I need advice. Wanting to bump the horsepower of this engine up to 500 hp. If I understand right for the bravo one that is about all it will handle.It is a 1990 242 LS with 350 [well maintained] hours. Is this capable with cam,aluminum heads,intake and headers? Rectangle or oval port?? If someone has done anything like this let me know. Or is there a better way to spend the money to acheive this hp??Appreciate any input. Thanks Gus

If you could find a low hour Merc 525 EFI take-out you might be in the same price range (if you sell yours complete) with a much better result, look, dock manners and resale value.

Check the classified's. Someone like BAM Marine could possibly handle the whole deal including arranging for the swap. I expect this could be done in the $15-17k range...maybe with 1 yr warranty. You won't likely get out of you 365 to 500 HP upgrade for significantly less.
Remember, the 525 EFI is more like 540 HP and comes with all the Merc fail safe systems.

Purchase a used 525SC blower setup, and enjoy. There have been some nice deals in the classified, and spam section.




Darrell.

Whats your budget?

Here's one way of doing it----The Merc 365hp is a very good baseline engine...4-bolt mains, forged crank, rods, and pistons and with rectangle port heads. Do a clean-up work in the bowl area of the heads, install some hydraulic roller cams and lifters that will make power up to about 5500rpm, add some roller rocker arms, single plane Dart intake manifold, Holley 750-800cfm carb, and some aftermarket exhaust manifolds such as Stainless Marine or GIL, Dana, or something comparable and you will hit 500hp no problem...with decent docking manners. The key to it all is starting with a better breathing exhaust system as I have already mentioned. Have fun.

Hoping to acheive this around 5k. I will do the labor . Looking at cam heads intake from edelbrock also like the idea of a supercharger. Thanks for the input so far. Will post choices and costs as I recieve them. Anybody locate a supercharger let me know. Thanks again Gus

Freshin yours up and slap a procharger on it, their a little easier on the drive then a roots style blower when planeing out..

Bad,
You will need heads, intake, carb, cam, lifters, pushrods, likely valves, seals, retainers, valve springs, gaskets, exhaust system, misc rigging, flame arrestors, etc. These parts are close to$10,000. There is a lot more to a reliable engine build process than "labor". If you only want to spend $5,000, you won't get to 500 HP. The list of parts that you can re-use is shorter than the list of parts you will need. There is also machine work you may need like: hone the lifter bores, maybe the cylinder walls, cut the heads and cut the intake manifold to fit, etc. All this investment without new bearings? New oil pump and align hone the block?
If your thought is to just bolt on parts to your existing set-up, you won't likely get to 500 HP and the risk of engine failure is high.

When we were starting, we thought about this process just like you....now I know.
A quality engine builder like Eddie or Dean would be the best investment you could make.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

I appreciate the straight shooting from everybody. Now The question is is it worth 15k to satisfy my male ego.Still exploring options. Gus