I know that my boat is not exactly stock any more but I am wondering if any one has upped the hp on their 302 and has real top end numbers to share. I was going almost 60 with the stock tired old 330's in the boat last time it ran with light fuel and only me in the boat. When my stringer project is done I will have taken a very large amount of weight out of the boat, and also made it stiffer. I will be adding weight with side pannels and interieor and so on for what I think will be a slight weight savings. One thing that I plan to fix when I put the new motors in is get the current water pick ups to were they belong on the transom. They are currently under the boat and are causing a huge amount of airation to my props. I am seeing slip numbers in the mid to high 20% range My goal for this project is to be in the mid to high 70's with this 302. Do you guys think that 550hp give or take will get me there?

Jon

420 if you have the proper drives!

Location of my water pickups, but then again, areation isn't a factor for me.

A friend had a 302 with slightly built 502's, probably pushing around 500hp or so (cams, exhaust, carbs). TRS drives w/ Mirage 25's. He was probably hitting around low-mid 70's. He couldn't beat my other friends 382 that was GPS'd at 75, probably behind by a couple MPH. I beat him with my 311 with 550hp blower motors / TRS with bent props at the time - sorry no GPS, but the wonder VDO gauge was showing around 77 off the pitot tube.

So 550hp should push you to around where you want to be. The final result from your mods would be tough to tell what they would do to your top speed #'s until you take it out for a run.