Those are called 180* headers.  They make a big block sound like a formula 1 car.  YouTube it.

Thanks for the tips GT. I understand.  :-)

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Well I'm off to join the madness. I'll be on Havasu Sat and on Parker Sun. If you see me in my poser ride, come say 'hi'. Its always fun to meet new boat peeps.

-Todd-

Just came off the lake.  Installed the A impeller.
It turned 4700 rpm and 59 mph.

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Lets think about it this way, at as low of RPM you are getting now, the lack of stuffer effect will actually do you a bit of good.

GT

Thats what I was thinking also. I was just curious about the fit. I was under the impression that I can run a Berkeley Impeller in this bowl with now clearance issues. I was just curious if anyone knew anything otherwise.

You are trying to tune at 4100 feet if you going to be at less than 400?

GT

The engine went in the boat yesterday. It was supposed to go in 2 weeks ago, but you know how some shops can be with deadlines. I'm headed to havasu for the weekend. I spent the day trying to find some expected performance out of this engine. I was trying to make sure nothing was 'wrong' with it, because I AM going to Havasu this weekend. Since I'm going to be near sea level, I decided to leave it plenty fat today.

My quest for getting the max performance out of this engine will have to be postponed until after the holiday. Right now the numbers just don't make me happy at all. The Berkeley chart says I'm making 368 hp. I'm not buying the 'its the logs' answers. Like some have said, I think the cam choice is a little suspect. I may have to get some suggestions from the peanut gallery on this subject.

Holley and other carb calculators say that a 521 turning 6000 rpm needs just over 800 cfm carb

Weiand says the stealth is good to 6800 RPM. LOTS of people are using them on big fords to make over 600 hp

I'm running an AA impeller at the recommendation of one of the advertisers here that I used to select all my pump parts from. I explained my engine combo and my hull, and he said AA impeller and Dom bowl.

I have no problem experimenting with impellers now. Its cheap, and relatively easy.

I'm not sold on the fact that the exhaust is the problem.

You have too much pump. At that altitude, you should be able to pull 5K without much drama.

The camshaft is a selection I am not convinced is right for the combo, the altitude kills it for me. You really need to know how it was installed. I would have installed it 2* earlier than what the cam manufacturer says.

Do you have a vacuum number from the intake manifold?

36 degrees total timing is actually pretty tame for 4100 feet. May have a bit more there. Is it running fat? It should be.

What risers do you have? What is the engine temp running flat out?

Is the bowl stuffed? do you have a loader?

How certain are you that the throttle butterflies are opening 100%?

Sorry to have more questions than answers, but I could not make heads or tails of what you have going on.

Absolutely beautiful boat.

GT

I didn't pull a vacuum number yet

Its running fat. I'm back at the factory installed 84 squared jets. Going lean only made it ping. I didn't pick up a single RPM. I played with timing from 32 to over 45 degrees. No increase in RPM, No ping. BUT, when I started leaning it out, down around 78 size jets, it would pingwith over 32 degrees of timing.

also, I pumped the tanks dry, and did all of this tuning with 30 gallons of Chevron 92 Octane in it today.

Exhaust is Harman Marine long bolt logs with matching snails.

 Flat out temp never got over 140. I'm not running a gate valve, I'm running a regulator on the water inlet. I'm running it at the lowest possible pressure.

The bowl is a brand new Dominator HP bowl set up for skirted Impellers. I'm running an AA Dominator skirted Impeller. For those that are reading and don't know what this is, the impeller has an extended 'skirt' that fits into an area in the bowl where the stuffer would be. It fits into the stuffer area, similar to how it fits inside the wear ring.

I have been running a loader for years. Its a pretty standard full ramp, open center type of loader. No shoe, no rideplate.

I'm 100% sure that the butterflies on both primary and secondary open 100%

Here's a pic of the boat. I think it shows why I had to do logs.





Maybe I was falsely led to believe that a big inch motor like this could easily make 500+ hp in current form and over 650 hp with proper exhaust, alum heads and single plane intake.

So, should I start carving on the impeller to get the RPM's up? This thing has a 7k rpm bottom end in it. Go to something like an A/B and see how it does? I'd be happy to see 5500 - 6000 at WOT. I've got a brand new A sitting here I could try. This carb and intake are good to 6500 on this size engine. Is this exhaust that big of a deal in this combo?

Thanks for the comments guys.  The end result has been well worth the effort involved.

And there is still more. 

Late last season I ruined the bearing in the pump due to my laziness.

Right now the pump is out. I've just received my new  bowl, shaft and AA impeller.  I decided to try a dominator set up. I've run Berkeley in the past. The pump that I just removed was an Aggressor 9 vane with Aggressor A cut impeller.  Parker gravel bars and negligent shallow water operation took its toll.

While the pump is out I decided to build an engine that belongs beneath the pro-stock style scoop.

I picked up a '71 460 block. Had it bored .030 and ordered up an Eagle rotating assembly.
4.3 steel crank. 6.8 H beam rods and 38cc dished Mahle pistons will end up as a 521 inch beast.
D0VE C heads with 72cc chambers should keep the compression ratio right near a pump gas friendly 10:1

Machine work is near complete.  I will post some pics soon.

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By this time in the project boating season was quickly approaching and I wanted to be on the water by Memorial day. ( I missed that dead line due to problems with the vinyl shop)

I put down the camera and started working away, finalizing design, fitting and finishing parts that I hadn't originally thought of, but seemed like a good idea along the way.

I sanded the floor, and coated the top with a couple of coats of West Systems epoxy. I had already coated the bottom side of the floor before I installed it. I picked up some marine grade carpet and installed it by trowling down the recommended adhesive ( sorry I've forgotten what the stuff was now, but the carpet shop insisted that i use it. It was NOT contact cement )

I hauled all of my interior parts down to a local upholstery shop that I had selected. It came recommended and I had seen some of the work that came out of it. At this point I will be very brief and state that I was VERY disappointed in the workmanship, their ability to keep a schedule, and their promise to stay within the quote. I think you will agree that the finished product looks VERY nice, but those that get a closer look will see that I will be forced to re-do the vinyl work probably as soon as next season. A huge bummer.

While the interior was out getting finished, I decided to address some of the other things about the boat that I wanted to give an updated look to. First up with the windscreen. I used to be a fan of the look, but I was after something a little more sleek, so I deleted the windscreen.

Next to go was the bow rail. Again, lots of people like the look, but I was going more Hot-Rod.

I've done a lot of glass work in the past, but never any gel coat. Seamed like an easy enough concept. So I ground out all the holes in the deck, filled them with a chopped fiber and epoxy mixture. When that hardened I ground that down a little bit, just deep enough to lay some gel coat in it. When the gel coat hardened I sanded it flush and polished it. Seemed easy enough. I have to say... the finish work on the gel was WAY more difficult that I had imagined. I am FAR from pleased with my result. Lesson learned. The boat will be going to a real gel coat guy to get fixed... again.

One of the criteria for the update was that I had to have a stereo system that I could hear... while underway.... at 50 mph. My good friend is the owner of California Audio in West Valley Utah, and helped me select some VERY stout stereo components. The head unit is a Sony that allows you to put your ipod INSIDE the the unit. It was one of the coolest solutions to a few problems that I was facing. Now anyone can bring 'their' music onto the boat and their ipod stays charged and its protected from the elements. No external cords, and no ipod bouncing around on the floor or in a pocket somewhere. The speakers are all Cerwin Vega and are the drivers like the ones found in outdoor concert type of systems. Huge power amplifiers completed the system. After the first outing in the boat it was decided that the stereo easily met the initial criteria.

I also took the scoop to a local custom painter with a very specific yet generic design in mind. With only my brief explanation of what I wanted, he delivered the PERFECT design and colors for me. I was floored at the result. To most it probably wouldn't be a big deal, but I love the turn out, and I love what it does for the finished image of the boat.

I picked up the interior from the now hated vinyl shop and the final install was done.

Here is the finished project:





I wanted the design of the front seats, to carry over into the rear, so I added the small headrests to the rear seat, they also double as a pillow for your head while laying on the deck and dangling your feet off the transom.


The original 1977 design didn't have side panels in the front. I added them as a location to mount speakers, and a way from me to create more storage space in the gunnels.



This picture shows the storage pockets that I had built, it also shows the passenger seat mounted forward. A couple of the previous pictures show it mounted in the observer position



Here is a detailed look at the paint work on the scoop.

Thanks GT.... I think.   

I always hated the seating layout of my boat. It 'featured' a bench seat in the front, rear facing seats a dog house engine cover and small jump seats on either side of the engine. The odd thing was, that there was an in-floor ski locker that was completely unusable for skis, because the front seat covered it. Who's idea was this?







I removed the seats, and began to survey the damage of years gone by.



I removed the tattered carpet (what was left of it) and had a look at the floor.





The flooring had come delaminated from the hull where the floor meets the sides



So I removed the floor

New member here, I've lurked for a while and there is some real knowlegable and talented folks here.
So here's my question. I'm building a new engine. A 521 Ford. Budget constraints forces me to continue using log style manifolds. The manifolds that I have are the stock Hardin Marine 'long bolt' style manifolds. I also have a set of the Glenwood short bolt manifolds available to me. I'm curious if anyone knows which  one of these 2 turds performs better than the other. The Glenwoods have a larger outlet.

Regards,   -Todd-