I am thinking about swapping out my 496 mag for a 525 efi. Can someone point me in the right direction of an engine shop on the east coast? I am located in PA and willing to take it where I need. Thanks in advance.

How far are you from Ashtabula ? Gil Lieber use to race boats and has a shop now there. 440-812-2898 tell him PK sent you.

Just about any Merc dealer should be able to swap out an engine.

Is there any that you know of that will trade engines? I'm not sure if this is even possible but my current 496 works fine, I'd like to get something out of it.

Not sure where in PA you are, but OSO members/racers/Mercury Premier Dealer/ engine and rigging shop Saris Racing (Performance Marine) is in Bolton Landing, Lake George NY:
Facebook Page: Main Website : http://perfmar.com/about-us/

You can list it in the classifieds here, or on ebay, facebook, etc. Not sure if you priced 525efi's but it is a pretty large upcharge over a 496. I would make sure I was keeping the value of the boat in mind before dropping an expensive motor in there.

Agree, not sure it's worth it, the 496 is a good solid engine and is dependable as heck which means that you actually get to go boating every time you put the key in. If you were going for a bigger HP jump like into the 600s or 700s I could see that instead. What boat is it going in?

We would be happy to help, have done quite a few of those swaps in fact.


Team Saris
518-644-3080
[email protected]

Thanks SB!

It's going into an H2X. I'd love to see 80mph out of the boat and I figured going with a bigger engine would be cheaper than buying a new 80mph boat. I understand that I won't see this money back out of the boat and I'm ok with that.