Brief update on additional Ilmor plans, http://speedonthewater.com/in-the-ne...74-engine.html.

You would think for the rec boater and the cost of buying new boats these days they would leave the cats out of the exhaust being over 500hp motors. This would help with a lower cost per motor from 2.5 K to 4 K.

Alot of repair shops around still not up to speed with the O2 sensors and cat systems nor even seeing an Illmor engine. I'm glad to see this taking place as Illmor will be gaining more market share. Mercruiser barely has their motors in the Wakeboard / ski boat market now adays but Illmor has their motors in every Mastercraft.

Also wonder if Mast Performance has anything to do with this build? They were trying to get their marine motor out in the public but that seems to have been on hold. Has to be a reason for it. Thanks for the updated info

what most dont take into account is the hugh pile of paperwork the gov. requires as well as the expensive testing and certification costs to release a motor as a manufacturer. I hear this all the time with people saying "it can be done, my buddy just put a 'whatever' engine in his boat". yes he did but he is not a manufacturer and did not have to make the gov. and tree huggers happy first. I would assume that for now to offer it with the cats gets it to market sooner than going through all the certification for the none cat motor. the worst is that by the time you get a motor ready and tested some idiot in CA passes new rules that some idiot in DC wants to adopt nationwide and you have to start over again. some of the garbage we went through as a manufacture to send boats to Europe was so stupid you would laugh but with out it the boat sat on the docks.

550 hp and (I assume) a couple hundred pounds less than a 525EFI? Could be interesting. We'll have to see how the package pricing works out. What is the current MSRP and street price of a 525EFI/Bravo package?

I think its going to be great in the mid size 28-33' range.
Should make for a well balanced boat without all that cast iron in the bilge.

It's a cast iron engine.

http://www.ilmor.com/en/marine/recre...l/MV8-74L.aspx

Note in this publication it talks about a high performance version without the Cat estimated at 550 hp.

http://speedonthewater.com/new-boats...-mid-2012.html

Very true but the costs aren't enough to justify not going after even niche markets much less a bulk of the market. I'm sure they have an emission bench inhouse by now and have an emissions expert on the staff for some time (was picked in Trade Only with some members of gov in DC). Costs aren't that extreme when you can do the development work inhouse then just pay for the certs. there are plenty of third party companies that specialize in this work as well. Pretty much all engines require a cert now, right down to stationary power like small gensets. These companies should help some of the smaller players be able to stay in the OEM game hopefully as well.

As I understand it through Paul Ray, the 7.4 Ilmor did for MasterCraft was "very close" to meeting emissions standards even without the catalytic converters.

What I should have said was vs. a big blocks worth of cast iron.

Right now any motor 500 hp and above does not require a cat system. Anything Illmor has above 500 hp does not come with a cat. My point the rec boater is more like your average family income person so why not try to keep the price down. New boats are a really tough sale to begin with.

Talk about money spent and design for OEM engine manu's for this cat system to work in the marine environment. All OEM marine engines has to come with a Cat system if it is below 500 hp.

Example Merc on the 3.0 / 4 banger low hp very entry level motor has a cat on it - mandated since 2010 , while Volvo Penta dropped the 3.0 / 4 banger all together because they did want to keep pouring money into this design.

The 3.0 marine motor for the OEM's does not profit for them to begin with, then on top of that they have to throw a 1 or 2 year warranty behind it. Cat system just another thing for them to warranty and a expensive one at that. Plus if you jack with it it voids all warranties. Don't forget the computer is programed for the cat system to be in place changing to headers and modifying will most likely yeild you less horsepower than you had to begin with unless someone has the complete know how to remap it for today. I say today but down the road might be a different story.