got the boat, I have since replaced 4 batteries, distributor cap, rotor, coil, wires ect.

It had an issue that was causing the fuel pressure to drop and pump to cut out at 3,000 rpm so I listened to what a few on here believed it to be an put 8 new injectors in it, that didn't fix it so I put a complete new cool fuel system and regulator on it which also didn't fix it. Ended up being the coil or the coil ground.

I still feel like there is an electrical issue and I'm sure it's a ground, any time you hit a switch or operation the voltage gauge jumps or drops if holding an operation it'll drop 2bolts on the gauge which does that mean its dropping 2 volts in actuality? No but that's what it shows, in my opinion it shouldn't move a mm as I have 4 batteries wired in that are used when battery selector is on all.

Is there a possibility that the alt is bad? Yes
Battery bad even though all are brand new? Yes

The wiring seems to be a common problem in boats as most are fiberglass so grounding can be tough. I generally replace his old connections daily and will continue too. Any splice or wire connection he used was not a weather tight connection nor brass or copper so a lot of them are corroded and breaking. I'm replacing correctly as I find them but I've made two boat trips one after 10 hours of driving where I spent the ENTIRE weekend FIXING the boat not enjoying. This is what I'm trying to avoid