I have a 2002 358 sonic with 496 in it, It does about 68 on gps, as usual I want to get a little more speed out of it. What do you recomend?? I have done nothing at all to it> Does labbing the props help? What pitch is recomended? I think it has 24 on it now. I really dont want to hurt the reliablity of it

I have a 97 35 with 502's. boat ran 68 with 24p bravos. i switched to 25p hydromotives, and it ran 69 to 70, and the cruise speed also gained 1 - 2 mph at the same rpm. The bravo's made the boat plane better, but the hydros gave better performance.

I'm going to be testing a set of 24p hydros as soon as summer hits. i think they may give me better numbers.

I think you may try CMI headers for 496 HO'S

I'm hoping that a sonic owner with 496 engines puts those cmi headers specifically made for the 496 engines and gives us some real results!!

Me too, I am very curious, i just talked to lenny from sonic might be trading in for a 2006 38 so might not have to worry about this problem

madprops,
why are u going from your 358 to the 38? Just asking because I love the 358 and am researching buying one (not for 6-12 months). In my research it seems everyone either goes with a 38 or 42. Is the 35 an "odd" size (as in middle of the road size) for true offshore performance? Or is it simply the old bigger is better?

Sleek1,
I went from a 2001 358 with 500 efi's to a 2005 386sts with custom power. The reason was my wife wanted more space in the cockpit for entertaining,and I wanted more space in the engine room. Yes alot of people go up to the 42' but I couldn't fit it on my lift. that was the deciding factor with us.

Yes njsonic...same story almost...your lift , my garage...can just get the 386 in there...I also didn't want the side by side seating on the 42.

Is there decent room to work in the 358 engine compartment or is it miserable to try to do anything?