Originally Posted by wjb21ndtown

Ha... Both of the last two posts are very true, but it all depends on how you look at it.

Everyone on here knows that boats that are actually intended for use are not great investments. Hell, even project boats are not great investments. Recently (2-3 days ago) there was an absolutely beautiful 1985 Scarab III for sale on Ebay. The poor guy had done a $25K pain job, $25K in motors, and had the interior totally re-done. The boat was, for all essential purposes, brand new. He said that he had over $100K into the boat, and it looked like it was true. After all that work the auction ended with a final bid price of about $29K, and really, that's probably about what the boat is worth.

That said, there are sensible upgrades that you can do to a boat that won't cause you to lose your azz. If you spend $3-5k on updating your motors you're not going to see $3-5k back, but if you run the boat for 2-3 years you'll get the majority of the use and enjoyment out of that $3-5K + you should increase the value of the boat $2-3K. However, if you go gangbusters and try to make the boat do more than 60-65mph, you're going to spend a ton of coin and never get more than a $2-3K bump in resale value.

Originally Posted by jeff1000man

A stock pair of late model 502's would get that boat into the 60's easy.

A decent pair of HP 500's would get it into the high 60's.

Again, the major factor in building power in those SB's is gonna be camshafts. You cn't put in a big cam without good exhaust.

Go with the Big Blocks. It will be way cheaper and you will probably get your money back.

Originally Posted by areyouliving

Just for what it's worth, I have stock 330hp BB with exhaust and I see just over the 60mph mark in my 1980 300. Granted thats low on fuel, trimed out and ringing those BB out at 5k rpm. As heavy as these boats are I'm a little shocked they ever put SBC in them.

Originally Posted by Westcoast

what props are you running? 21p's?

Originally Posted by wjb21ndtown

I agree with that, but a pair of 330hp. 454's with some used 049s, cams and intakes should get it into the 60's much cheaper. If I was worried about budget I don't think I would be looking at 502's.

Originally Posted by areyouliving

049's? Would you have to change to popup pistons? I've been looking at a closed chamber head, like a 260. I haven't had my head off yet but I was under the impression that the 330hp piston's had a dish to them.

Originally Posted by jeff1000man

330's are flat tops. Closed chamber heads work, but you will loose some rpms's

The 049's work because the yincrease the volume.

Chamber on your peanuts is the saome as the 049.

You can also get out of the box, ready to bolt on oval port Merlins for prettty cheap these days.

Originally Posted by areyouliving

Thank you Jeff, good to know. I happen to have access to two pairs of 049s. Gonna have to dust'em off

Originally Posted by areyouliving

Solid hub Mirage 23, no+. Want to try a pair of 25's. This boat flies out of the hole and will turn about 5200 rpm.

Originally Posted by Westcoast

Shocking
Thats the same prop I'm running but I can't turn more than 4500RPM. Maybe you got some warmed up 330's or some work done to those 23p. Whatever it is just be happy you can break 60...I have never been able to do that. 60.0 is the best I have ever seen.