Steve91T

Yeah, I've heard that also. That's why I'm not asking about blowers!
Someday I might throw ported heads on there. But for the price a new intake manifold and carb might do the trick. I know it won't give me huge gains, but more low end TQ and a little more top end would be great.

I just need to figure out what the gains will most likely be before I mess with anything.

Steve

r.barn

you'll pickup around 15-20 hp with intake and carb at most

think about maybe swapping out the cam instead or also, they only cost couple hundred bucks
and it might give you bit more hp gain.
Stock cam had pretty conservative numbers.

AdamB

Hi, just wanted to add my two cents, since I own a boat as well as a Mustang.

Marine engines/ carbs and auto engines/ carbs are 2 different creatures. If you put an auto carb on a marine engine, not only will you be illegal, you could blow yourself up. Just food for thought.

Everything on a marine engine, is marine grade. Even the starter, alternators are built specific for marine to prevent sparks etc.

I have a mercruiser 350/ 5.7 with a rochester carb. The difference from marine to auto is that the marine venturi's point down...

Changing the intake manifold will probably be okay, but if you run aluminum in salt water, it will not last long. If you run cast iron, no problems...

I have had great luck in the past getting parts for my mercruiser on ebay cheap. I think I paid $10 for replacement intake manifold after I cracked the original one.

Oh, and the alpha ones are only rated for 300 hp, so keep that in mind, and you have to be careful with cam selection in a boat, you can't have any overlap or you risk ingesting water into your manifolds/ risers and worse engine.

Oh, and you may want to consider installing smart tabs, they are self adjusting trim tabs that are pretty cheap and work great. Makes my boat (21' Wellcraft Cuddy cabin) a whole new animal...

Steve91T

Oh wow, I totally didn't know that about the marine carb. I did know I needed to look for a cast iron manifold. That's why I was thinking of going with a stock 302 intake manifold. I guess with only a 15-20 hp gain, it's not really worth the trouble. That's only good for a couple of MPH on the water.

I've looked into the smart tabs...they make a difference, huh? What exactly did you notice? For a little more money, would it be better to get adjustable tabs?

You know, this boat engine fires right up, doesn't miss a beat, and really does pull hard....if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

Maybe investing in trim tabs would be the way to go. One problem I have is due to the TQ of the engine and the small size of the boat, especially when loaded up with people, the boat will lean to the left just a little. It's the boat trying to rotate around the prop. Would the smart tabs help that out at all?

Thanks for everyone's help. I really do appreciate it.

Steve

AdamB

I have a 4bbl on my Mercruiser, I hear it takes the Chevy's from 220 to 260 hp. For 40hp on my Stang I have spent lots of $$ so it's all relative.

The smart tabs work great for getting your boat up on plane, so you can run a higher # pitch prop all the time. You can also adjust them so that if you have a constant lean, but you can't adjust for ocassional lean problems, for that you'd want regular tabs.

The smart tabs also help with the excessive steering when going very slow... helps keep the boat going straight for some reason.

I'm sure you could find a ford marine carb on ebay.

I go to www.iboats.com for all my boating questions... they have a forum too.

Good luck with your project. I have spent almost as much in maint and performance mods on my boat, as I did for the boat itself. B.O.A.T. Break Out Another Thousand!!

Steve91T

Wow, well for even 20-30 hp by going with a stock intake manifold and a 4bbl stock marine carb, I'd be happy with that.
I'll check out that link you sent. I appreciate it.

With those smart tabs, actually adding more resitance to the left tab would work to some degree. At more or less all speeds on plane, it always needs some lift on the left. I'll definitely pick up a set.

I appreciate everything.

Steve

BTW...I am definitely finding out how fast boats suck up the money!

r.barn

I guess yall forgot the 3 F's

if it..........
Floats
Flies
or F ucks

RENT IT!!!!!!

lol

AdamB

@#$% When I bought the boat, I had forgotten what the first "F" stood for