ajnoe3

I looking to extract a few extra ponies from my 496 MAG HO and wanted to know if anyone has used the Raylar 103 Cams? I spoke with Raylar and he estimated I would see around 40 hp and recommended that I remove a Stainless Steel Plate from my manifolds (not sure which ones) for a little extra gain. He also spoke about replacing the rocker arms with his for more performance. I'm looking for a max of 500 hp right now because I don't want to damage my Bravo 3 so I'm not considering the whole Raylar kit at this time. If I keep this boat eventually I'll probably go much bigger and replace the drive as well but for now I want some more getup and go! Any advice welcome!

Keith Atlanta

The 103 cam isnt that much different than the HO cam. 40 HP will net you 1-2 MPH. That is a LOT of work with the engine in the boat. Since the cam is slightly different, the springs will fatigue differently - it might be a personal thing but running the same springs with different cams just aint my thing..

Are you doing the labor? From personal experience, just change to his rockers... its easy to get the valve covers off. However, its a pain in the butt to remove all the closed cooling, intake and the water pump. FOR 40 HP?

Lab your prop and thin out your spark arrestor and if you feel giddy install the rockers... its more gratification with less work.

ajnoe3

Keith- I will do the labor myself. I've built a couple of engines. I was considering doing both the cams and the rockers as I really want to go bigger in power but I don't want to overpower the stock Bravo 3. I enjoy doing this kind of stuff.

low_psi

Your max number of 500 hp will not be attainable (probably spelled that wrong) with the 496 without major work... The HO is 415hp (as I remember) so unless you are bolting on a supercharger, which is not a good idea on a factory 496, leave it alone and enjoy the many, many hours of no service needed use. You would be better off spending your $$ on having the prop labbed. DOllar for dollar I don't think there is a better upgrade for a boat. The 1-2 MPH you will pick up with a cam swap, can easily be gotten for less work, less $$ with prop work.... on a Baja Islander I am not sure you will see much of a speed increase at all with 40hp. However the prop work will almost certainly get you more MPH

ajnoe3

They are showing some pretty strong dyno numbers on the Raylar website and I spoke to a guy who just did the cams and rockers in his 496 HO and he saw decent gains in the top end but the main improvement was in the low end and mid range. This combined with labbed props and maybe the Raylar Cool Gap Intake Manifold would make a big difference in my 292. It's by no means a dog as is but I've got the itch to play around with it and have some fun with the 496.

Keith Atlanta

Where are you going to draw the line? Now you are talking about the intake too. LOL!

The first time around before the Raylar 600's I did stock Tyler Crockett ported heads with big valves the 103 cam and ported stock intake with whipple re-flash on the ecu. It was OK, got 4+ MPH but a year later ate a piston.

I have a lot of respect for Raylar as I have done it 4 times. But I still dont think the 103 cam is worth it (over stock cam). The heads are REALLY nice... so their tweaks to the 103 work great on their aluminum heads since there is a sizeable bump in compression. However, I would be curious to see what the Raylar cool gap could do on a 496. I ported my intakes six ways to Sunday and never got any real gains.

Labbing the prop, aftermarket exhaust and re-flash nets the same HP gain and will not make your pistons angry. Heck, even stock 496 break sometimes....

Hate to tell ya, but Im still not a fan of the stock 496 pistons...

Read this for the "major" mods to a 496 a few of us been around the block with these puppies: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/n...-complete.html

If you rally want to go coocoo search OSO or Google for the 496 HP3 that was 525 horsepower. Plus, dont forget DART makes cast iron heads for the 496 not too and they are more cost effective.

You are making me want to start another 496 engine project with the DART block and 4.6 pistons. I hate you now...

ajnoe3

Hahaha, well at least we'll go down in flames together in our quest to get decent power from a 496!