Need guidance quick, please....

I am making some changes to my exhaust. Do I take the turbolator plate out? The motors are Mag HOs. I do not idle long times and boat in inland lakes. My warranty has expired.

I have 2 manifolds done with them removed and 2 almost done with then still in the manifolds. I started having second thoughts. I know this has been discussed before but last night when I had the exhaust all apart I was thinking.........that Merc Engineer is smarter than me......

Thanks in advance

Take them out and let me know if you experience any gains.

Please search the tech section before you make any decisions. Way too much info about this subject over there.

Scott, I just searched and you are correct. Tons of information. Should have done that at the beginning.

Lots of pro and cons for taking the plates out. I am going to go ahead and remove them. Hope my valve seats do not rust!!

Thanks,

Let us know how it goes (any performance improvements)

Also, was it easy and straight forward to remove them?

The plates were very easy to remove. Four nuts on the riser (don't drop them!) and two water hoses per riser. The hoses on the side of the motor with the oil filter were difficult to get off but other than that, not a big deal.

I removed the turbolator's, installed new tips without muffelers, and had my props labbed. Last year with 2 people and 1/4 tank of gas turned a GPS 77.2. This year on a glass smooth lake, 3/4 tank of gas I was able to hit 79.8. The mid range feels stronger but that is strictly a "seat-of -the-pants" observation. I am hoping for 80 something with less gas and some waves.

The bonus is the sound.

That's great Dave, but I wish you had not thrown the labbed props into the equation. Not way now to tell what gains you got from the plate removal.

I kind of wanted to know what helped out the most but the way things worked out, it all came together at the same time. Here are some pictures of the un-install. One is slightly fuzzy. Sorry.

I do not have the exact measurements in my head but it seems like the plate was a tad over 2 and 1/2 inches across the opening and the manifold was close to 3 and 7/8ths inches wide.

I will resize the pictures and repost.