starfire tank access
 

i think i broke a pickup off the inside of my fuel tank. is there an access for it or do i have to cut the floor out of the boat. its a 1980 starfire. any info would be great

thanks

The floor over the tanks should be 2 pieces of plywood, just unscrew and pry out. There is a piece of mahogony down the center that sits on the stringer. There is a pic in the sport hull thread that Pete"Skippy" just posted that shows a replacement tank. I replaced both my tanks 2 yrs ago if you have any questions.

thanks for the info, i will check it out tomorrow.

ended up being a bad fuel pump, third one on that motor in the last 5 years. never had to replace a fuel pump on any other motor. the pump was still pushing but not enough. the weird thing is that the diaphram was still good, the cam is good and the arm on the pump is good.

when was the last time you changed your fuel filters?

Thats strange, but a lot easier to replace a pump than a tank... I run superchargers so I have fuel regulators and pressure guages so theres no guessing. Whats the gph of the pump? I replaced a pump a couple of years ago and this spring when the motor was gone thru the cam lobe was scored pretty bad... tough to say.
What props do you run on your starfire?

- M

mdonzim- the motors are 500hps with dart aluminum heads,cam,cmi sport tube full length headers etc. the pump is standard hp 500, looks like a carter 130 gph but not sure. it's the style mounted to the water pump. as for props, i'm now running a pair of custom bblades 28 pitch hydro's. the boat runs just shy of 90 mph

Cig,
What rpm do you run the hydro 28's to? I'm losing grip somewhere because I turn stock bravo I 32's to 5k and have only seen 84-85mph.

5600 rpm at 10-12 percent slip. your numbers are correct at 15 percent slip. not sure what prop you are running, what drive height or drive. mine are standard bravo's and if you are running xr's you can subtract 3 mph right away. from my experience, the hydro's run much better and always faster. my slip numbers are very low and the boat is dialed in pretty well, it has run good from day one. these are also gps numbers, not a junk speedo. what is your set up? kevin

Hey Kevin,
Last yr. after restoring my Mag my best speed was 84.5 mph. My power is 420Merc. 454 build with B&M 174 blowers w/ 5lbs of boost. Should be right around 550hp. Bravo drives, 17 1/4" X-dim 32"b1 props from bblades untouched. 70deg, 1/4 tank of gas. Heres the rub, port motor only made 4600 rpm while stb could go to 5200. So over the winter we notice some piston wall scoring on 1 cylinder so we found a new block and completely rebuild the motor now with Brodix heads. Now the motors should be 575hp. Also put hydromotive nose cones on my drives. After all the break in etc. same exact #s..... Now the super charger on the port motor is only putting out 3lbs of boost. Same 500rpm difference between motors. Crap! Dont want to send the sc out to california mid summer so I just run the boat as is. After checking ignition, timing and other possabilities, decide to put a smaller snout pully on to increase boost on port motor. Got 6lbs of boost, but almost identical #'s... WHAT? So the current theory is that the port super charger is super ineffecient and in need of rebuild. You would think the added boost would translate to added rpm/power but no. I actually thought there could have been some kind of rev limiter ignition module issue but about a week ago I went out in a good 2-3' chop and really got on her in a following sea and the motor will spin to 5k+ rmp.
Anyway, I'll talk to brett over the winter about bravo vs. hydro and hopefully the sc is the issue and next yr. I'll make my pilgrimage to 90mph again. I'll check with my local prop guy and see if he has a set of hydro's I can borrow. Oh yea, almost forgot, I had a big, big improvement getting on plane , tracking and overall handling turning my props inward.

- Marshall

kevs warmed up 500's

you may also want to try a few smaller pitch props and get your rpm's up a little. not sure where your hp falls on your motor but would think it would run well in the mid 5000's. most merc motors run around 5350 and they tend to be pretty conservative. i may be running a touch more hp too, 600 ish. it sounds like your motors are set up like merc 525 sc's, nice package and good luck with it. keep me posted, i would love to see your boat run 90:) kevin

Hey Kevin, you are right on the motor rpm, I'm aiming to be at 5400-5500 when I'm done. Just have to get the motors matched up. I have a set of merc labbed 30"b1's but I got addicted to the cruise speed of the 32's which is about 5mph at 3200rpm. BTW, 600 hp is more than a little warmed over, the engines look great and so does your starfire.

- Marshall

thanks for the compliments marshall. the boat has been done for a while now (10yrs) and it's time to start redoing things. i would like to recover the seats in carbon fiber material and add small headrests to the rear seat, new carpet, wheels tires on the trailer, personalize the engine compartment etc. i would like to get to all of the things that i always wanted to do but weren't in the budget the first time around, that was the hurry up and just get the thing in the water stage lol. i think everyone that has tackled a project knows what that is like. lets see some pics of your hot rod. kevin

Pics
 

Here are a few shots. The first is from the aound NYC fun run last weekend.

More pics.
 

heres the business end.

pics from 1979
 

Catalog shot from 1979 and 2 others from a boardmember on 188th st. canal which ware an amazing find.

Another cool Starfire
 

It would be great if this one was still around, pretty sure "h2oboater" posted them a ways back. Think it was a MI boat.

Hi Marshall I wish I could take credit for the pic's but mikeb4 [here on OSO] posted them. Mike said the deck was painted white some time in the late 80's, & thats the last time he saw it. I believe it was hull #378 sold to Krause Marine here on Lake St Clair on 7/6/1978. A side note Jim Krause was the owner & racer of the 24' Donzi Doral I have now. Also MIA here on Lake St Clair is this Starfire that was originally painted like yours that Sparky [Vicous Marine] had. It later was painted this way,, today ?? Mark

marshall- that boat is awsome, i love the vintage looking stripes. it looks the same as it did in 78 minus a few nice power improvements. two questions for you: are you running xr's and was your boat near the buffalo area or lake ontario a few years back? (late 90's early 2000's) i remember seeing one in the lower niagara river one day and it said starfire down the side.

Kevin,
Thanks,I bought the boat 3yrs ago from the widow of the 2nd owner of the boat who lived outside Toronto. He had the boat there for 27 yrs. It was in amazing original condition down to the key float from the broker in miami who took delivery. Since then I have completely redone her trying to keep the look as orig as possible. Magnum only made 3 or 4 striped and mine has 5 original gas tanks which nobody there remembers making. My drives are regular bravo 1's.
- Marshall

Lake St. Clair Starfire
 

Here is one that used to be at Miller Marina. Its still around..