ZR6 motor adding a supercharger?????

[TRBenj]

I would think the centrifugal would work better. A roots based blower might throw too much power too quickly to the prop. Not like you can add slicks! ;-)

No such thing as too much power, too quickly- at least not in the (very) sane realm of power that we're talking about here. Plenty of big blocks with fat torque curves out there that have no problem getting the power to the water.

MC/Indmar offered a SC 6.0L for a while... at least I *think* it was a factory option. There are a few 197's over on the MC site with that powerplant. I want to say it was in the 450hp range. A NA 6.0L TSC3 196 would outrun one up top though.

[stealth71]

Also have you thought about other options that could increase power? Cam, intake, throttle body, heads.... All will require retuning, but not as many packaging issues with the limited space.

[Neverenough]

Don't get me wrong.... I'm a hot rod boat guy at heart. I have had several and still have one. I also own a 226. You could add as much power as you want and your only going to do about 50 mph. The hull is what is holding these boats back. That's assuming that speed is the reason for wanting to add power. Other wise change the prop. After typing all this it would be cool to have a supercharged 226 though! You could call ProChargeror, Kenne Bell both make marine products.

[TRBenj]

Don't get me wrong.... I'm a hot rod boat guy at heart. I have had several and still have one. I also own a 226. You could add as much power as you want and your only going to do about 50 mph. The hull is what is holding these boats back.

Yes, the hull is definitely the limitation... and there is certainly a point where adding hp will yield diminished returns (in terms of top end speed). Im not sure we know enough about the 226 hull to say that it cant be pushed beyond 50mph though. The simple fact that its a v-drive and has a lot of weight in back should help its cause.

[Neverenough]

The harder I push my boat the more the bow dives. I just don't think you'll ever get enough lift with the drive angle. You could get there faster though!

[Mikeski]

Too much power??? I agree that there is no such thing.

Three years ago I did a lot of research and considered supercharging my Ex330 in my 2005. The motor controller in the 2005's is a delphi MEFI 4b, the 2003 should use a MEFI 4. Same form factor just shy a few features. Plenty of information as well as identification notes on the internet.

PCM locks out the program so it is true that you cannot modify or copy the program. You can however wipe the PCM program from your controller and have somebody that knows how reprogram the fuel and timing maps. I believe the Mercruiser programs are not locked. No point in trying to use a program from a different application. Work with somebody that knows how and have them write a program specific to your needs. It will need quite a bit of tweaking and testing but it is very doable.

I talked to the Whipple guys and we figured out it could be done, they would do the install and they would do the final programming. They also said I could do the install and bring it to them for programming. I also considered buying the MEFI burn programming software so I could modify the maps myself or at least fine tune them based on my current needs. To do it correctly you would need to add O2 sensors in the exhaust risers. You will need the information to complete the picture so it can be tuned correctly. Once it is tuned well you can remove the O2 sensors and change it back over to open loop mode. As long as there is not a significant change in altitude you should not have much issue.

The after the dust settled cost to add a supercharger to my EX330 was going to be about $8k. In the end I decided not to spend $8k on a 350 motor with a 2 bolt lower end. I also had Larry's Engine and Marine out of Arizona spec out a 450hp small DART block motor that was in the same price range. The DART motor seemed like a better solution but I ultimately decided to live with my existing motor going back to a prop that just let it spin a little more (currently running an acme 644 that does everything well). I still don't have the speed needed to do barefoot 1 footers. I also picked up another boat for $6k and dedicated it to footing and slalom skiing around this same time. The resale on a $6k boat is much better than the resale on a $8k motor upgrade. I have since sold that boat.

Ironically I am about to put an Edelbrock eForce supercharger on my Chevy Avalanche. Just waiting for Edelbrock to release the SUV kit (scheduled for release in October). I am keeping the boost down at 5lbs and expect it to become a perfect towing machine. I like the truck and it is a lot cheaper to supercharge it than replace it with a newer more powerful less attractive truck so that is what I am doing.

Feel free to email me directly if you want to talk about any of this stuff: mikeskiw@gmail.com

[Drock]

Will automotive O2 sensors work in an exhasut manifold with water going through them? Has this been done? I wonder how the motors operate in Open loop now, without them, or if it is just closed-loop with a map sensor.

Have you thought about an aftermarket tuning ECM? Megasquirt/etc? Start with a basic supercharged LS map, and tune from there?

Let us know how it goes!

D

[AirTool]

Closed loop requires O2 sensors. Otherwise it is open loop.

[Mikeski]

The water does not enter the exhaust flow until the end of the elbow so it will be dry at the elbow. Over time they would be subjected to too much vapor and fail so that is why you want to switch over to open loop after it is tuned correctly. Motors with CATs are less susceptible to the vapor in theory. The CAT motors now already have O2 sensors, but the boat in question does not have CATs.

Automotive based tuners are set up on the OBD-II system and are not compatible with the MEFI controllers used on our boats. There are hot-rod motors running the MEFI controllers but these controllers are marine based (MEFI = Marine Electronic Fuel Injection).

[TRBenj]

The water does not enter the exhaust flow until the end of the elbow so it will be dry at the elbow.

Sort of. To get to the dry exhaust portion of the manifold, you would need to go through a water jacket though. Ive seen adapter plates made up to go between the manifold and riser to accomplish this... so it can be done.

[Miljack]

Just to add my experience in trying to "tune" a MEFI 3 from my '99 Python powered boat. I sent the controller to the guys @ OBD Diagnostics in Socal, and they were not able to program it to make it work with PCM engine. They "wiped" the ECU, and added a similar tune for a marine big block, and when I tried to use it, the controller wasn't starting the fuel pump, and would not run. PCM was able to reflash the stock tune on the controller.
Just my $0.02 to your project, please keep us updated, I was never all that happy with the tune on the Python, it was WAY too rich, and was hard to start at times.

[Mikeski]

Sort of. To get to the dry exhaust portion of the manifold, you would need to go through a water jacket though. Ive seen adapter plates made up to go between the manifold and riser to accomplish this... so it can be done.

Yep. I have big high flow aluminum aftermarket manifolds on my boat from Revolution Marine. I spoke with them and they suggest I have a bung plug welded into the elbow sealing up the water jacket. I asked about the plates which would be easy to do on my manifolds since they have a dry seal between the lower manifold and the elbow but they recommended the elbow instead. With some basic knowledge and an unlimited amount of time I am sure it is very doable. I just don't have the time to spend on this these days.

[ski4evr]

not to hijack, ok, to hijack, would you recommend the manifolds you installed, what else have you done to the 330?

[Mikeski]

not to hijack, ok, to hijack, would you recommend the manifolds you installed, what else have you done to the 330?

The manifolds did help out a little bit but I am not sure I would recommend them based on the powergain alone. A large part of my motivation was weight loss to help out my slalom wake. The manifolds lose about 100lbs off the back of the boat almost making up for the 130lbs of stereo batteries I added. $900 is quite a bit of coin for these but I am happy I did it. They woke up the midrange response more than the top end, that surprised me.



No other mods to the 330, nothing possible that I know of? I guess a larger bore throttle body could be done. The factory PCM tune seems pretty rich throughout the entire range so it could probably flow more air without getting too lean. If I was a super tweaker I might also try adding a set of different rocker arms with a higher lift ratio, but that might be too much for the factory tune.

[Mikeski]

little article on rocker arm upgrades:
http://www.gregsengine.com/rocker-arm-ratio.html