Originally Posted by bugginout

Late December we where out at one of our local lakes having a great time. Checked under the hatch as we always do and saw steam coming from the air filter. This was not a good sign. We took the boat to So Cal Speed and Marine. We found out that we had needed a valve job and the bottom end had some scoring. We decided not to rebuild and go new. We found a killer deal here on Offshore Only classifieds. Brand spankin new Mercury Racing 454 HP 450 from Victory Marine. We spoke with Dave at Mercury Racing and confirmed that the engine was blue printed, roller rockers, roller cam and balanced. Merc said it was probably really 465HP. We did not want to over stretch the drive so stayed with the 454. It was a replacement engine was produced till 2005. We jumped on it and WOW!! What a monster. We did our first trial run with it a week ago and picked 10 MPH and expect more when the engine is broken in and we have our prop "labbed". We are looking forward to our first trip of the summer. We are going to Laughlin the first weekend of April.

Mario is great at So Cal Speed and Marine. He is located in Moorpark Ca. He knows his stuff and is the kinda guy that doesn't sell you on stuff just to make a buck. Scott was kool too at Victory. He was honest and right on the money with the engine.

I can't say thank you enough to both So Cal Speed and Marine and Victory Marine. They made my summer. 09 Summer that is!!!