Hey Dave:

No problem; I learned something. I assume you installed the relief valve after the oil cooler and I like the idea of the check valve after the intercooler. I think this would prevent the condensation we find in the carb box under certain weather conditions. Do you have any idea how many usgpm are going through the intercooler?

I am talking to a guy who has the Vortech system on an HP500EFI in a 28 Heat. When he first installed the system he went 81 mph. Then he put on a smaller pulley and went 88 mph. But he has also been playing with extension box and spacers to get there. He's chasing me down for a supercooler.

Dave,

Thanks for the input. I checked the side inlets on the trailer. In the full down position 4 of the eight holes on the drive were above the keel line of the V. Those 4 (8 if you count both sides) have been plugged since the get go. I think my next step will be to drill out the holes on the front of the drive as you suggested. I will also tap the remaining holes on the sides and carry some extra plugs to use in case the larger holes are not enough. I don't have a thermostat as a cross-over was also installed. My IC dump is on the transom under the swim step so I can't monitor the flow from in the boat. I do know that when it is running in neutral and I am standing behind the boat that the flow is pretty strong, both from the IC and also from the heads(2 different outlets) My idle pressure was 4 lbs.
Good to hear from you again.

Tom

Funny you ask Tom
When I first installed it I had it before the cooler because it was right near the transom. You know, the asthetic thing
I quickly changed it when I discovered hot hot my oil cooler (and oil) was getting
I'd like to chat with the Heat guy; 88 is a really, really good number for that setup.
Email me if that's a possibility.

HL Tom,
sounds like your headed in the right direction. Just monitor things
Later,
Dave

Sorry guys, I should've looked at my notes from the install before I quoted numbers.
502mag bravo1 performance drive, stock cooling, 3-4psi idle...not 10.

2 ways to reduce knock, reduce intake temps or raise octane of fuel. With the supercooler on the Vortech you should be able to raise the boost without incurring knock if it is indeed cooling the intake charge better than the stock system.
Also you will see that as the water temps drop there is a decrease in the knock value. There is a noticeable difference in running a whippled boat in 50 degree water vs 80 degree water....

We ran the Fountain again today and got some answers. With the base fuel pressure set at 50 psi the boat ran the same as before. No signal from the knock sensor but only 3.5 psi of boost at 4500 RPM. So we dropped the fuel pressure to 45 psi and some of the throttle sogginess disappeared. Dropped the fuel pressure again to 40 psi and got all the throttles back. Still no signal from the knock sensor and total timing was about 30 degrees. Too many gauges to watch when you're hanging on, but I did think to check intake air temp at one point and it was only 78F. Air and water temperature today was only 70F due to a cold front passing through.

The result was 94 mph on GPS at 4900 RPM with only 4 psi boost. Slip was a bit high at 15%, but that's the 2" shorter drives. It was a rough day on the bay; we could only take short runs in protected coves and speed was still climbing slowly; the GPS was still climbing when we would run out of room.

But there is no way we are going to get to 100 mph with only 4900 RPM and 4 psi boost. That's only ~625 HP, and the 1.26 ratio is a steep hilll. We have two choices: put on 28 Bravos or put on smaller pulleys. With the 28s we would have to run the engines at 5600 RPM to go 100 mph. That would bring the boost up to 5+ psi which would make about 675 HP, enough to do the job.

With the next size smaller pulley we could make 6+ psi at about 5200 RPM, making about 725 HP and definitely do the job. We can crank the fuel pressure back up to go with the extra air. Decisions, decisions.

Wow, impressive numbers on the intercooler temps...the supercooler is doing its job. After reading this whole post...their was no doubt that you were running too rich. Boost should be a stock level as the intercooler addition certainly wouldn't raise the boost level, yet ASM had programed a fuel curve for higher boost as I understand it.
Seeing there is no knock...I would just keep raising boost until knock occurs, then try adjusting it out with fuel pressure and you should find the point of max safe boost and fuel pressure. With this supercooler you should be able to run more boost than the stock Vortech setup without knock and see some great gains. Great Stuff.

Chase910: I have talked to a few other guys who have installed stock Vortech systems and 4-4.5 psi is the norm. This is one reason why the intake air temps are low. I have ordered the next size smaller pulley already. I want to see what the intake air temp is with 6+ psi before I make any statements about the supercooler.

I am not sure why we were so rich; coudn't talk to Jim today. Whatever was prorammed for higher boost levels we didn't get it because we were only 4 psi. It's almost as though the richness was programmed in at a certain TPS position. You could almost get away with that on a centrifugally supercharged marine engine since boost and load increase pretty linear with RPM.

Further testing with props and pulleys next week.

looks like I dont have the forward clearance in my boat, what do you think Tom?

It doesn't look like you have the forward clearance. Do you have some headroom? What size intercooler do you have, 324 or 504? Since it is single engine, you may have some room on the stbd side for something better. Can you post a picture taken from the other side of the engine?