The Motor is going in this weekend
 

I have been cleaning out the engine bay and preparing for the new motor. The new motor should fit nice and tight in the boat. BTW thankyou to Nordic and Unlimited Marine for the Bada$$ new hatch that they are making for me. I will post pics as soon as it arrives. The plans are to see triple digit numbers when completed. If you didnt know the new motor is a Paul Phaff 598ci 725efi. The motor looks amazing in person and I cant wait to fire it off.

Good luck with the fit, hope all goes smoothly during the install. Righteous looking engine !

John, PLEASE get some good flyby videos at the Nordic Jam. This website is pretty much my window back there. Cant wait to see it in person, all the best.....Casey

Ill do that for ya. I cant wait to see what she is going to do

You better put wheelie bars on that thing!!

Hi John,
The new 598" looks great. I'm sure it will fly in your Thor.
Based on OCM's Merc 700/Thor, you should see 110+.
You probably already have them, but I would get some good Lifelines if you don't.
Keep us posted on your testing, and we'll look forward to seeing you at the Regatta.
Regards,
Steve

nice!

John,
Your 598 looks awsome!

My speed prediction is:

Tim's boat does a consistant 112+ mph

Gen 3 boats are aprox 4 mph slower than the Gen 4 boats = -4 mph.

Tim's boat is full carbon fibre= -2 mph

The 700sci motor produces aproximately 742hp at the crank and lots of torque compared to 725hp on yours = -2 mph

The NXT drive is set up fairly high and runs a full surfacing prop. It is also pretty efficient at 7% slip. = -2 mph

So I am guessing at aproximately 102+mph for your new motor.

I also love the graphics on your boat. Best looking cat I have ever seen.

Watching video of your boat as opposed to footage of the gen 4 hull, I can see why the gen 4 is faster. Your boat rides flatter on the water, and the gen 4 hull rides nose high. I am willing to bet that your boat handles much better in rough water, and over boat wakes than the gen 4 hull does. The gen 4 hull looks like it could be scary if it caught the wind or a wave wrong.

Just my observations from watching video's of both hulls.

Chris

Thanks man, you are about in the same range I am guessing also 100-105 area depending on prop and conditions. We will have to wait and see. The best I got with the 525 was 88 and it would run 85-87 everyday. My only goal is 100mph plus.

John,

What are you going to run for an outdrive?

Chris

XR but soon to be upgrades by max machine worx. The imco extreme is no better than a XR. Its all how you put them together and how you drive the boat.

John,

I believe that the IMCO Extreme and the XR are similar, but not the same.

The upper case on the IMCO is larger and stronger. The torsional vertical downshaft is different, as is the lower bearing carrier. They both use the XR gearset, which is the weak link. The IMCO lower also tends to be more efficient than the XR lower.

The Max-Machine drive uses there own down-shaft, cryoed XR gears, and a Billett case that is much stronger. They also have an extra bearing to aid in driveshaft rigidity.

The weak link in all these drives is the XR gears. No one has come up with a stronger replacement gearset to date. :(

Guys with more than about 700hp and slip below 12% shred all three of these drives on a regular basis.

I believe that the solution is going to be the IMCO SCX drive. This will be a bolt on replacement for an XR, and has much larger gears. Because of the additional size, and weight, speed will probably be reduced by 2-4 mph when set up correctly. They are rated at 900 hp, and there are no reported failures that I know of. Cost is 15K-16K depending on pricing.

I am about to upgrade my hp to around 750 next week, and have been studying this outdrive problem.
If you have any revelations about this subject... I would love to hear them.
I am worried about my outdrive.. it is only about 15% stronger than an XR

Chris

The case is really not much stronger. I know people with 900 hp heats with xr's holding up fine. The scx is strong but slow as hell. You worrying about nothing just be easy on the drive and it will be fine. Also the xr sportmaster uses the imco vertical shaft from mercury. The lower on the sportmaster is slower but much thicker and will hold up much better with higher horsepower. Pm me your number and I can talk to you and give you a few tips.

John,

Here is a picture of an IMCO upper next to a XR upper.

I would appreciate any and all tips you have.

Chris
206-235-4545

Nice looking engine, John. Can't wait to hear how it runs. Here's my prediction, based off of a speed calculator I wrote. Based on a current speed of 87 and using 550 crankshaft HP on the 525, you should run right at 100 under those same conditions with 725 HP.

Hey Bob,
If that's our old formula, it will be interesting to see if it applies to tunnels too. I think OCM ran 112 with a Merc 700 in their Thor.
I think the tunnels are more efficient than our 17HP per MPH (for MPH increase from stock baseline) formula for Heats. It will be interesting to find out and compare the 2.
Best Regards,
Steve

It's a formula that takes current HP, speed and weight and calculates a performance constant. Then, using the new HP rating, projects the speed. The formula has been around for years. I just put it into an XL spread sheet to be easy to use. It will work with any style hull as long as the characteristics don't change with the increase in power. An example would be a cat that wasn't airing out correctly, but with the added power did so, thus becoming more efficient. The formula cannot account for that. I've found it to be very accurate on dozens of projects. It's a great tool to use when discussing modifications with a customer. It takes out the guess work and keeps expectations realistic. If someone comes in and says they want to run 80 and can give me accurate data on the current setup I can project the power they need. Then I can design an engine package to meet that need with no disappointments.

Bob

Sounds like a version of the BAM/gofast/Mercury formula?
Best Regards,
Steve

Motors look great,:ernaehrung004:

Is there any support on the bottom of the oil cooler?

yes there is a bracket.

Cool, keep us posted how it runs:ernaehrung004:

Any updates John? Saw your weather was in the 60's, good testing temps.

Motor is in the boat I will try to post some pictures today

Looking forward to some more pictures.

:food-smiley-007:

Chris

Still waiting for pictures. :grinser010:

Chris

Motors look great, nice job :ernaehrung004:

Thanks, I have to take some pictures tonight I have no free time. I work 6 days a week and watch my son on sundays.

Such is the life of a new dad. :ernaehrung004:

Don't Worry,
It will get better.

Chris

Engine Hatch
 

Hey John,

Please post those pic's of the new engine hatch Nordic is making for you - Is it all fiberglass or will there be a little padding installed?. Depending on the outcome - I might consider the same hatch for my flame - look forward to the pic's

Gary

No padding all glass and carbon fiber

Here is a picture of the new hatch being built at nordic. This is a bad unit, solid carbon fiber. The scoop is fiberglass. I cant decide weather the scoop should be gel coated silver or blue. what do you guys think. Also they are going to remove the duck tail on the rear of the scoop.

Hi Jon,
If you are going the full carbon fiber route, I would just do the scoop the same way. If you want it to contrast, blue (carbon fiber/gel coat) always looks good against black (assuming you are using black carbon fiber).
Regards,
Steve

Here is a pic ofrom the front. They are going to inlay carbon fiber on the top of the scoop but the entire hatch is carbon fiber. I think the rest of the scoop will be gel coated blue.

why would you want to put a scoop on it? The engine you got was the same height as a 525. The hatch looks good, but I think the scoop thing looks dated. I guess i just like a flat hatch.

This is a tall deck motor much taller than the 525

You never know what else might find its way onto the motor

I think you need some contrast! I think I would darken the scope. If ya need a hand....I'm 30 miles away! Weekend warrior and usually free during the week. Not working this weekend though!

Unless the intake setup is much taller a tall deck only adds just over 1/4" (.280" to be exact) of vertical height.
I've been studying this closely as I'm doing the same mod X2 :)

Dave

When I asked Nordic how much to just recover the hatch and modify the inner layer to add clearance for my flame arrestors they said $3500 :eek:
I think I'll be following Steve's diagrams :rolleyes:

Your hatch will look great for sure... Keep us posted.

Dave

It is taller by enough that my air filter would rub on the hatch. I also wanted to build a carbon fiber hatch to lighten up the back of the boat. My hatch now must weigh over 200lbs. With 2 people it was a ***** to move. Larry at nordic said the new hatch may weigh 50lbs.