Wasted Income meets Jenny Craig!

[yellowfiero88]

So like so many of our women, she has gotten a little heavy in her rear.
With the new motor getting ready for machining, I am adding.....well taking away from her. I am adding more performance, but removing weight. So here goes. A lil info on the motor and plans. I am building the motor to a 383. Its a 4 bolt main, 1 piece rear main. I am reusing the Comp cam, and aluminum intake, valve covers, and oil pan. I plan on also adding aluminum heads and exhaust manifolds, as well as aluminum brackets and pulleys. Also I will be upgrading the ignition system to a MSD system. I am also adding a nose cone to the outdrive so she moves through the water a little easier.

I will weigh each item and do a weight savings or addition comparison.

The end result I am hoping will be a ultra hot engine bay, a little lighter, and a bit faster

Input is welcome!

Speed now is 64gps @ 4200 w/23p prop. I know the prop was worked several times, I am guessing its still a 23p. (junkyard motor)

 

[JW]

Sounds good except for the nose cone on the LU! Don't do it unless you're running the propshaft even with water's surface and you use zero trim to get best top speed and you're over 80 mph. Otherwise, you'll lose a lot of speed by adding a nose cone to your lower unit.

 

[yellowfiero88]

Hmmmm, Interesting JW, I am going to do more research on it. Thanks for the input. That was the first mod on the list.

 

[Jetmate]

Sounds good. Can't wait to hear and SEE how it turns out.

 

[mkhammer]

About Nose cones,
The alpha 1 Gen II will not benefit from a nose cone, since 1991 and up the designs have little drag and work efficient. Just as you could put a sportmaster LU on a stock bravo or even a outboard not running a high X-dimension and you would loose speed.
Why? They have less blow out which mean there is more water and less air to ventilate your prop which will drop your rpm and ruduce your speed. Gear cases are so efficient in the last 20 years there is no real demand for nose cones any more except in high x dimension conditions or speeds above 80.
Another exception is the first alpha drive the gen 1 has a blunt nose compared to the gen 2.
The gen 1 has benefited with a small nose cone in the upper 60"s to over 70 mph range and with a engine with 350 hp. or more. 1 to 3 mph has been seen also improved handling and gave more lift.
Mercury had some factory nose cones installed on the alpha gen 1 ss.
So they did play around with them and came out with a better design the gen 2

So there is a time and place for a nose cone but most at average speeds can't benefit from them. Outboards with jack plates can for the running of a high x dimension and low water pick up benefits.

Gen II on the left gen I on the right. You can see the nose cone design change the II looks like it has a small nose cone cpmpared to the I.

MKHammer

 

[JW]

Sounds good except for the nose cone on the LU! Don't do it unless you're running the propshaft even with water's surface and you use zero trim to get best top speed and you're over 80 mph. Otherwise, you'll lose a lot of speed by adding a nose cone to your lower unit.

OR, if you're bound and deterimed to try the nose cone, make sure you install it with the plan of removing it again. Take the boat out for a speed run, then do NOTHING else to the setup except install the nose cone. Run it again to compare top speeds. Let us know what happens. You could start a new thread with a poll: How much speed will I lose with a nose-cone? Add some poll options like 1-2 mph, 3-4 mph, 5-8 mph and let everyone vote before you give us the numbers. Would be a fun guessing game!

 

[wca_tim]

I've followed your posts and love your boat / what you've done with it! I've been thoroughly impressed with your thought process and your competence in getting the work done. (btw. where can I get a swim platform like that again???)

Hammer and some of the others are right on track...

do NOT add the nosecone unless you're having issues with gearcase blowout and then I would try prop changes and even skeg modifications first. Especially on the hulls like ours that run fastes with a good bit of positive trim, the gear case aspect ratio will likely be a big problem. Also, adding more wetted surface area makes it move through the water with more difficulty - not more easily. I didn't hit blowout on the alpha 1 until mid to upper 70's.

(the skeg modification I'm talking about is flattening one side and shaping the other a little like a wing - the iussue of blowout is significantly increased by crabbing from the effects of torque and can be offset to a substantial degree by reshaping the skeg in a relatively subtle way. This is something that you'll see on well done aftermarket outboard lowers. none of these are really important on an alpha drive until you get well into the 70's - at least based on imput from the engine builder, a lot of reading and my personal experience.)

engine build stuff sounds pretty good. I've done a lot of homework on that part over the past several years in conjunction with having the 383 I'm running now built and had a lot of input from a local performance marine engine builder with a very succesful career building circle track and offshore racing engines. I also read a lot and have tried a number of things. Remind me which cam you're running?

(as an aside, Joey was telling me a few months ago that they were having great luck with the ported / port matched brodix head and intake combos on stroked small blocks... ready to rock right out of the box)

One of the main things for a 383 if you;re going to run it hard, is to go with a forged steel crank, forged H-beam rods, forged pistons and have a marine builder set it up - tolerances and ring gaps should be a little different than for an auto engine - you run under a heaqvier load for longer periods so things have a different degree of expansion for longer periods of time. Also if you're like me at all., you run things and will want a fairly high capacity thermostatted oil cooler - the bearings will get hot if you run it. I've run mine damn near flat out for miles on end before with little or no problems...

another thing you might consider playing with is gear ratios to get you in the 27-29" prop range. It'll be worth as much as another 5 mph. I've run 1.84, 1.65, 1.50 and 1.32 gears on the same engine / boat set-up (the 1.32 was a different outdrive though), and even with a significant amount of work on propping, the speed sgteadily decreased as the gear ratio went down. on the 1.84 i was running performance oriented 28 and 29" props for the best top ends.

once you get to the right range, a labbed prop will be a cost investment investment in performance usually.

keep a spare outdrive if you run it hard you're original might hold up and it might not...

OH, and the outdrive that would really make a difference - even more so in stability and handling at higher speeds than speed and probably worth 5 or even more mph on top end... is one of these...

 

[wca_tim]

As an after thought... one of the things I'm planning to get done today is post a bunch of leftover toys I have for sale. One of them is an extra (I bought a pair together) land and Sea sternjack for an alpha drive, complete with the gen 2 rams (rams can easily be modified to work with gen 1). There are mixed opinions for these, but my impression is that they will generally add some speed to the check hulls. They set the drive back further like an extension box, BUT since they're extending the drive itself, they let you bring the prop shaft higher using the trim without adding as much angle. My second hand impression is that they are generally worth some increase in speed on boats like ours. I'll let you know how it works on mine when I get around to installing one...

 

[yellowfiero88]

As an after thought... one of the things I'm planning to get done today is post a bunch of leftover toys I have for sale. One of them is an extra (I bought a pair together) land and Sea sternjack for an alpha drive, complete with the gen 2 rams (rams can easily be modified to work with gen 1). There are mixed opinions for these, but my impression is that they will generally add some speed to the check hulls. They set the drive back further like an extension box, BUT since they're extending the drive itself, they let you bring the prop shaft higher using the trim without adding as much angle. My second hand impression is that they are generally worth some increase in speed on boats like ours. I'll let you know how it works on mine when I get around to installing one...

Thanks for the kind comments.
I have read about a 5mph increase on that sternjack. Let me know what your wanting out of it. I have been looking for one but you just dont find them for the alpha often. The only problem would be the swim platform not letting it go up high enough for trailering it. I did stay at a cabin last year and really had to work the boat trailer onto the road so I did not drag the skeg. With the jack I would think it would be worse unless I notched the wood a little bit.
Another thing you dont find often is the SS alpha. Right now I am running a sterndrive engineering 1.47 ratio drive. When I bought it, I did not even think about changing the ratio to get into the higher pitch props.

JW, I think I will wait on the install of the cone and get the motor together and tuned to its best, then glue it on. I can always heat it up and get it back off that way with little effort other than paint work.

As for the swim platform, I hate to say it but it came from a Baja that was so rotted out the owner cut it up and sold the parts then used the trailer for another boat. I think I gave him $120 for it (without looking it up). It was good and solid, no cracks but needed sanding and a refinish. I love the function and looks of it but as said above it limits the height of raising the outdrive. I can "trim" it all the way up and "trailer" it just a little farther.

 

[ndaniels]

wca has two of the stern jacks he said... if he'd sell one to you at a good price- I'd buy it. I looked and looked for the artical that was in trailer boat magazine about a test of it on a Checkmate Exciter with a 26hp 350i/o. I remember that they gained quite a bit of speed with it. It'd definatly be worth a try, imo. I'd think that you better have some tight steering because it looks like it will exaggerate the steering input because the drive is on a longer pivot? Also its an 8" extension, so since its back further and higher, maybe the skeg would still clear everything?

Only refrence I could find to the article was on S&F: http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265

I found the article on some kinda enclopedia site that you have to sign up for too: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-13280743.html

 

[yellowfiero88]

wca has two of the stern jacks he said... if he'd sell one to you at a good price- I'd buy it.

Maybe I can talk him into letting me demo it, you dont buy a car without test driving it you know!!!

I had the link saved on my favorites but they removed the page sometime over the past year. I had it saved while building the boat.

As for the tightness of the steering, its all been gone through and is as tight as a nun's.... well you get the ideal. Only to make it better is improve it with a full hydraulic steering system.

 

[wca_tim]

I seriously woudn't even consider adding the nose cone. the ones that worked by far the best were from land and sea and they don't sell them anymore.

I'm going to ask 700 for the alpha stern jack (plus shipping, freight shouldn't be rediculous), and apologize in advance to everyone for putting that in here before posting in the classifieds. will remove if offensive..

the pair I bought were in service on a twin engine boat and removed by a dealer... The bearings and even the ujoints are in great shape as are the splines in the fittings, etc... The anodizing is mostly gone from the outside - but who wants a pink drive extension anyhow! I looked a while before I found them and even bought a misadvertised bravo set-up by mistake along the way... I was going to shoot them both with etching primer and black polyurethane paint at the same time and would do so before selling if you decided you wanted it.

the steering and extending the lever arm of the drive is the concern that most refer to and places additional stress on the gimbal housing in particular. One of the reason I haven't just bolted it up is that i've got a spare gimbal housing I'm going to drill and fit with bronze bushing inserts and then install with a steering damper or even hydraulic steering together. Although I've never heard of anyone having one break under power, it would REALLY suck to have the steering break going fast - it would most likely flop to one side or the other at high speed under full throttle... going fast enough and the occupants might not make it out alive. The's true with or without a sternjack installed...

with the amount of trim my boat tolerates, the increased reach of a sternjack and the shorter alpha ss, I'm pretty sure I can put the propshaft only a couple inches below the surface with both installed... and that's where things really start to make a difference in gearcase drag from my understanding.

I fell into the alpha ss drive after casually looking for a while. I was really lucky to find this one in such good shape and having recently been serviced by a dealer. The biggest difference it made was handling at full throttle... the boat feels much less "loose" running flat out with it on there.

anyhow... enough rambling. want to finish pulling my heads off so I can ship them off to be ported and port matched to my new intake next week...

That and have to make dinner for some silly teenage girls (my daughter and her friends - NOT a perv!! well... well... not that kind anyhow - the nun's bum sounds intersting though)

 

[wca_tim]

another thought... I like the crane cd ignition better than an msd... use the Tbolt iv distributor and the crane Hi-6M. you will not be disappointed I think... made a suprisingly (to me) dramatic difference in my idle quality and low end throttle response, etc...

 

[yellowfiero88]

WCA, I have had several crane ignition products and every one has gone bad in less than a year. I have had the same MSD items on my trucks for as long as 10 years with no problems, so only msd here.
Can you send me pics of the sternjack to yellowfiero88@aol.com ?

 

[wca_tim]

WCA, I have had several crane ignition products and every one has gone bad in less than a year. I have had the same MSD items on my trucks for as long as 10 years with no problems, so only msd here.
Can you send me pics of the sternjack to yellowfiero88@aol.com ?

I can certainly understand your take on crane / msd...

Might be a day or two before I get a chance to pull the sternjack and rams out to take pics - out of town taking girls shopping today, work tomrrow, etc... but will definately do it soon. Note that no skin off my back either way, I'm not in a hurry and will surely be able to sell it in a reasonable time frame...

 

[yellowfiero88]

I can certainly understand your take on crane / msd...

Might be a day or two before I get a chance to pull the sternjack and rams out to take pics - out of town taking girls shopping today, work tomrrow, etc... but will definately do it soon. Note that no skin off my back either way, I'm not in a hurry and will surely be able to sell it in a reasonable time frame...

That's fine, Im not in a huge hurry either. As for shooting etch and color on it, it makes no difference either way as I happen to know someone that is ok with a paint gun

 

[wca_tim]

I happen to know someone that is ok with a paint gun

I thought you might....

 

[yellowfiero88]

So I got the Land & sea stern jack the other day. Thanks Tim. I know this is going to add weight but I think it wont matter much as I will get more performance from it

+38lbs



Also bought my aluminum heads from Mike (mkhammer). He has cut me a hell of a deal on a lot of the items and is a great guy to deal with. I did not think I would get that good of a deal with him being a "small dealer" but he has really blown a lot of the big guys out of the water. I recommend giving him a call for prices . The heads are 64cc, 200cc runners, 2.02/1.60 sever duty valves. They should be here this week and I will get weights on them then.

 

[ndaniels]

Cool!

I was also impressed when dealing with Mike... Glad to hear he got you a good deal!

 

[yellowfiero88]

So I got the heads in but I had to wait till my helper was here to give me a hand on the assembly work.



Weight on both complete heads is 44lbs. As soon as I drop them off, I will get the old cast iron heads for a weigh in to see how much I lost. I am very happy with the heads and I am sure they will help in the performance department as well!