smallblock power
 

Hi,newbie here,Wife gave me $5,000 to buy a boat.Picked up a 1989 baja 220 sport at an auction in real good shape for $3000,350 magnum/alpha1/quicksilver 21 ss prop.
what would be the best performance mods that I could do with the remaining $2000?
I am capable of doing the work myself,just want to know what would give me the best bang for my dollar.

Thanks,

Re: smallblock power
 

Sorry, bad news. You can probably do quite a few SBC mods for $2K, but anything that would considerably increase top end would kill the alpha drive. Merc put out a 330hp 454/alpha package that had a habit of grenading.
My $0.02
Keep the 2K for gas, maintenence, repairs, booze, etc and enjoy the boat. Spend the time you would have taken building up the engine and use it to learn to maintain the boat, engine, drive you have.
Gary

Re: smallblock power
 

Ditto

Re: smallblock power
 

If you just bought the boat, wait.

When you splash that puppy and get to know it a little you will find out what to spend the 2k on.

Nickel and dime stuff can eat 2k in a hurry.

Batteries
Bellows
Bilge pump
trim pump
trim rams
carb work
leaky hatch
bad transducer
plug wires
leaky cover
hub/spline
solenoids

You know what I mean. Every boat I ever bought needed more than I thought at first.

Re: smallblock power
 

Dam, by the time I was done typing..... :D

Re: smallblock power
 

Yeah, I knew the alpha1 had issues,but for the price(and condition) I couldn't pass it up.I'll stick to my original plan on installing a bigger cam(not too big) to get the "lope" that I love from a sbc
Thanks For all the replies,you guys are top notch :evilb:

Re: smallblock power
 

be careful there, too much lope = reversion = spend 2k to find a new engine

Re: smallblock power
 

I am an ase mechanic,have built many a blown engines for tractor pulling and one for a jet boat,not experienced in building a marine engine which I know is a totaly different area.
If I got a cam in the 114lsa area what kind of duration could I go with ?

Re: smallblock power
 

Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm by no means anywhere near an ASE tech, but being one, would it really make sense to go to the trouble of opening it up just to throw in in a cam and nothing else, just for the "sound"? Even in a car just changing a cam for the sake of a "lopey" idle wouldn't make much sense if you really want the best performance.

If you want to improve sound for "sound" sake, if it has thru hull exhaust why not just spend the money on some decent exhaust to change the sound?

Re: smallblock power
 

I am pulling the motor and tearing apart to freshen the motor and know exactly what I have,just wanted to add a little power and have the "sound". was thinking of the comp cam xm262h would this put me on the "edge" with the alpha1?. the exhaust is through the hull above water level