I hear ya about the 2.5 guys but a 2.5 is no match for a 300x that has a little work. If you look at the speeds with the 28's Skater Jim holds the record at LOTO as well as I think that boat has seen 125mph.
2,5's are great motors but imo not as reliable, nor idle as good as a 300x.

Evinrude is making a 300hp 2 stroke. Is there a reason that can't be a sporty motor?

With enough time and money I could turn any of the new big 4 strokes into a fire breather. It's just going to be really expensive. Custom cams, maybe custom crank, ported heads etc. I'd guess there's at least 50-100hp left in any of them if you are willing to spin them.

Charlie t up here in ny has gone 126 with his 2.5 28

It looks like the JohnRude is sporty enough that it is being raced in Qatar Cup ?

Have the lowers cut and welded with a new nose cone ==> http://low-h2o.com/testimonial.htm

Photo Credit: Shoot2Thrill PBNation

: one of my biggest complaints with the 2.5's is the sometimes idle issues. most of my problems that I had in the past were with the drag motors. I ran Klotz R50 with 94 octane Sunoco and never had a problem with meltdowns.
On my Skater at first I had idling issues with the 2 center engines. After remedying, my 280's on the 36 skater seem to idle fairly well. If someone is having idling issues, there's probably something wrong that needs adjusted or replaced.
The only meltdown issue that I had was because of very shoddy work done by individuals that I won't mention on this thread. Anyway. on Diamond's dyno my 280 was 319.2 hp @ 8100 rpm. not bad for a mildly ported engine weighing in at 400 lbs. with a little more work these powerheads can produce around 335 hp. Concerning the reliability issues, certain things have to be me made sure of (see Diamonds fuel system 101 for details).
I'm sure that the modified 300x motors are awesome. It's a shame that both the high performance line of 2.5's and the 300x got the axe the way they did.
The extra 267+ lbs per motor that the new 400 supposedly weighs makes me stop and reconsider if I really want that extra 1068+ lbs hanging off of my 36's transom
I'm looking forward to seeing what the verdict is on the modified 300x motors that you're running compared to the 2.5's on other 28's. It sure is a lot of fun experimenting and tweaking to see what works. I hope that you can get some decent weather down there so that you can get out there and let her fly! Keep us posted

I'm sure some of you read Hotrod Magazine. There's a great article about what Volvo has done with 3 turbos. First turbo, electric, helps spool up the other two turbos and they are producing 225 hp per liter. A 2.0 liter producung 450hp! I don't see why it could not be adapted for outboard use.

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Man it's cold up here........

I was just having this discussion with an outboard buddy of mine the other day. They need to build an all aluminum, inline 4 (2.0 liter), twin cam, 4 valve per cylinder turbo that would easily put out 400hp and weigh no more than an old 2.5/V6. That same basic engine (2.0 I4 turbo) has been the mainstay of Audi/VW at around 300hp/EPA legal in several different cars for the past 5+ years or so - with a 5 year/50,000 mile warranty! I'm personally not a fan of the supercharged I6 route Mercury has chosen to stick with.

Mind if I call you David Corleone ... ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SF1iLXSQto


I cant help but think that the hair dryers would cause a little "under cowl heat" ...



Now this here ... gotta be the road to serious power ..

I like the snow but only if I'm vacationing where it is. 46 for the high here yesterday and the rain is back today! man o man; dreaming about being in the boat, the feel of 85 degree sunshine, 85 degree water and a 35 degree beer!