I'm stoked! Started my new engine this afternoon!

NHGuy

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May 21, 2009
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Well I got it all wired & plumbed. Then put it on a run stand, I fought battery contacts with jumper cables for a while, then gave in and bought some #2 gauge cables at the parts store.
Put a shot of carb cleaner down the throat and it fired and died on the first pulse. Gave it a longer shot and it ran. It was dry of fuel before I cranked it, I am very happy at how quick the fuel arrived from the pump.
Oh how it ran. Lumpy and loud! I didn't leave it running very long though, just enough to be sure it had oil pressure and was balanced.

I'm sure it will be a little more civilized and quiet once I get it in the boat and run it using the chambered exhaust in my platform.

I've spent the off season collecting parts to dress up a short block I bought.

First thing was a trip to the machine shop to confirm that the bores were good and the parts were too.

It's a Gen+ 350 that's been bored .030 over. It already had some flat top forged TRW pistons, and an Eagle stroker crank to make it a 383 inch engine.
I clearanced the block, filed the rings for marine use, and got some large chamber Dart SS heads to make the lowest compression I could. But it still turned out a bit high at 9.8:1.
Got a thin stainless steel shim head gasket so I could get a proper quench value of .040".
There's a high lift cam, beehive valve springs, reduced travel roller lifters, and Scorpion aluminum high ratio roller rockers. The cam required me to get performance exhaust, so I got EMI Thunder aluminum manifolds and their stainless extra height risers. The cam also made it necessary to clearance the pushrod bores. That was a setback. I had to dissassemble the heads an extra time for that work.
I kept the Thunderbolt V ignition, and added a double roller timing set. Also kept the Weber 4 barrel carb from my 350 Mag. I did get a carb tune kit, so I can set things up. Also got a high volume fuel pump to keep up with the bigger engine. It's electric because the block is not drilled for a mechanical pump, so I wired it per the Mercruiser color scheme.

Now I still have to change my drive bellows and fabricate a couple of brackets for the shifter and remote oil filter. I might just blow off the oil bracket if I run out of time and do that next year.

I sure hope it gets warm soon, it's getting to be time to get on the water!

Looking forward to the summer!

I'll load couple of pictures...
 

alldodge

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Sounding real nice
Do you plan to use O2 bungs in the exhaust to check fuel/air ratio?
 

NHGuy

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May 21, 2009
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Yes, I do intend to. Haven't bought the stuff yet though. I might tune the Edelbrock way in the meantime.
 

Bondo

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One more to motivate us all to get em in the water!

Ayuh,.... Just serviced, 'n slapped another drive on my ole tin fishin' barge today,....

Drive oil fill can is over at the shop,....
I'll fill the drive, 'n test fire it tomorrow mornin',...
Hopefully splash it in the afternoon,....
 

tpenfield

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Jul 18, 2011
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NHGuy -

Nice photos, makes me miss my F-242SS. Lakeport Landing had a big Formula dealership up until about 10 years ago (?). So, lots of Formulas on Winni. My boat is from that dealership.

With all the HP bling are the lake patrol folks going to be after you :eek: :D
 

alldodge

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Looking real good. There another one of the of those style Formula's at out dock, its white
 

NHGuy

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There are still plenty of Formulas on Winni. They aren't all go fasts, some are beautiful cruisers.

You can't go over 45 legally nowadays. I hear the lake patrol escorted the fast boats during the last couple of poker runs. Maybe they wink and let em go a touch.

But I also heard that there was a guy bombing around in one of those closed cockpit turbine Outerlimits a couple of years ago and they just ticketed him in absentia.
The Broads are 15 by 5 miles, You can really stretch out a boat in there in the early morning on a weekday. I have run my old boat at some higher speeds out there without issue, but I am very careful and I don't stay up there, I just give it some throttle to see what it has.

I don't go fast that much, I just like to be able to. This my way of building a hot rod! The boat is over 4000 lbs and has 22 degrees of deadrise. The 350 Mag that was in there was just able to make 45 at wide open and 4300 rpm with a 19" aluminum prop.
I'm hoping the new engine can turn the 21 Mirage I saved from my other sold boat. 45 is actually a good speed, I just don't want my engine to have to be wide open to do it.
I expect the 383 will be capable of getting me some good speed, though I try to save my go fast runs for when I am alone or at odd hours.

I almost always boat with my wife and dog, so I won't be doing that much fast running.

I will enjoy opening the hatch at the public docks as a conversation starter!
 
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