mer has a well matched combination, the camshaft compliments the heads and blower so max power is below 6000 rpms. using a big cam to try and make big numbers,
causes the engine to have a narrow power band & kills midrange torque. jc's engine is more suited to drag racing than boating. it's easy to make good peak numbers but it's a lot harder to make big numbers below 6000 & have a nice flat torque curve. congratulations mer

Combination,combination,combination.

Mark has worked real hard on his packages, and does a fair amount of testing. He has made mutiple changes to find what works the best. He's actually left some peak HP on the table in the name of curve, and drivability. He still has small flange carburetors on Fred's engines, going to a pair of King Demons would pick the numbers up even more. As stated before the entire package, or combination is the thing.

Yes, combination is the thing. But $ is a factor too. And not everyone owns 3 BKs and a high end marine supply shop.
Those heads are critical in those #s. Gee, they're probably $4000/set.
And I think JC's customer already had those SCs on them.
Sometimes you just gotta make due.

a milder cam with the same combination would have still made respectable power at 6000 & made a big improvement
in midrange torque. big inch motors don't have a good history
of survival at 6800 rpms.

too old i was trying to understand why your motors which i have seen at mers shop, using those huge port profiler heads would be more of a high rpm power maker. when i saw the dyno #'s from your 2nd engine and WHERE your motors made all that power amazed me. then i looked @ jc'syno sheet and his motors make hp at a lot higher rpm with smaller heads and blowers which didn't make sense to me. i know what cams your running in your motors as marks putting the same ones in mine and there is nothing mild about them yet the motors make massive hp at a really resonable rpm level which should make them last. BTW why will your baot actually have them motors in it? what is the first poker run you plan to attend this year? your ride is looking sweeter all the time. ratman

Ratman what cam are you running?

caveman told mark @ mer i wouldn't disclose cams specs as part of eng build. it is a solid roller with a lot of lift and duration, and as you can see on too olds motors makes an azz load of hp and torque down low. mine motors are the next project on marks @ mers to do list.

I have installed both j.c's and mark's engines in my client's boats. first off I would tip my hat to both. two talented individual's. secondly my client's have pounded fire out of both their engines with out any catastrophic failure, so either way keep up the good work guy's.

Ratman, This whole time as you were speaking of "Mer" (something I, and I am sure others have never heard of) I kept thinking you were speaking of "Merc" as in MerCruiser.

RumRunner, What is an "RFE" head?

Just a friendly reminder that many of you guys use names, and abreviations that the user seems to assume that everyone else knows what, and whom they are speaking of.