What the heck is this engine? 1000 SC

[MCNPathfinder]

Good afternoon! In my quest to find a tri-toon with an I/O, I stumbled upon an engine that I’m having a really hard time finding any info on.
I’m told it’s a 454 with a blower on it. The carb cover (term? the silver flame arrestor thing) has 1000 SC on it. Valve covers are blue.
From what I’ve found, it looks like a bit of a unicorn. Somewhere between 300 and 500 HP with 7-14 PSI of boost.
Does anyone know anything about the reliability of this machine? I’ve never owned anything supercharged in my life, but this thing looks like it sounds pretty freaking cool and pushes a lot of power.
I’ve had Mercruiser 305/350s before, but nothing bigger. So I’m a little familiar with them, but I’m inclined to sacrifice speed/performance for reliability. Ha!

 

[Scott Danforth]

A 1000 SC is a Mercury Racing 572 cubic inch Tall Deck motor with a blower and twin dominators

If it is truly a 1000SC, that is 1000 hp. It is NOT a pleasure boat motor, it is not a motor that will ever be easy on your wallet. It is a racing motor. And as such, the valvetrain will need rebuilding every few hundred hours. Miss a maintenance rebuild and the motor grenades itself into thousands of pieces

 

[Scott Danforth]

That boat is most likely one of the custom built Forest River brands. A few of them left the factory with racing motors

 

[Scott Danforth]

Good afternoon! In my quest to find a tri-toon with an I/O, I stumbled upon an engine that I’m having a really hard time finding any info on.

I’ve had Mercruiser 305/350s before, but nothing bigger. So I’m a little familiar with them, but I’m inclined to sacrifice speed/performance for reliability. Ha!

Keep in mind, you can buy a brand new 6.2 complete for what a valvetrain rebuild will cost you on a Mercury Racing motor....

 

[dwco5051]

Reliability is not a strong point in racing engines. I spent a good amount of time around them years ago and wish I had a dollar for every time I heard a mechanic say "I wish these motors had zippers on them." I can't remember a time when our stock car went more than 3 weekends without some major work.

 

[MCNPathfinder]

Thank you for the responses! From what I’ve been reading, it’s likely not an actual 1000 SC. Are all of the super charged engines with the blue covers the racing engines? Seems odd that this one found its way to a tritoon. The family that owns it says there’s not any issues, but it also hasn’t been on the water since 2020.
I don’t want the maintenance of a 1000 HP racing boat, but the mystery is sucking me in. LOL! 1000 HP! Could you imagine rolling up to the boat launch with 1000 HP?!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Look up the serial number. It will tell you exactly what it is

Merc racing quit using 454 motors back in 2000. They used 502 motors, 540's, 572's and then their custom motors for the 1300, 1350, 1600 and 1650

Merc racing paints most of their motors blue

The drive will also tell. Anything bigger than a 525 will not have a stock drive on it, however a Merc racing drive

As stated prior, there have been a few pontoons with Merc racing motors. Most from Forest River Marine performance division under their 3 brands. Not uncommon to find a tri-toon with twin 450R outboards.

 

[Scott Danforth]

BTW, Merc racing cost to refresh the valvetrain on the 800SC, 1000SC, 1075SC and 1100SC is $26k per motor if it is running ( based on 2006 literature)

 

[04fxdwgi25]

LOL. If the price was right on the toon, I would buy it just to pull that 1000SC out to put it on a display stand and replace it with a 7.4 / 454 .

 

[Scott Danforth]

I would just pull the solid lifter cam, back off on seat pressure, drop the boost, redo the carbs from twin 1050s to twin 700s and live with 800 HP

 

[Scott Danforth]

is this the 2007 Southbay pontoon that you were looking at?

being a single carb it is most likely a 525SC with a sticker. (which was discussed in a few forums when the boat came out)