It will probably run better under a race hatch as well. I am sure that Griff passed this info on to you, but I think that the 525 was starving for air. I asked Jo about changing the hatch when I had it because it didn't seem like there was any way to get more air into the engine room with the current hatch. Jo told me to try something to see if the engine needed more air, so I did. If you are running at or near full throttle and just crack the engine hatch open a very little bit, the engine picks up a few RPMs and a little speed all by itself. Jo told me that the current hatch would not hurt the engine, but it may sacrifice a few RPMs on the top end, which it did. I found this out just before selling the boat, so I never changed the hatch. I had Purnell do the test run with Griff when he came to see the boat becaise I was sick, but I asked him to point this out. Hopefully he did, but I am not 100% sure and never gave it a second thought until now, when you mentioned changing to a race hatch.

With a race hatch and those dry pipes, this new engine is really gonna scream! Please keep the pictures coming and be sure to post a video when it is together and running.

Jo also told me about cracking the hatch an inch or so. I did it and never really saw a noticeable difference unless it was real hot and humid out.

Hey thanks for the info! I don't remember Griff telling me that, then again, I had just driven straight from California to Omaha (31 hours) and turned around and drove straight back (27 hours), so Griff could have told me that there was a leprechaun in the anchor locker and I probably wouldn't have remembered!

I got that leprechaun out of the anchor locker, somewhere in Utah, when you were in the bathroom...

HA! Oh man! Thanks for getting my back man!

I think I missed a post along the way. Sean, are you buying Mike's race hatch? Mike, did you find a used hatch or is Pantera making a new one for you?

Dan

Jo's making him a new one. So now I'll have parts from TWO of the most well talked about Pantera's bolted to my boat!

How's the Ol' Mig doing?!

Sean - engine is looking great!!! Your gonna have a Monster.

I'm still working away on your old boat. Got paint in the bilge now. I've gone through and doweled and resined and glassed any unused mounting holes in the bilge, stripped the exterior of the transom and did a little massaging back there, it's ready for paint. Right now I'm working under the hull filling and scratches and nicks. Up until yesterday it's been in the 90's here, so this has been a sweaty nasty dirty job. Now all of a sudden we're in the mid 50-60 range. Don't know how much I'll be able to get done this weekend.

Bouyhunter, start a thread on you project so we can follow. And don't tell us you don't have any pics

Tom, I'll try to start a thread this weekend, and yes, I do have pics
For the past few weeks, I've been at the stage of every weekend I've been working on it, but the pics would look the same, the detail things that when you see it in person vs a pic, you'd notice. You know, when you fill something with duraglass, sand it out and feather it in, and there is a small void or "pock mark", the pic never shows it, but the eye will.
This means you need to go back and fill it again. And sand, and feather... Maybe I'm just being too anal about it.
I'm finally getting into the "re-construction" and have something that shows progress instead of tear-down.
My motor guy called me today, and my block is almost ready, heads are done, and cam is on order. It was a standard 330hp 454, and I'm gonna bump it just a little with the cam/carb setup. I don't want to go crazy with this one - just reliable. In a year or two I'll build a monster for her.