Hey guys, I have a question on my 216SSi and I hope others can shed some light and/or provide some comparison. I recently purchased a 2001 216SSi project boat. The engine has been damaged due to lack of winterizing so I took it out and went completely through it. It was originally a GSi engine but the previous owner believes he replaced it with a GXi. Of course, it is essentially a 5.7 Chevrolet Vortec. It has 1.6 roller rockers and an Edelbrock dual plane intake under the original TBI unit. He claims that it would not run out on the top end until he put a GXi fuel pump on it, which he did at some point. The only modification I made to it was to drop the compression by a half point due to the well known detonation problem on these motors and the fact that this one had severely tuliped valves and cracked ring lands on the pistons. Overall the engine at this point should be putting out somewhere between 300 - 320 hp (original GSi was rated at 280)
The boat now seems to run fine, but will only achieve about 44 mph at 4300 rpm with only myself, my daughter, and a full tank of fuel, at 800ft lake elevation. It has a 14 3/4x19 single three blade Volvo Penta prop, seems like others have gotten a lot more speed from their boat with even bigger props. Of course, I am thinking about putting a 17 inch prop on it to get a little more rpm and speed (and better holeshot), but wanted to ask of others what they have achieved in terms of speed and rpm, and their engine and prop specs.
All responses appreciated!
The boat now seems to run fine, but will only achieve about 44 mph at 4300 rpm with only myself, my daughter, and a full tank of fuel, at 800ft lake elevation. It has a 14 3/4x19 single three blade Volvo Penta prop, seems like others have gotten a lot more speed from their boat with even bigger props. Of course, I am thinking about putting a 17 inch prop on it to get a little more rpm and speed (and better holeshot), but wanted to ask of others what they have achieved in terms of speed and rpm, and their engine and prop specs.
All responses appreciated!