speed demon

Okay, Let's find something new and fun to talk about. Let's see everyone's modifications and hear about your upgrades. I'm interested in possible header or manifold upgrades and your results.

Currently, I have a 95 PQ 270 Laser with 454 Mag 385 hp.

Here's what I have done over the years.

Bought boat in 2000 with less than 200 hours. I have since put about another 200 hours.

Installed Gaffrig Redline gauges with red bezels, Insta trim tabs 12 x 16 tappered K-plane look, Insta trim tab gauge, corsa silent choice, swapped out Corsa muffler tips for 6 inch slash cut tips.

In 2005 I finally broke down and bought new MSD 8.5 mm super conductor spark plug wires, plugs, cap and rotor and raised my rpms from 4600 to 4950. I had tuned it up before but never the wires. Wish I had done it sooner.

I have also been playing with props. Bought 2 Mirage 21p to go along with my existing Mirage 21p and a Rev 4 21p on ebay this summer. I guess I am collecting Mirage 21p's. Well 2 are solid hub and one is plastic insert which I plan on selling. I plan on getting one labbed this winter by www.BBlades.com.

For Fall/Winter projects nothing too exciting, but I am thinking of a new Dino red steering wheel with black grips and red cup holders from Trick marine.

I'll post some pictures of existing mods once I get boat back from being winterized, oil change, drive removed and aligned, new impeller as preventative maintenance. I was told impeller should be done every 5 years and that's how long the first one lasted so I decided to do it now than have a possible problem next year.

Look forward to hearing about your upgrades!

Macklin

PQ 340 is my upgrade. It's all I can do to keep fuel in the tank to feed the twins! Thank goodness Merc finally redesigned the exhaust system on the HO's. If yours is still stock you should be looking to replace them. I put Eddie Marine on my 454 and Stainless Marine on my 502. Both were great improvements.

BTW, you were very lucky that impellor lasted 5 years. They should be replaced yearly due to fatigue on the rubber blades.

powerquest 380

Hey Macklin, what was the gain on your 502s when you added Stainless Marine to them?

Macklin

It was a single 502mag in a 272. Not much on the top end, but the mid range punch was improved. The real improvement was the sound....much throatier big block sound. I also put a Vortech flame arrestor on. That was a huge improvement over the stock as well. I believe that netted me a mph on the top end.

Fast Forward

Well it's nothing real special! Added a new purple steering wheel and center cap, cup holders and shifter bezel as well as a new sound system with 2 -10" Alpine subs and 4- 6 1/2" 3 ways on top of a 1200 watt amp. This winter the plan is removing all the carpet in the engine compartment and going is a non-slip vinyl diamond plate covering with billet battery trays, Hate the carpet PQ puts in the engine compartment! It always seems to be wet and never drys out totaly.

speed demon

Well,

I finally got a chance to post the pictures to my previous. (See above post). Here's a couple more. Had the boat home this weekend after winterizing. Gave it a good cleaning and will be putting it in storage until next spring. Yes, it's a sad day. I can't wait till next spring and summer.

Fast Forward

Speed Demon, Are your tabs the origianls?? The look longer than the standard set.

speed demon

Fast Forward,

I added them when I bought the boat since it did not have any. The Tabs help out a lot in the rough stuff. When all the way down the boat plows through the waves as aposed to banging.

I saw them on a PQ at one of the boat show in 99 or 00. When I called the dealer they couldn't remember. I ended up calling Insta Trim directly and they gave me a sweet deal. I think they are 12 x 16. As you can see one side is tappered a little. Just a little design feature I thought looked kind of cool and I thought the extra size couldn't hurt for only $50 more than the smaller ones.

I saw your trend on chine walking. I am not sure if these would solve the problem. You may want to call PQ manufacturer and see what they suggest.

Hope to catch up with you sometime.

Fast Forward

After I posted I went to Insta Rtims website. I have the dual ran Insta Trim tabs but they are the shorter ones. I had just e-mailed Martini for a price on a set of purple tabs but my guess is they'll run $400 plus. I'm thinking insta trim may be in the $100-$150 range for the lower tab section.

By the way were you at the PQ Rally?

speed demon

Yes and No. We were leaving for vacation that Sunday and I could not get the wife to agree to go to the rally. I did drive up to Mona lake on Saturday and raft off with the PQ'ers to watch the air show. I did really get to meet that many people since I didn't feel like crawling over everyone's boat. Also, had my neighbor and two young kids. Oh well, hope to make it next year.

Dinged my prop in that crappy channel. I still need to get it fixed.